Changed my mind

Changed my mind.

I actually like writing my stories down and I know some of you like reading them, so I'm continuing. I know who my true family and friends are now too.  I figure that these posts are for me and those who like them, but mostly for me.  I might have jumped off the deep-end the last post, but it was true.

The condo that Scott rented, and I am staying in, for a small fee of course, is turning out to be pretty nice. At first I was just a little uncertain that being on the outside of town would be a good idea. The noise is definitely less out here and the traffic seems to be better. The draw backs are that there really aren't very many places to go eat and shop. And when I say many; I really mean none. Unless you count Nanakramguda as a shopping center. I like to lovingly refer to it as a squatter village mess hall. I drive through on the way to work, but I don't think that I will ever venture there on foot. It's one of those places you wander into and never wander out.

One of the nice things about living on the edge of town is being able to zip out into the countryside on my bike and peddle around. I'm not sure who owns most of the land around here. I think the government does. After questioning some of the locals, it was determined that if there is no fence then it's fair game. You can peddle for miles and miles through some of the back roads and little trails here.  There are cows and pigs just roaming around.  Mostly though, a whole lot of nothing.  Well, if you don't count the needle like thorns that jump out and pop my tires for no reason.

The flying is going well. Had my first unsupervised flight today. Four little hops of about a hour and thirty minutes for each one. Most of the flights are going to be around that time span. Fits our airplane perfectly. The flying is easy; it's the understanding of the radio calls that is going to take some time. I had to, on several occasions today, look quickly over to my interpreter sitting on the right side to get the ATC translation. The word on the street is that it's the English language being spoken, but the jury is still out on that one. I find that if I miss the first part of the transmission then it's all over. By the time that I have processed and figured out what they said earlier on, I've missed the rest. There's a lot of “say again” transmissions from my airplane! The company has some different (bazaar) rules and procedures that really don't make any sense. Plus, there are things that the FAA outlawed years ago, that are in practice now. Changes are hard to make around here, so we'll see how it goes.

I watched my first little motorcycle accident the other day. It was a nice day and we were hanging out on the balcony, watching the world go by, when it happened. A motorcyclist was cruising down the road, not too fast mind you, and another one was pulling onto the road. Remember, over here, when you are pulling onto the road, never look up the road for traffic. If you do and the other driver sees you looking, then you are obligated to yield. So the best course of action is to just enter the roadway at about a 45 degree angle and make the other drivers yield to you. Do it slowly too. That of course brings about a rash of horn honking and position jockeying, which brings more horn honking and brake lights (if they actually work, which most don't). Anyway, for our story, the motorcyclist merging onto the road was obviously minding his own business and following the “no look” policy while pulling out onto the road. The oncoming motorcyclist was just a tad late on the horn and didn't yield, of course, and smacked the other motorcyclist broadside. Both bikes went down in a heap, while both drivers spilled out onto the road. In 2.37 seconds exactly, there were about 45 people standing around gawking at the wreck. There was nothing really to see. I was hopping for a good fight, but the drivers just hopped around shaking it off and then they started their bikes up and drove off. No exchange of insurance, information, or even any words that I could tell. Very anti-climatic if you ask me. Now the tanker truck that tipped over on the flyway, that's another story.

Speaking of crazy. My FO and I had a race home the other day. Found out that he has an apartment just down the road from me about 5 minutes, so we were going to share a company cab. For some strange reason though, we had to take two cabs. I don't know and I don't ask why anymore. I just go with it. So of course we had to make use of the opportunity. I think I might have started it, but he might have, now that I think of it. My car left just before his did, but my driver waited for an oncoming truck to get out of the way. Car B (my FO's cab) didn't. So it was on. We took them just before the corner to the freeway, and as we skidded around the corner, on two wheels, the gloves were off. It reminds me of a video driving game on these roads and you have to dodge the slow, weaving trucks and random pedestrians that wander around on the road. Every once in awhile, you have to dodge a pig or something fun like that too. So, sometimes I would lead and other times car B would lead. We traded the lead over a dozen times. At one straight stretch I looked over to the speedometer and it was bouncing off the stops about 150-160. That's in kilometers of course, but it's still pretty freaking fast. And that's the last time I looked. I just urged the driver to go faster! And he responded with a stomp of the accelerator pedal to the floor.  The speedometer stopped moving, which was good cause it was bothering me. Our 30 minute taxi ride was shortened considerably to a more reasonable 17 minutes. Much better. It pains me to say it, but I came in second in this event. I thought we had the race in the bag as we rounded the last corner and took car B on the inside, but the right sweeping corner, that we were riding to victory, turned back on itself, sweeping to the left, allowing car B to retake the lead and the trophy. Rats. Next time.

So far I haven't gotten sick. Every once in awhile I get a little upset tummy, but it's over quickly. The food is pretty good. I have some really spicy stuff today. Made my eyes water and sweat bead up on my forehead. The beauty of the Indian food is that the spicier you order it, the less you eat. Helps with my weight loss program. So far I'm down 5 lbs. I eat lots of veggies and fruit. Much better for me than the crap I used to eat at home.

There's not a whole lot to do around here. I try to keep myself busy, but it's tough. As my schedule gets a little more concrete I think that I will travel a bit more. Maybe even get a little scooter. Not sure about that one yet.