Already it is nearly time to take off the cab driver hat and put on the helicopter pilot baseball cap. I can't believe the time has gone by so fast; it seems like I just got "home." Which calls into question where "home" really is. I spent six months up in Washington State last year - half the year. I don't intend to stay up there that long this summer, but then I didn't intend to stay up there that long last summer. I like it up there. And it's starting to feel like home. A fella could get used to living in that part of the country...if it just didn't get so dad-blamed cold in the winter.
I greatly look forward to getting back up to Brewster. We always have a really great crowd of people that I get to hang around with...pilots and what we sneeringly call "non-aviators" alike. Yeah, sometimes we pilots get to feeling full of ourselves - especially when we get full of alcoholic beverages. Then the rest of the world becomes not us. It's bad, I know.
Of course I'm bringing my guitar. Last year, I brought mine and my friend Brandon brought his. Turned out that one of our other pilots, Lauren could also play! (Plus she sings terrifically too!) And so did copilot Chris. Danny (one of the owners - who also plays) brought out his two guitars, a gorgeous vintage Fender Stratocaster and an acoustic. All of us had a fine time jamming in the hangar (which has great sound as you can imagine). And let me tell you, there is nothing...NOTHING more fun than making music with your friends.
Since then I've gotten marginally better at playing and I've learned a whole bunch of new songs (although I do not have a good singing voice). Maybe I'll even put up a YouTube video like the awesome one my friend Hal Johnson did. Oh you didn't see it? It's incredible - gives me chills. Watch! Sings and plays pretty good for a dang ol' helicopter pilot, doesn't he? I doubt I could top this.
I quite like my dual life. But it is getting hard to know at this point which is my "real" life and which one is the one I go to just to play. Maybe some day I'll figure it out.
Who Am I?
- Bob Barbanes:
- A nobody; a nitwit; a pilot; a motorcyclist; a raconteur; a lover...of life - who loves to laugh, who tries to not take myself (or anything) too seriously...just a normal guy who knows his place in the universe by being in touch with my spiritual side. What more is there?
2 comments:
"Yeah, sometimes we pilots get to feeling full of ourselves - especially when we get full of alcoholic beverages." And then there are military gunship pilots, the Apache and Cobra guys. How do you know when an Apache pilot's dinner date is half over? When he says to his date, "That's enough about me; now let's talk about Apache's." And you know, Will Rogers never met an Apache pilot. The few female Apache or Cobra pilots I've met don't seem to have the same tendencies, or perhaps they're just more subtle. Fortunately, most gunship pilots have a sense of humor about it all. In fact, I've heard most Apache jokes from Apache pilots.
Thanks for the kind words. I usually kinda cringe when I hear my recorded voice, but I was half way happy with that recording in the monolith. Of course, the natural reverb in that passageway helped to hide the fact that I sang *around* a few notes.
Your "divided" life seems like the 7&7/14&14 lifestyle taken to the extreme. There is good and bad about it, of course. The main thing I remember from my single days is that folks assumed that not having a family makes it easier. Not so. It's different, but not easier.
But then, you get away from P'cola when it's hot, and away from Washington state when it's cold. Lots of folks would treasure that arrangement.
Safe travels when you head out for the northwest, Bob.
nice post, love your blog.
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