Had it not been for Jess, I would still be moping around the house, sad because I've been talked out of going to meet Donny at the airport tonight. I'm still moping around the house, but I now have a job, and a new mission in my life.
Longtime readers (or reader, as the case may be... love you Firefly!) will remember a rant from a while back where I tossed up the benefits of going to Massey to study Aviation against running away to Calgary, Osaka, or Malmo.
Somehow I ended up in Bayswater, attending make-up school in Parnell, but Aviation still permeates most of my daily thoughts. I just want to fly planes! Since starting at SRA, I've kind of been thinking that maybe the make-up qualification could be used to do counter work, freelancing and weddings while I studied Aviation at Massey in Palmerston North. Some of the idiots in my class at SRA just make me wonder how fulfilling a career in make-up can REALLY be.
This morning, Jess asked me why I don't just join the Air Force.
Well, mainly because I didn't realise I could. Did you know they TRAIN pilots there? And PAY them while they're doing it? What?! Seriously, first-year aviation costs as much as it would to feed Eritrea's starving children for a decade. How did I not know you could get paid for it? Sure, it means joining the military, and I bet there are people out there wondering just how suited to this lifestyle I would be, but I'm kind of willing to change, now that I know what's at stake.
What is at stake, exactly? Okay, well if I was successful in my application for the Royal New Zealand Air Force, I'd move to Woodbourne in Marlborough for 21 weeks of "initial officer training". For the next 41 weeks, I'd do my pilot training and study at the Air Force base in Ohakea. I don't even know where that is, but I don't really care. Give me $30,000 to learn something that fascinates me, and I'm pretty much there. I'll even give up my laptop and cellphone, if need be.
Anyway, after doing this phase of pilot training, I'll then move onto more advanced training for 29 weeks, and after successful completion of this, I'll earn my "pilot's brevet", better known to us mere mortals as "wings". After that, I'll choose between fixed-wing or helicopters, and head to off to whichever base caters to my needs to specialise. Then hopefully, I'll get to fly planes to my heart's content.
My next career move!
It really sounds like a bit of me. It's a bit mindblowing to think so now, but when I was younger I was pretty hellbent on joining the Army. When I was thirteen, I visited the Army stand at the Careers expo. Of course, being the psycho I was at thirteen, I wanted to be a rifleman, but they told me they didn't let girls do that. I was pretty devastated. I don't know why, but I'm pretty sure I'd be great in the military. "Friend" or rather, guy-I-know, Shannon Stallard, who this year won the New Zealand Standard Triathlon (the one I got hauled out of, 400m in), is an army guy, and they support his training for sport. I'm informed that it's a military thing, and as such I could enjoy the same benefits as Shannon. At the moment, it's all so new and exciting that it seems like a cure-all for me, but don't worry. I have every intent of making sure this is a good career move for me before I run off and do it.
I just received a txt from the Air Force telling me they're sending me an information pack. I'm so excited I think I might implode (kind of like Rex. He just got back from his first kitesurfing attempt). I feel kind of like Phoebe on that episode of Friends when she exclaims "Wow! That is brand new information!" ... except all of this Air Force carry-on really is.
I'm going to be an Air Force brat! Thanks Jess!
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