Reality

In my office, I have a poster from the "glass-half-full" folks of Despair, Inc that features a beautiful orange sunset sinking into a crystal blue ocean, while a hang glider soars out into the sunset. While it is a pretty picture, the caption reads, "There is no greater joy than soaring high on the winds of your dreams, except maybe the joy of watching a dreamer who has nowhere to land but in the ocean of reality." Better yet, just look at the picture below.



No doubt, it's a pretty funny quote. The Germans actually have a word for this- schadenfreude, which literally means "happiness at the misfortune of others." As long as something bad is not happening to us, things can be as funny as hell. Yet, when something happens to us at our expense, it's us who is doing the suffering, and others who are doing the laughing. That's just the nature of life.

As I put this into perspective, I see countless students come into my office looking to start something new or start over. They will tell me about all the things they would like to do. Some want to make money, some just want to explore a new area of interest. And as I sit there and chat with these students, I find myself telling them to chase that dream. Pursuing your dreams has always been sort of a mantra for myself, and something I tell others. I believe that we cannot find any value or satisfaction in our lives until we are pursuing something that gives us personal satisfaction.

However, as we continue to chase the dream, it seems we drift further and further from reality, and it's not until some mishap, some shaking event that brings us back down, crashing into the ocean of reality. It's a sad fact, and it happens more often than not. Perhaps what hurts more than crash-landing in this ocean of "reality" is the recovery. The feelings of uncertainty and not knowing the answers to the questions of what to do next, how to recover, if the dream can be chased again, or if it should be abandoned all together.

It is unfortunate to fall short of your own expectations when it comes to accomplishing something. It's pretty much devastating. But, there is always a tactic to use to avoid crashing into that ocean of reality- HAVE A PLAN!

As simple as it seems, I've seen countless people go into something without ever fully thinking it through. Sometimes, this blind faith is necessary- to go without knowing where you are going. In fact, this lack of planning can sometimes put you in a place that you didn't expect to find yourself in, and what's more is that you've found that you're in a great place to be in. But more often than not, my life experience have taught me that if you're going to act on something, you'll need to think about the options that lie ahead of you before you proceed.

When it comes to education and training, I think the greatest short sight is the lack of financial planning. People underestimate the cost of the endeavor they pursue and when the money runs out, progress stops. This is a result of improper planning, and failing to budget time and money adequately. Sometimes, we find that we're guilty of not cutting costs- we buy that movie, or indulge ourselves in the $5 lattes from Starbucks without ever thinking how this affects us financially in the long run. But, it all adds up. If you spend $5 on a latte Monday through Friday, you've spend $25 in one week. Over a month you'll have spent $100 on lattes alone. Continue to add it up and that's about $1,200 for the year. Just for a frozen coffee drink.

While lack of financial planning does have the impact on your plans for the future, a lack of planning on the future also has devastating effects. Often times, I have found myself guilty of planning only one goal without considering any other alternatives. When we find that something does not go our way in this plan, we don't have any other alternatives. **CRASH** Hello ocean of reality.

With all that said, here are just three easy steps that I believe will ensure that dreams can continually be pursued:

1. Make a plan- It's better to know what you're going to do, how you're doing, and when you're going to do it.

2. Discipline yourself- Stick to your plan. Don't deviate away from it or distract yourself.

3. Create alternatives- When something doesn't go right, having another option is better than none at all.

On a final note, I think it's great to soar on the wings of your dreams, as long as you also have a parachute packed.

Affirmation

This past weekend, I had an affirmation involving my interest in aviation. It was more like an epiphany that turned into an affirmation, really. Let me explain. It all started with Netflix. Being a rather new subscriber to Netflix, I was browsing through the selection of movies. Nothing being out of the ordinary, aviation happened to be on my mind. I searched for movies or anything that had to do with aviation, with little luck.

A few weeks later, I found myself again on Netflix. This time, aviation was not on my mind. I was looking for some movie, something to add to my queue. After find a satisfactory title, the usual "You might also like" window pops up. There it was. My eye was drawn to it in a split second. One Six Right. One Six Right is not a movie, but exactly what the tag line described it to be- "The Romance of Flying." I instantly added it to my queue, and move it to the front of the line. As I returned my latest rental, I waited in anticipation for my recent find to arrive in my mailbox.

When it finally arrived, I naturally began watching it. At first thinking that I had wasted my time waiting for this documentary to arrive, the first minutes or so was nothing but symphonic music and shots of airports and airplanes. I began to ask my self, "Is that it? Just planes flying around to pretty music?" I'm glad I was wrong. After what was a slightly long and boring intro, the film began to cut to the chase.

These pilots, these storytellers began talking about their discovery of aviation- whether they seemed to trip into it, or if they had an innate interest in it from the beginning. Somehow, either they found it, or it found them. That's when it hit me. Hard. While I sat back watching this film, I heard pilots talking about experiences. Some would go to airports and watch the planes take off. Others would get a hand radio and listen in on the communication between pilots and air traffic control. At this point, I distinctly remember looking at myself in the mirror with a huge sense of irony. Indeed, I have done those very things, except in a different fashion.

When I was in grad school, and on occasions where I did not have anything to do, or if I happened to be stressed out, I would find myself driving to the airport. Just the glimpse of an airplane took my mind off of whatever I was worried about. I loved to go to the observation area and simply sit back in my car and watch the planes come in and out. There was something unexplainable about it. The sound of a jet engine, the marriage of man and machine and the ability to conquer gravity. The sleek prowess of the aircraft. Perhaps a combination of everything. Watching planes somehow put my mind at ease. I can still find myself feeling like a kid in a toy store whenever I am near an airport. Looking around, trying to spot planes- watching them take off and land, listening for the roar.

Even now as I have begun my flight training, my appreciation and and perspective has shifted. It is one thing to watch planes, it's another thing to fly them. Much like any skill, it takes practice. The more you practice, the more proficient you are. However, that being said, I have a HUGE appreciation for the feeling of flight. And once again, I find it is indescribable.

Shortly before takeoff, you perform a final check of your gages. Throttle the plane up, checking gages and making sure that your controls are free and correct. The plane aches to inch forward with urgency under the strain of the brakes. After everything checks out, throttle down, and taxi onto the runway. Line up on the center line, making sure you're front wheel is straight. Then, full throttle. The engine speed increases, and you gradually pick up speed. Your gages come alive, and as you continue rolling down the runway you gently pull back on the yoke and continually pull back until the nose of the aircraft rotates up. At this point the airplane almost freezes in position for what feels like minutes. Then suddenly, you've separated from land and are now airborne. You continually gain altitude as you leave the runway. As you trim the plane up to continually climb, the horizion increases. Objects on the ground get smaller and smaller. Feel the plane. Where does it want to go? What does it want to do? Adjust the controls, trim. Repeat. Adjust. After reaching your desired altitude, you pull some throttle off, and re-trim. Now you're cruising. Despite the noise in the cockpit, it's serene. Nothing around you but sky. Breathtaking. It is those moments that stress leaves my body. It's just me, and the plane (and the flight instructor, for now).

One Six Right affirmed in me that this idea of me in aviation is not hair-brained, or half hearted. Since the beginning of my interest in aviation, One Six Right has shown me that with a little bit of effort, and some commitment, you can accomplish what you are pursuing, even if it starts with a simple dream. I have learned not to doubt myself, but to take small steps. Sure, it's going to take a while. But after I get to where I'm going, I'll have the view to enjoy.

Everything I Ever Needed to Know About Life I Learned in Acting Class

Everything I ever needed to know about life I learned in acting class. I have been thinking about this statement for some short time, and the more and more that I think about it, the more evident it becomes to me that it’s true. In my career as an undergraduate student, I was a Drama major. One of the lessons I learned about theatre is that drama imitates life. And sometimes, life imitates drama. Here are a few lessons on life that I learned in acting class.

Lesson One: We all have something to accomplish.
In acting, we call this the “objective.” It’s what a character wants out of the scene. Moreover, there is the super objective, what the character wants in its existence. Sometimes, characters could achieve their objective and other times they weren’t so lucky. Nonetheless, the characters strive for their objective, regardless of the end result. An objective is a foundational piece of what motivates acting. That core desire to gain something. To accomplish something. To earn something. Objectives are usually derived from the phrase “I want to…” Once that objective was achieved, they move on to their next objective.

Lesson Two: There will always be adversity.
These are called obstacles. Obstacles can come in all forms from physical limitations, to specific circumstances of a time period, even to other characters in the story. Some people choose to associate individuals as antagonists. However, I prefer the term "opposing force." Not every story has an antagonist, but every story has an opposing force. There can be no good story line, or plot, without some form of obstacle(s). It is the challenge of overcoming the obstacle that makes acting; it makes the story interesting. Every obstacle encountered is unique to the character. They are forced to finding some way to overcome, circumvent, or avoid such obstacles. Acting calls these tactics, and it’s what actors use to overcome, circumvent, or avoid those obstacles we face. Sometimes these tactics work, and other times they don’t.

Lesson Three: We all walk the hero’s journey.
The hero's journey is the same in theatre as it is in any literary work. Joseph Campbell coined the actually terminology for this model, but since the beginning of literary history, the same formula has been used. To make the long story short, the hero undergoes challenges, opposition, rejection, and through these experiences is transformed, where they are then accepted which ultimately leads to a personal victory and wide popularity.

Obviously, this is a bit different in real life, but some elements of the hero's journey are still true. Not knowing what we face each day, we take it one at a time. Although we we do not face challenges to the point of what we find in classic pieces of literature, they are in a way transforming to us. Specific life events in our experiences change us- graduating from college, getting married, having a child, etc. All of these have some effect on us.

Lesson Four: Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse.
You will always need to set some time aside where you can examine or work something till you have it perfected. I was always taught that you have to "hearse" before you rehearse. This lesson has been proved to me many times, and the most recently in the new role that I am in with a current production. I have had to sit myself down and run my lines. I've had to repeat these lines many times, not because I was trying to memorize them, but because I was trying to put the right "color" in them. Repetition also helps in memorizing something.
In acting, there is something known as the "Illusion of the first time." This basically means that when you are performing, you have to make your acting look like you are doing this the first time ever. Oddly enough, the only thing that can make you accomplish this, is doing the action over and over and over. Actor don't get good doing things once. They get good because they've done it time and time again.

Lesson Five: Find your beat(s).
Beats are subtle changes in a scene. They can be something small as a change of thought by a character in a monologue, or the change in direction or shift in "power" in a scene. These beats help actors to further find their objective, and also assist in the overall direction of the entire play. Every single scene is littered with beats, and they can be found grouped together, or scarcely found throughout any scene. Chances are though, if you're not finding a beat, you're not looking hard enough.

Lesson Six: React.
Acting is as much of reacting as it is interpretation. It was Sanford Meisner who really brought this idea to fruition in realistic acting. In every scene where there is more than one person (and often one person) you can only do so much with what you are given. You have to pay attention to the subtle actions and words- where the emphases is placed. It is this reaction that makes the scene engaging and draws the audience in closer to what is happening in the scene.

Lesson Seven: It takes a team.
The art of theatre is very much a well oiled machine. While actors are on the stage performing, the audience is (or should be) unaware of the controlled chaos that is happening around the theatre. Stage hands are running around making sure set pieces are in their proper place, helping actors get in and out of costumes. The stage manager is maintaining every detail of the show, calling light, sound and set cues. Actors are running about preparing for their next scene, and the orchestra, if you're watching musical is blowing through a barrage of notes.
Each and every single member of this production team holds an important role. While the actors are very much the ones who are seen the most, if one person backstage fails to do their task, the entire production suffers. Often times, during a production things can go wrong. Again, an entire company must rely on each other to ensure things are safely and effectively taken care of. That's why at the end of every curtain call, before the actors go off stage, they always point to the booth, the orchestra and acknowledge all those who are not even heard or seen. It's because of them, the production runs smoothly.

Putting it all together.
To sum it all up, acting imitates life. I'm pretty sure we are all walking our own journey. The story of our lives are about us, we're the heroes. As we walk the course of our lives, we are destined to face struggles- obstacles. As we overcome these challenges, we can see ourselves transform through the power of learning from our previous experiences. And as we move on from these struggles we begin to develop new goals (objectives) and set a course for accomplishing that goal. Sometimes, there may be a slight diversion, or even a complete change in what you are after (beat) where we have to abandon what we were after and completely change our ideas or goals about something (reacting). As we set this new course, or even change our goal, we find that there are people who surround us to help us on our way. Life is a journey that is not meant to be traveled alone. I firmly believe that we find people who are close to us to help us as we go on our way. They're friends, family, even complete strangers. Don't forget that you're never going through something where you can't get help.

So there it all is. Acting in a nutshell. Life in a nutshell.

Act well your part, for therein all the honor lies.

The Airspeed Velocity of an Unladen Swallow

"Ground, Cessna One Two Papa."

"Cessna One Two Papa, go ahead."

"Cessna One Two Papa, we're here on the ramp requesting taxi via Bravo to runway one nine for a VFR departure to the Northwest"

"Cessna One Two Papa, you are cleared to taxi via Bravo, runway one nine."

"Cleared to taxi via Bravo, runway one nine, Cessna One Two Papa"

*A Few moments later*

"Tower, Cessna One Two Papa."

"Cessna One Two Papa, go ahead."

"Cessna One Two Papa, on the ramp at runway one nine, ready for a VFR departure to the north west."

"Cessna One Two Papa, cleared for take off. Winds at..."

"Cleared for take off. Thank you, Cessna One Two Papa."

That was the beginning conversation between myself, ground control, and air control before I took off on my last lesson. A typical routine conversation between many pilots and air traffic controllers, but this conversation happened to be my second. Ever. My novice to the field of aviation is still apparent, and will be for quite sometime. But I have found that the more you immerse yourself into its realm, the more you will be able to find yourself speaking the language. This past week, I even compelled myself to memorizing the entire phonetic alphabet:

Alpha
Bravo
Charlie
Delta
Echo
Foxtrot
Golf
Hotel
India
Juliette
Kilo
Lima
Mike
November
Oscar
Papa
Quebec
Romeo
Sierra
Tango
Uniform
Victor
Whiskey
X-Ray
Zulu

It was easier than I thought. I just had to give my mind a task to do involving these letters, rather than sitting in a chair staring at the same words over and over again. So I found that task- license plates. Driving around, or walking through a parking lot, You can see all kinds of license plates, each one with their own individual sequence of letters and numbers. I would look at each plate and from memory, attempt to recall each phonetic letter and use it as a call sign instead of a plate number. Stupid? Yes. Did it work? You bet.

Before I continue, I need to put it out there that I'm not devoting my entire blog to discovering flight, but as it so happens, that's what I'm focusing on as a life long learner at this point. I have a few other posts coming on different ideas, but they will happen in good time.

Now, back to flying. I now have four and a half hours logged of flight time, and things are starting to get interesting. For the first time ever, or at least it felt like it to me, I had complete control of the airplane during my last take off. Once you get into your groove, you'll find that the process is pretty easy to follow:

Line up on center line. Make sure your front wheel is straight. Full power. Use rudder to keep aircraft going down center line. Airspeed at 50 kts, pull back on the yoke to rotate the plane up. Keep pulling back slightly. Plane lifts into air. Continue climb. Maintain an airspeed of 70 kts. Level. Trim.

It's that easy. I may have left a few things our for redundancy, but having that experience of being able to have the controls to yourself without corrective input from the instructor is a bit intimidating and liberating at the same time.

The plane is getting easier to fly, and all the time we're learning new things: Stalls, slow flight, steep turns, more stalls, using the instrument panel, the list goes on and on. The more time you spend in the plane, the more you learn.

But it hasn't been friendly skies the entire time. I have subjected myself to my own personal scrutiny of wondering why I am doing what I am. Why am I spending copious amounts of money for something I have no idea which direction I am going to take after I have earned the credential? Why can this plane be so hard to fly sometimes? Why is some of this stuff going over my head? Am I wasting my time and money? Personal evaluation is important in everything. I have always known myself to be overly critical of myself.

Regardless of what I put myself through, I also need to step back and ask myself these questions: Am I enjoying what I do? Yes. Is what I am doing fun? Yes. Am I accomplishing a goal that I have set for myself: Yes?

Three yeses. That seems worth it to me. Although at this point, Im not sure where or what direction this is going to take me, but as I written before, we don't know where life is going to take us. We don't even know what is going to happen tomorrow. The best we can do is enjoy the ride.

Defying Gravity

August 15, 2010. Flight lesson two. 1.8 hours logged of flight time. It seems that the newness of the brilliance and shine of the first lesson has worn itself off. This being my second time in the cockpit, I got up in the aircraft somewhat accustomed to the settings, and the feeling of what it was to be inside of this plane.

With a smile on my face, I can say that my first time up in the air as a pilot was everything that I expected it to be. Being at the controls had become an accomplishment, and a dream come true. Although I am still naive about the whole field of aviation, the sound of the engine rumble, and the shake that it sends through the entire plane just as you are holding short of the runway is without a doubt exhilarating.

Although I can recount my first time going up, it would take way too long to account for it in this blog. I will make it short by say from the time the wheels lifted off of the runway, a smile had crept its way across my face.



This Cessna is an older plane. An '81 152 Model. While still a bit uneasy about it being so old, once in the air, I learned that she's still airworthy. As it is, there is still plenty of lessons ahead of me. After all, it was only my second lesson that I just completed. This flight training has been a dream come true. I am still a bit anxious. There is a lot to learn, and at this point, I'm intimidated by it. There's the medical certification, the oral exam, and written exam, all before you can get the "entry" level license. That's just the way it is.

Still, I look forward to this experience, what I am going to learn, and the experience that I will encounter. Some scary, some happy, but all worth it.

Life Lesson: Keep Your Options Open

As often as we like to make up our minds about things, one of the things that I have learned through the course of my life is to keep your options open. Yes, we like to make specific decisions (or at least I do) about what kind of car we want to drive, what type of clothes we wear, what are we going to eat for supper tonight, the list goes on and on and on. Sure, these are small things, and we can make decisions on small things. The point that I am trying to make is that we need to embrace the ambiguity of life.

Throughout the course of my experiences in life, I have come to learn that humans are life long learners. That is to say we have the capacity to learn something new everyday. One way I would like to illustrate this is in a personal experience of mine.

For about two years now, I have been developing a keen interest in aviation. I can't exactly explain it either, but I am simply amazed at the corporate world of flight. Airports run so efficiently, it takes me back to my days of theatre, where during production, the theatre is pretty much a well oiled machine. It just goes. Plane come in, they land, passengers board, plane takes off again. But it's not just that. The aircraft themselves. The sleek look a plane's angles. The scream of a jet engine. The sheer engineering marvel that we can take a piece of metal and make it fly. Astounding.

In my years of grad school, whenever I found myself to be stressed out, or if I just needed a change of scenery, I would go out to the Norfolk airport for hours, and watch the planes fly in and fly out. When it came time for breaks, I would book flights home instead of driving 6 hours. I would even look for layovers, just so I could get on another plane and experience the exhilarating feeling of takeoff and flight. But it didn't stop there. I cannot tell you how many hours I have spent sitting in front of a computer watching YouTube videos of nothing but planes at airports. I think I'm pretty much hooked.

But before all of that happened, the very reason I became interested in aviation was because I flew to Pennsylvania to visit a friend to fulfill my other passion- theatre.

I didn't know that I would become fascinated by planes. Frankly, I was terrified at first, and a bit foolish. I can still remember asking a ticket agent what it was she just handed me- my boarding passes.

So I think the point of this entry is that you never know where life is going to take you. I went to UNCA because I wanted to do drama. Then I wanted to become an RA. I didn't know that that would lead me to a Master's degree. I didn't know that visiting a friend would inspire an appreciation and interest in aviation.

This Sunday, I continue to pursue that interest. I will be making my first flight as a student pilot, in my very first flying lesson. Hopefully by December, I'll be able to fly with my Private Pilot's License. It is a dream coming to fruition.

So, keep your options open. You never know where life is going to take you.

An Introduction (Reprise)

Perhaps this posting comes about on the account that I have more time on my hands. Perhaps a new thoughts have come to my mind and I am inspired to write about them. Whatever the case, I think I think I need a new introduction.

For quite some time, this particular blog has been dormant. The purpose was to log my progress in grad school; what I had discovered, and the life experiences that I have had out of it. Unfortunately though, this idea fell short, as either I didn't have enough time, or just simply lost interest. Only today does this blog reawaken. And there's a reason why.

Since my last posting (which has been over a year ago) I have managed to graduate from graduate school, land a job within my field, and move back to my home state of North Carolina. I have accomplished some of my dreams as stated in one of my earlier postings. The past two years have not been easy ones, per se. Although life was good, it still had its challenges. Now that I have been able to focus on things other than academics, I can now begin to focus on life as a professional, and life enriching opportunities.

But that's not what this post is about. I don't want to deviate too far away from my point. The point of this blog is to re-introduce myself. It's been nearly two years since this blog was created, a lot of changed, and for those of you lucky enough to trip across the blog as a result of a bad Google search (because I know MILLIONS read it) an introduction is in order.

My name is Mark. I work in the business of dreams. No, I don't work for Disney. I work in the business of accomplishing dreams, reaching goals, and creating new heights. I work in the business of education. The past two years of grad school have taught me that this field is not for everyone. I firmly believe that you have to be "cut out" for what you do. Education is a service industry. It is a people business. Some people will tell you otherwise, but the very core, the foundation of what educators do is to inspire others to develop the discipline to expand their minds, to challenge themselves to new commitments, to learn something new.

As humans, we were given a mind capable of complex thought. Thinkers- Socrates, Plato, Columbus, Voltaire, Nietzsche, Einstein, Hawking, and countless others are no different from you and I. People might've thought these folks were off their rocker a bit, all because they had the ability to think differently. Through centuries, we have been able to take a rock and transform it into a wheel, develop letters and languages, create various forms of art, and engineer a 450 ton machine to take off and soar to 30,000 feet above the earth. Folks, that grey matter in our heads is more than just matter. The brain is a tool, but unlike tools the more you use your brain, the sharper it becomes. All we have to do is put it to good use.

And that's what brings me to the point that I want to make today. So often, I find that students who come into my office face a huge level of anxiety in committing themselves to classes. They are unsure if they have the cognitive facilities to have the means to perform academically. I think they have every right to think that, because if all we have been trained to do for the last 20 years is push a button, and pull a lever, it's all we know how to do. Why would you want to break your comfort zone for a few classes?

It is my job and my goal to take the student that comes into my office saying these things, and to empower them with the desire, motivation, and will to learn, accomplish a goal, and to spread their wings.

So here we have returned to a starting point, and with a new mission in mind. This blog will now encompass the lessons I've learned in life, observations in life, and my own personal opinions (when necessary). It's in the tagline.

Here's to a new beginning. I'm back. Let's do this.