I’m not sure there really is a lighter side or humor to be had when 4321 Americans die in one 24 hour period. That’s over one 9-11 each day for the last week. And here, even as I write this, there are deranged idiots out, doing the bidding of some really vile people holding “demonstrations” which are really nothing more than dupes.
“It’s all staged and it’s all a manipulation. Everyone needs to recognize this is a fake populist movement funded by Right Wing billionaires and promoted by Right Wing media and Donald Trump. It is an orchestration, a political hoax. And it needs to be called out as such. It’s not real but it is also real in that these people are dangerously unhinged.”
However, amid our shared tragedy, there are some funny things to see. So if you are one of the majority of Americans, like me, who actually believes the worst is still yet to come, here’s a very funny lady to take your mind off things for a while. Since I’ve spent the better part of last month teleworking and having the S.O. drive me crazy; I’ve been spending a lot of time on PornHub YouTube watching in no particular order: airplane videos, comedians, and golf videos. We’ll get to the airplanes in a minute, but for now, I commend to you, Ms. Yumi Nagashima – a hilarious Japanese standup comedian who lives in Vancouver. Not only is she gorgeous, but she combines the appearance of Japanese sweetness with some very biting humor/sarcasm. I’ve come to love watching her standup.
Then there are the aviation videos I have been watching. You might think my focus would be in military aircraft and carrier aviation given that I have 5000 hours as an NFO in 16 different types of aircraft. But no, its all been general aviation focused. YouTube has a plethora of general and corporate aviation videos, where pilots have hooked up GoPros and you can watch a flight from engine start to landing. One aircraft that particularly struck me was this one:
Now if I only had 500 hours of pilot training and a spare 3.5 million dollars, I would love to have one of these. For now, all I can do is watch others fly it and sigh. Its a lightweight single-engine jet, that had some bumps at the beginning ( The FAA grounded them due to a faulty sensor), but those problems seem to be behind it now. I find the cockpit instrumentation particularly interesting as well as the fact it has side stick controllers instead of a traditional yoke.
These videos from Citation Max show the cockpit and aircraft very well. This is a trip from New York to Atlanta. I find it interesting – you mileage may vary.
I think the glass cockpit is cool and it reminds of the fights that many in the E-2 community had trying to convince the powers that be that an upgrade to the cockpit was necessary in the early ’90s. Those attempts fell on deaf ears much to the community’s detriment, but fortunately, they fixed that with the E-2D.
Brings back memories of why I got into Naval Aviation in the first place.
And finally a little comic humor:
I’ve not just been watching videos, I’ve also been reading a bit. I took the opportunity to read this book by one of my other favorite Asian comedians, Ali Wong. ( I like female comedians in general and hot looking Asian ones are a real plus).
It’s an easy read and very funny. If you get the urge watch her Baby Cobra special on Netflix. It’s funny, and she still looks pretty good at 7 months pregnant walking around the stage.
One quote from the book had special meaning for me:
“But when I was living there, San Francisco was an escape for people who hadn’t been accepted in their small towns for who and what they loved or believed.”
― Ali Wong, Dear Girls: Intimate Tales, Untold Secrets, and Advice for Living Your Best Life
I can relate to that, a lot. I think its a great analogy to the discovery I made of living life overseas and, truth be told, I’ve always been a fan of San Francisco – I like it much better than LA or San Diego. I also find it an analogy to my early days of blogging when I would have to argue with the dunderheads who thought all military background bloggers should be pro war and pro conservative.
But that is for another post sometime at the end of next week. Till then, stay safe. Stay at home. And wash your hands!
