Dots (part two)

So it's been awhile since my last update about my foray into the world of Air Traffic Control. From that time there has been good news and bad news. Just like everything else in the world, the bad news comes first: I'm still a retard trainee, and will be probably through the end of the year. It's just the way that it goes. What does that mean? More snide comments about my mental acuity. More mistakes that make ME question my mental acuity. More days that make you feel like sticking your hand into a plugged-in blender while sitting in a full bathtub. A change in days off that means working on the weekends, and seeing less of The Woman.

Bummer, huh?

As for the good news, I have gotten checked out at 2 sectors (out of a possible 5), one of which might be the most difficult one in the area. I gotta say, passing that first check ride was an awesome feeling. Gave me a glimmer of hope that this just might be the job for me. I sure hope it is, because it's badass. Another bonus is my first raise. Sweet payola. I'm not going to get into what I get paid, because that's a whole nother bitchfest. Needless to say that with a wedding in Las Vegas rapidly approaching, every little bit helps. It's definitely a motivator to get checked out as fast as I can. Here's hoping NATCA can fix the contract and get me on a pay scale the same level as everyone else.

After being checked out on the two "high" sectors in my area (with altitude limits starting at 24,000 feet all the way up to Jesus), I've been sent down to the low altitudes. The first of which is centered over Dubuque, Iowa (for clarity's sake, hereafter referred to as DBQ). Apparently, there are still people out there who have a burning desire to fly to DBQ to take a gander at the miles and miles of nothing. DBQ is alot like Grand Forks, except no blackjack in the bars and a greater distance away from Canada. I've gone from talking to professional pilots who (most of the time) listen to your instructions and (most of the time) comply with them. Down at DBQ, you get alot of Weekend Warrior types who completed their private pilot's exam by watching an 8mm documentary of WW II Japanese kamikaze pilots and taking a ScanTron test with half the holes already filled in. It's pretty entertaining listening to them do the kind of shit that I used to when I was getting my license. And I did some shit that made my flight instructor's head spin.

So needless to say it's a brand new learning experience. Just when I thought I had it all figured out with the high altitudes, DBQ backhands me in the junk. And on top of that, it's springtime. Which means you could be working a perfectly peaceful sector and then oh my god there are thunderstorms everywhere and everybody wants to deviate and DBQ tower is calling for releases and I just got put into the hold and Sue hates me and she's on my D-side and HOLY SHIT IS THAT A TORNADO????? This crap is gonna make me age faster than the dude who drank out of the wrong grail in the 3rd Indiana Jones flick.

But hey, it could be worse. I could be working for GM.