I had a freaky nightmare in the wee hours of the morning. Though I cannot remember most of it, the parts that scared me were quite vivid. It has been a long time since I last had a nightmare and I hope after the one I just had, I won't experience another anytime soon. The nightmares that I had as a child were quite horrific and I can still recall them til this day. No more I hope, else I will be afraid to go to sleep at night.

Moving on, I had a small victory today! I cleared my navigation solo check on my first attempt. To me, this is a milestone that marks this journey so far. I felt I had a lot to prove and I managed to rise to the occasion.

I had done a lot of preparation beforehand and though it does help a lot, there is always something new that I am not prepared for. The check instructor put a fair amount of pressure on me for the entire sortie and it was quite mentally exhausting to say the least. However, I realize I can handle that kind of pressure, in fact, it made me perform better than I ever did before this. It is just not comfortable heh. Altitude and heading was maintained to standard and I was on more or less on track and on time for the entire navigation exercise. The checks and the navigation technique were generally satisfactory but he wanted me to fine tune it and navigate in even greater detail. That was the tough bit as I was not that disciplined before. It was tough planning ahead and trying to get positive fixes and deciding what to prioritize first. The cycle of activity never stops and there is plenty of mental calculation to be done.

I was totally not prepared for the IFR traffic over at Cunderdin and I did not know what all the calls meant. This is the first time I am experiencing so much traffic in a CTAF aerodrome and I had to learn on the spot. I began to have a mental picture of all that is going on and how it will affect me. I joined for circuits, did 2 touch and gos, departed and carried on from there.

It was not a perfect sortie and there were many things to pick on but I managed to correct my mistakes and keep improving throughout the route. I learnt a lot from this check and I will continue to refine my techniques to be better.

Poot Poot and I had a lovely time celebrating my small success but now, all I want to do is knock myself out and sleep. Thank you God for everything.

I don't know who was more shocked this morning, me or one of the new cadets who burst into my room by mistake. What if I had been changing!??! He probably did not expect a female occupant but whatever, I am more irritated by the fact that the door slamming has started all over again. It always happens whenever a new course moves into the rooms along the same corridor. Is it so difficult to turn the bloody door knob?

Today is quite a big day for me but the forecast shows moderate turbulence, well will just see how it goes. God knows best.

The Lord has set things right, as always. All I had to do is entrust everything into His hands and have faith, it is as easy as that. When you believe, you will receive. I just know that whatever the outcome, it is for the best, even if I cannot see it now, it will all be revealed in the future.

There is no drama afterall and I really glad, thank God. The last thing I want is to be a star in some real life soap opera. Just keep me out of the spotlight, leave me to do my thing and I will be happy.

Moving on, I did a nav sortie with my instructor yesterday. I was quite sure I prepared very well on ground, but it did not do very much to prepare me for how different things can be up in the air. For one, a lot of the towns and key features look very different from Google Earth and the pictures I have seen. When I look down, all I see are patches of endless brown and a mish mash of tracks I am not sure if are roads, powerlines, train tracks or rivers. It is also difficult to tell which hill or mountain is which in relation to the map, because they all look the bloody same. Though, some are a much more distinct than the rest.

Then, there is the light turbulence and thermals that make it hard to maintain altitude and tolerance is +/- 150ft. The forecast winds which I used for my planning is totally different from the actual wind. Nabei.

It was a route I was totally unfamiliar with. I drifted off track to the left on my first leg and was unable to get a position fix to to a 1 in 60 calculation. Luckily, I know how the town Northam looks like and it is very distinctive. I positively identified the town and the time confirmed it, so I tracked perpendicular towards the town.

The second leg to Quairading was shit too. I was cruising at an altitude that made it difficult for me to spot the town from a distance. On top of that, the winds made me drift to well left of track, which had hardly any features! Again, I was screwed, I could not get any position fix to do a 1 in 60 correction. So I waited until I came to another town, did the same thing and once I knew where I was, I followed a highway to track straight to Quairading.

I was given a diversion from Quairading to Beverly. Nabei, again wind made me drift to the right of track where there are hardly any features! I had to do the same thing to get to Beverly town. I found it with some difficulty and I felt ready to give up.

Then, I got another diversion to Murray Field. It was a long leg of about 60NM. I could see all the prominent features from a distance already. When I did my clearoff checks, I realized that fuck, my compass and DGI was like misaligned by 35 degrees. No wonder always off track lah! It is my fault for not having the patience to wait for the lag to settle to make sure it is really aligned. I only did a cursory check due to the high workload. Huge lesson learnt there, I must make it a point to check every 5 mins.

I had a very good leg back. After I sorted out what was causing me problems, things came together nicely. I was not exactly familiar with the area but I had many good features to give myself positive features. It was turbulent and the winds blew me off track, as expected. But since I had positive fixes, I was able to do a 1 in 60 correction and and that worked out beautifully. I was also able to do a groundspeed check and all my figures were spot on. It was the leg which I redeemed myself and I employed the navigation techniques up to standard. Went back to Jandakot with no dramas heh.

I was cleared to go for my Nav solo check, which I will be doing this Friday. Lucky me! I was given the same route which was just described, with only a small difference for the last leg. I have ample time to prepare for it and I must do it well. I am glad I screwed up the sortie so much, if not, I will not be able to learn from the possible mistakes that can happen and fuck up the major check.

It is like another first circuit solo and first area solo all over again. I pray I will perform well.

Today, one of the worship leaders came out of nowhere and started praying for me towards the end of the church service. I was taken aback as she knew what was deep in my heart even though I did not say anything. A strange sense of comfort fell over me like a blanket and I could most definitely feel the Lord's presence. I teared as I thanked the lady and I will bear her words in mind.

Every morning I wake up to the sound of 2 women bitching in Cantonese... on and on and on they go. They are in charge of the overall cleanliness of the college but it seems that they are starting to think they own the whole college. They'd find numerous things to pick on and then complain to anyone who would listen. I do sympathize with them sometimes because some characters are really inconsiderate and all these things snowball. But having said that, this is getting out of hand and it is making many people very irritated. I really don't understand why people would want to find things to be unhappy about. If there are fewer of such negative characters around, the world would be a better place. How the negativity sucks me dry, it is like a dark ominous cloud that casts a shadow over me. No wonder so many people cannot wait to complete their training and get the fuck out of here.

Mulled over the recent events that have upset me and I have arrived at a conclusion... Many factors are beyond my control, so I will focus on those I can do something about. God knows best and it is out of my hands now. I am going to forgive, I only pray that things will be contained and die down.