# Blog

Last year, after my wife's Facebook account was hacked (and recovered - read about that here) we had two scary realizations:

Today was fun - and a little frightening. I would have been all set to start my level 2 skill set after testing out of level 1 last time I was at iFly, however I had booked today's session in advance, the flying rules state that voucher time can be used for belly flying only.

As Napoleon Dynamite would say, "YUSSSSSSSSSSS!" I did it! I passed my level 1 set of flight skills! I'm sure I've already said this one or five times in the past, but this was my favorite set of flights so far. For the first time, I didn't feel nervous or like I was setting out with a mindset of checking skills off the list. I went in with the mindset of just having a fun time (and yes, hopefully passing my side slides so I could stick a fork in level 1 flying)!

Today was a beast! For the first time ever, I flew 15 minutes in one session (chopped up into chunks of 1:30 I believe)! It wasn't my idea, though. A buddy of mine (who I flew with for the third time) planted the idea in my head last time we were here, and although several people told us not to do it, we did. The way it works (in case anybody reading this wants to do it in the future) is you have to buy three 10-minute flights. That books you and a friend (or two) the full 30-minute flying window. So my pal and I decided to trade off flying for ~1:30 at a time for 30 minutes straight. The good news is you don't have to take turns with a large group of other flyers. The bad news is this environment makes for a very short recovery time between flights!

I'll probably say this a lot in this blog series, but today’s visit was my favorite so far. Why? A few reasons! First off, I got to fly with a buddy of mine today for the second time, and I think he’s getting the flying “bug” just about as much as I am. In fact, the two of us are buying out an entire half hour session next week, which is super fun (and maybe crazy?)! That means we’re going to fly 15 minutes a piece, broken up into ~2 minute flights.

Welp, I’m still absolutely loving playing Smash Drums as a way to relieve stress. I recently completed one of my favorite songs in the SD library, Something I Can Dance To, on extreme difficulty level! Check it out:

Such a fun flying session! This time I went with my boys again. It was their third or fourth time, so they got to spend some time doing belly work - that's where the instructor brings down the wind speed so you're flat on the mat, and then works with you on turns and towards/away movements. On their final session, the instructor had them stretch out their arms and legs while also lowering their heads. These are the movements that start lifting you into the air on your own! I loved watching both my boys get an "OMG!" face when that happened, and come out of the tunnel with huge smiles on their faces!

Welp, I’m a member of a gun club now. This is a sentence I never thought I would write at this age, if ever. But a bunch of events happened around the same time that sealed the deal for me: First, about a month ago I completed the concealed carry course, then a few weeks ago I learned a bunch of interesting tips in a self defense class hosted at the gun club. Finally, I got my permit in the mail and bought a gun. Since I drive near a gun club almost every night of the week for my kids’ extracurricular activities, I figured I should stop by to learn more about membership options.

In my 2022 to focus more on play in my work/play balance, I picked up a fun game for Oculus Quest 2 called Smash Drums. It's similar to the Guitar Hero series, but with (air) drums. I'd definitely file the game under the "You feel awesome playing it, but look like a complete idiot to people watching you play" category. I find that playing the game at the end of a hard work day is a real stress reliever. When I play on the higher difficulty levels, I work up quite a sweat - my watch even kicks in sometimes, asking "Hey, you doing a workout, fella?"

Today’s session was really challenging. In addition to focusing on my side slides (the last skill I have to conquer before moving on to level 2), I had a few curve balls thrown at me: I laughed when I watched the video replay because I didn’t realize my instructor was literally flying under me to interrupt the wind flow!