Hot-air balloons

I want to be a hot-air balloonist when I grow up.

When I was a kid, before I made the Purple World, my room had hot-air balloons on the walls. Once, I was running around barefoot down the street with my sister, we saw a hot-air balloon flying around, and I figured out where it was, which was only a block away from me! We raced down with our dirty feet in our t-shirts and shorts, and asked for a ride. And they gave us one. Oh yah.

I did some research. They have hot-air ballooning schools. You can hire someone to train you, which will get you a license faster, but it's more expensive. You have to clock in hours to be a balloonist. Or, you could work on a crew with a balloonist, and be trained that way, which is much cheaper, but will take longer, because of all the hours you gotta clock. Did I mention the crew? It takes a crew of 3-4 people to get a balloon in the air, excluding the pilot. You need people to help you inflate the thing, as well as to follow you as you fly, and negotiate and find landing spots for you when it's time to go down. Landing spots are usually farmer's fields. You have to be careful of the brave, stupid cows that don't get scared away by the large UFO landing in their field, and be careful of hitting wires, trees, etc. on the way down. There are three different ways of powering a balloon. There's one type of gas, which can cost up to $3000 per flight. I forget what it's called. There's also getting it to float by heating the air in the balloon, which costs however much propane it takes for the flame. There's a combination of the two methods. I don't know which method is best. The whole kit for a balloon, wicker basket, and fiery thingy is about $11,000 new. And it's better to buy new than used. The balloon itself is estimated at a certain number of hours before replacement, while the basket and fiery things have a lifetime guarantee.

I will do this when I am married, and have kids who are old enough to be in my crew. Because any kid would be the coolest kid in school if they know how to fly hot-air balloons. But I do want to do this. Because people dream about doing something they truly enjoy, and then for fear of lack of security, they settle for less, and I don't want to settle. I want to fly hot-air balloons.

Random story:
It turns out that Marjorie Hopkins, the dean of student life at EBC... is in my Latin Class at University of Waterloo. She's in my tutorial to be more exact, not the actual class.

Because of this, I want to get a higher mark than her. So, to her lack of awareness, we're in the middle of a competition. She has a head start. She read her textbooks and made flash cards. I bought my textbooks tonight (because my friend Charlie snuck me into the UW bookstore so I didn't have to wait in line for hours) so I haven't started yet. I also JUST finished my flash cards. But I did draw up colorful diagrams of present stems and personal endings, and plural and singular declensions. There will be more to come. They will decorate my room. And I will kick butt.