- Joined
- Dec 25, 2016
- Messages
- 20
- Reaction score
- 10
- Age
- 62
Two years ago, I found myself in a hospital bed, very near death. A priest was called in and I received the Sacrament of the Sick (used to be called Extreme Unction or Last Rites).
During the rare moments when I was aroused from my Ketamine stasis I realized that, for the first time in my life, I was having flying dreams. Whether or not these dreams were caused by the anesthesia or some synaptic reflex to being held immobile I cannot say. I told my wife about the dreams and she got the idea that I might be cheered up by the gift of an inexpensive drone she found at an "As Seen On TV" shop she would pass on her way into the hospital each day.
After I was discharged, and was able to go outdoors, I flew that little quadcopter as often as I could. The herky-jerky video I recorded made me feel liberated just like the flying dreams I'd had. It gave me an incredible sense of freedom and I am certain it was an important part of my physical and mental recuperation. I even named the quad after the guy who sold it to my wife - Gupta.
Then, one day, Gupta caught a very strong gust just below the treetops in my back yard. I fought to keep it from drifting, but the little motors had no chance, and it wound up getting tangled in a mass of leaves at the top of the tallest tree.
I tried everything I could think of to get it down. First, by twitching the motors in hopes that it would somehow untangle itself bit by bit down the tree. This only resulted in the rotors twisting themselves more tightly in the leaves. I threw baseballs, but I didn't have the reach nor the accuracy. My last ditch effort was to break out the pellet gun. I figured if I couldn't have Gupta back I sure wasn't going to let the tree have him. Dead or alive, that was MY Gupta.
Gupta died at approximately 4:45 PM on a cloudless Sunday in July.
FADE TO BLACK
This past Sunday was cold. So cold I didn't want to get out of bed. It was around 9:00 AM and I was perfectly content to remain in the cocoon of my electric blanket. Then, the doorbell rang. I froze, turned to my wife, and asked, "who is THAT on a Sunday morning?!".
I jumped up, threw on some clothes, and made it downstairs just in time to see an unfamiliar car leaving the driveway; the person inside just a silhouette I could not make out. I opened the front door as the car pulled away and, to my amazement, there was Gupta! I reached down, picked him up, and ran upstairs proclaiming theatrically to my wife. "Gupta came home! He came home!".
OK, look, I totally understand that this was just a cheap little quad that was originally purchased as a gift to cheer me up. Of course I wasn't really emotionally attached to it. It was a toy. Nothing more, nothing less. But it does represent a sort of starting point for my interest in drones. Two years later, thousands of dollars spent, FAA certification, and many MANY hours of flight time since, little Gupta kinda means something to me. There is something fundamentally important about the recollection of one's past and this was a gift that returned to remind me not only how far I've come with drones, but more importantly - it's really, really good to be alive.
During the rare moments when I was aroused from my Ketamine stasis I realized that, for the first time in my life, I was having flying dreams. Whether or not these dreams were caused by the anesthesia or some synaptic reflex to being held immobile I cannot say. I told my wife about the dreams and she got the idea that I might be cheered up by the gift of an inexpensive drone she found at an "As Seen On TV" shop she would pass on her way into the hospital each day.
After I was discharged, and was able to go outdoors, I flew that little quadcopter as often as I could. The herky-jerky video I recorded made me feel liberated just like the flying dreams I'd had. It gave me an incredible sense of freedom and I am certain it was an important part of my physical and mental recuperation. I even named the quad after the guy who sold it to my wife - Gupta.
Then, one day, Gupta caught a very strong gust just below the treetops in my back yard. I fought to keep it from drifting, but the little motors had no chance, and it wound up getting tangled in a mass of leaves at the top of the tallest tree.
I tried everything I could think of to get it down. First, by twitching the motors in hopes that it would somehow untangle itself bit by bit down the tree. This only resulted in the rotors twisting themselves more tightly in the leaves. I threw baseballs, but I didn't have the reach nor the accuracy. My last ditch effort was to break out the pellet gun. I figured if I couldn't have Gupta back I sure wasn't going to let the tree have him. Dead or alive, that was MY Gupta.
Gupta died at approximately 4:45 PM on a cloudless Sunday in July.
FADE TO BLACK
This past Sunday was cold. So cold I didn't want to get out of bed. It was around 9:00 AM and I was perfectly content to remain in the cocoon of my electric blanket. Then, the doorbell rang. I froze, turned to my wife, and asked, "who is THAT on a Sunday morning?!".
I jumped up, threw on some clothes, and made it downstairs just in time to see an unfamiliar car leaving the driveway; the person inside just a silhouette I could not make out. I opened the front door as the car pulled away and, to my amazement, there was Gupta! I reached down, picked him up, and ran upstairs proclaiming theatrically to my wife. "Gupta came home! He came home!".
OK, look, I totally understand that this was just a cheap little quad that was originally purchased as a gift to cheer me up. Of course I wasn't really emotionally attached to it. It was a toy. Nothing more, nothing less. But it does represent a sort of starting point for my interest in drones. Two years later, thousands of dollars spent, FAA certification, and many MANY hours of flight time since, little Gupta kinda means something to me. There is something fundamentally important about the recollection of one's past and this was a gift that returned to remind me not only how far I've come with drones, but more importantly - it's really, really good to be alive.
