The Rising Family™ is a happy family.
We lead a plain but satisfying life in Yokohama.
For example, Lady E. will soon reach six years old; she is blossoming and is high-octane curious about life. Talkative, like her dad. M. is also speaking at length without
need of an audience and laughing at her own jokes. She has staked her claim in
the family unit and is a lovable little nutter.
The danger of a joyful family that is
blessedly free of major problems is that it lacks the drama or fodder for stories that you, dear
Reader, might find interesting. In that sense, “plain” is a pain. I soldier on nevertheless,
and offer the following two tidbits from our Yippie Yokohama existence.
"Orange Hawk Down"
Background to this anecdote: The V-22
Osprey is a multi-mission, tilt-rotor aircraft with a vertical take off and
landing (VTOL) capability. It has been in use in branches of the US armed forces
since 2007. The V-22’s development was long and controversial, and it has been
plagued by a reputation for glitches and accidents. Once the Department
of Defense announced the V-22 would be deployed to Japan
there has been a long and pronounced public outcry about potential safety hazards
and potential for crashes in Japan’s
densely populated urban areas.
 |
| Courtesy of the US Dept. of Defense |
Flash forward to the present: I am a
childish man. That said, I occasionally indulge in “man toys.” One such
purchase was a cheap, remote-controlled mini helicopter. I brought this with me
when I recently took the girls to a local park that has a wide open green space, perfect
for takeoff and landings. Or so I thought.
Amid a lull in the usual jumping, screaming
and climbing that goes with such trips to the park, I snuck away and pulled out my toy
for a test. The trial showed the mini-heli had two directions: up (very, very quickly)
and straight down. Immediately after this test I was surrounded by a gaggle of kids,
mostly young boys, who materialized out of nowhere. Feeling very much the middle-aged
pied piper, their enthusiasm was infectious—more tests...go go go.
Test flight #2 was memorable. The helicopter
went straight into the heavens, remote control was severed at about 50 ft high, and
it plummeted straight down into the sidewalk where the crash impact split the nose
off the fuselage. Carnage!
My helicopter was mostly destroyed, but I was laughing
my ass off. Why? Immediately after witnessing the crash of the mini heli, the group
of kids surrounded the downed helicopter and, almost in unison, cried out: “It’s
the Osprey!”
Who says kids these days don’t follow current
events?
1 comment:
My son has the same one. He's good at flying it. I am not. I put it in a very sappy pine tree about 40 ft up with him watching and giving me instructions. Now I am sappy too. Graeme
Post a Comment