14th of July : fireworks

The 14th of July is the French national holiday. It commemorates the 1789 revolution, and besides the official ceremonies it’s also known for the numerous fireworks shows that take place everywhere in the country. I took some pictures from one not far from home :

Larger pictures are available in the gallery, as usual.

Feels like heaven.

How can it get any better than this ?

My last post was about my graduation from college and the beginning of summer holidays. But now it turned out to be a thousand times better than this ! I’ve been admitted in the Master I applied for… but I won’t go. I’ve received the results from the ENAC, and I’m also admitted.

The ENAC is the French school for aviation, where air traffic controllers, engineers and pilots are trained. I’ll fall in the last category, as an EPL (French for airline pilot student). I’ve been struggling for this since 2004, and now it finally happens. I took the written tests in April: maths, physics and English. Passed them, so I’ve been invited to take the psychotechnics… and again I passed. Last part was in mid-June when I took the oral English test, then some interviews. On the 24th, I’ve received the results: I was in ! Ended up 12th, and they kept 74 people. But the final call would be the medical examination, fail and you’ll never be a pilot, pass and you’re done. That was yesterday… and the result said OK.

So, I’m in. I’ve got my class 1 medical, my admission paper for the school, and even my college diploma. How could a summer start better than this ?

School will last for approximately two years, including ground theory courses and a lot of flight time. Be prepared for thousands of pics !

The end of (bad) times.

Finally, summer holidays arrived… I’m now done with this college year, I’ve passed my exams and graduated last week. Besides that, interviews for next year are also over, meaning I’m on holidays. I know that sounds redundant, but I can’t get myself used to that idea thus I must repeat it.

Let’s celebrate that, and before champagne, a little flight would be great…

Yesterday, we had a lot of thunderstorms here, and I had to wait until the sky clears a bit before flying. Great idea that was… we went in the air just before the sun set. Enjoy the pics !

Time doesn’t count there.

It has been a special weekend here, lasting from Thursday to Sunday, and fortunately the Sun was not on vacation somewhere else ! Just like the every day growing crowd of visitors, we drove to the Cap Ferret, our local attraction. In fact, it’s just a little village located at the tip of a peninsula, where the Bassin d’Arcachon opens up onto the Atlantic Ocean, but it’s rather nicely organized to attract tourists, with beaches on both sides, and a pleasant town to wander in.

That’s my favorite place to relax, it’s only twenty minutes away, but far, far away from any source of stress. There’s absolutely nothing serious to do, just have fun at the beach, go for a walk in streets where there are no cars, enjoy the calm while eating a banana split…

Some other pictures are in the Gallery

«/exams»

That terrible week is now over: exams are done … let’s hope results will be fine. To keep up with the good news, the Sun is back at least for the weekend, and I’m packing my things to go flying tonight. Pictures ASAP.

Exams time…

Today are starting final exams for this semester… physics, love it or leave it ! I’d rather leave, but I guess I’m somehow addicted, so once again, it’s time to get back at work. There are tests during the whole week, and it’s been a lot to read and learn lately, that’s why I didn’t write anything here for a so long time.

May Friday come quickly, I have lots of other things to do

Back after all…

After this so long period without Internet at home, I’ve found a backup solution in a brand new open Wi-Fi hotspot (no, my DSL connection isn’t back yet… yes, it can take two months… damn ISPs !)… Anyway, as slow as it could be, this Wi-Fi allows me to post some lines here.

During that so long time, things happened. First good point, exams are now over and results are good ! After that, I went on holidays for a week, more details below. Now, courses are back at the university for the last three months, and everything has returned to normal.

This January, I’ve been in the French Alps, which in my opinion are among the nicest places on earth: I’m no big fan of natural things and I love big cities, but I must admit that place is really wonderful. Precisely, I was in Tignes, a French ski station, connected with Val d’Isere, where a FIS world cup downhill  takes place. Even the weather was great, except one snowy day, we’ve seen the sun shining all week long. Lack of snow ? Don’t even think about it ! On arrival, there was more than 150cm, and the cold air prevented it from melting, even under that bright sky, always keeping the slopes in perfect condition. In fact, the only bad point is that we only stay there for a week, there’s so much to see, so much to ski that it’d take at least twice this time to enjoy completely this spot. Definitely a place to go back to !

By the way, I went skiing with my camera, so pictures are available, some directly below, other in the gallery there.

No news… ?

I haven’t written anything for quite a long time now, this is mostly due to two major reasons :

- I’ve lost my internet connection at home, for some technical issue, and my ISP is really slow to fix it.

- this is exams time ! Which means less time to spend on a keyboard…

More to come next week.

Why I’ve been away for so long …

I’ve been away from overclocking and all that stuff for quite a long time, and I owe my friends an explanation. Some of them may already know, but anyway… Let’s make it short: I spent all the free time I used to put in running 3DMark into taking flying lessons.

College took a lot more time this year too, and the little left was spent in a plane’s cockpit. Add to this that benchmarking is a quite expensive hobby and flying too… that forced me to make some choices: real 3D over DirectX

 Things are going easier now, and I’ve got my flying licence, so that allows the weekends to be spent overclocking in the garage instead of reading books on every free minute. I now hope I’ll be able to jump on the 45nm wagon quickly and get back on the ORB. 

BTW, here are some pics of the plane I learnt on: