Do it Again

 The Thrifty Rocketeer blog continues....



It was just the other day when I was trying to explain what Model Rocketry was that a young feller made the comment. "That's boring."

"What do you mean," I asked, "How can launching a rocket be boring?"

"You spend all this time building a rocket-ship, and then you take it out to a playground and stuff it with something to make it go...and then you launch it into the air... but it comes right back down again.  And then you just do it again?"

"Yes," I had to agree, "but it can be very exciting, as you try to get everything right so it goes smoothly the next time."

"Boring," he stated again. "You never get to send it into outer space."

This stopped me in my tracks, as I had never really thought about it that way.

As I thought about it, I thought what was usually my favorite part of the process.  And I came to realize that I have been buying and building low-power rockets again and again.  My enjoyment has been tied to the assembly of the rocket kit.

Another part of pleasure for me, is the recovery of a older model or broken rocket, and fashioning a replacement part, fin, body tube, streamer or chute, so that the old bird will fly once more.

This seems to give me more pleasure than the actual launch, and I wondered why.

I came to realize that I'm always so keyed up when I get ready to launch, cause I'm fearful that something will go wrong, and I'll loose it, or CATO it, or fail to recover it.  And that kind of spoils it all for me.

I mulled over what the young feller had said, and the old Steely Dan song came back to me.

"So, go back, Jack, 

Do it again,

Wheel turning round and round,

You go back, Jack,

Do it Again."

It's been years since I've thought about that song and what it might mean. (Now, Donald Fagen and W. Becker have since admitted that most of their Steely Dan songs didn't have any meaning or underlying message, but that didn't stop anyone from loving them, buying the LPs and playing them on the radio.)   Most of us in college at the time had assumed that the song was about  how guys are whipped by gals into being submissive...crawling back after a fight or a break-up just to "do it again".

But today, the song takes on a different meaning, as I apply it to our hobby.

Just what are we into this hobby for?  Just to go back again, reload the same old rockets, and "do it again?"

Where's the fun in that?

The Thrifty Rocketeer would like to hear your reasons for participating in this hobby.

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