Maximum Bandwidth Consumed...

 I can tell I have a long way to go with this flying stuff.  How do I know?  Because when I am flying the landing pattern and landing the plane, I don't make the right, consistent radio calls.  What this tells me is that the process of thinking through and managing the landing is consuming 100% of my mental CPU cycles and there simply aren't any cycles left over for doing radio calls (or anything else for that matter).  This is why there is an instructor sitting right next to me.  Part of his job is to be the second CPU and handle the overflow of tasks I can't quite cover.

I know this will change as I get more time and experience in the air.  But it is a very unsettling experience at my age since I am so accustomed to having near absolute mastery in most everything else in my life (ok, well, not when it comes to golf).  It's also a great reminder of what it must be like for our children who are dealing with first-time experiences almost every day.  And, it also makes me more sensitive to the trials and tribulations new employees go through when they join our team at work.

Awareness of maximum mental CPU capacity:  yet another benefit of learning to fly.