Score: Ego - 0 Wisdom - 1

Friday, I had some oral surgery and I think that's the reason I blew my stage check ride. All I could think about Friday morning was that I was a few hours away from major pain. I should have postponed the stage check. Really. I made a few really DUMBASS mistakes that I would have never made had my mind been clear. Want to know what mistakes I made? Here goes...

1. When asked to perform a power off stall with a turn to the left, I performed a near flawless power ON stall with a turn to the left. Perfect execution of the wrong maneuver. Idiot.
2. When the instructor did a simulated engine failure at 6,500 feet, I failed to realize there was an airport directly below me and tried to glide to one nearly 10 miles away. Although I still had a decent alternate site picked, I blew basic common sense. To fan those flames, I forgot to do a clean-up flow after the maneuver and left the carb heat on. Double dumbass.
3. Last but not least, when shutting down, I forgot to turn off the radio stack prior to engine shut down.
   

In reality, I failed myself before getting in the aircraft. My state of mind was a negative aero-medical factor that my ego failed to realize. That check ride proved to me that you don't have to be fatigued or under the influence of drugs or alchol to be unfit for flying. I should never have flown.

Lesson learned. To give lighthearted credit to an aviation acronym: IMSAFE (duh)