Take off........land. Take off...........land. Take off..........land. Take off..............land. The better you can do both, upwind, down wind, crosswind, the more accomplished a pilot you really are, IMO. I've watched guys who can Harrier roll all day just like Que-whatsisname, but their takeoffs and landings look like s**t, and that doesn't impress me. The greatest thing , what I enjoy most about flying, is greasing a landing, especially in less than ideal conditions, and not doing it just once, but being able to repeat it. I get the biggest sense of accomplishment of all my planes, not with doing an outside loop or rolling circle, or series of scale warbird maneuvers, but landing my DR-1 without bouncing, dragging a wingtip, or ground looping. Hardest plane I have to land, unsprung, narrow gear, poor tail steering (skid, no wheel). If I can grease it in twice in a row, I consider it a great day of flying, regardless of how lousy the rest of the flying might have been.

Of course, have all the fun you can between Take-off...........landing; it's just that those are the most critical times of flight, when you're in the corners of the flight envelope, not enough altitude or airspeed. When you can react to a deadstick 5 feet up and you're pointed the wrong way, and you can do the right thing automatically to save the plane, THAT's piloting