All Things Rowdy

Crazy? Delusional? Tormented? The results came back for my sleep study regarding my parasomnias. Negative, which means normal. There is no biological reason while I sleep to 1. have constant nightmares that wake me, make me yell out and sometimes paralyze me and 2. the number of times I wake per night and that I only sleep for 2 hours or less at a stretch most nights. Leading me to think if my night troubles don't have a physiological origin then they must have a psychological one... I used to think dreams were just "neurological backwash" for lack a better term. Poorly tuned, static filled images in one's brain television. But normal people don't have the number of nightmares I do. Or wake up as often as I do. If it's not my body it has to be my mind. So what is going on in my mind?

Well my first week of college is in the books! Haahahaha. OK, not my first week ever, as I have a bachelors of science already so I've "done my time" as it were. Just taking two classes, introductory algebra/geometry and digital imaging. Math is pretty simple but the teacher is a trip! Seems like freshmen community college students are like the 8th graders of the university world. Guess that would make anyone who has been doing it for years a crazy, mean, weird, old lady. 'Cause she is! At least I leave that class feeling pretty smart about my math ability! hahaha. Digital imaging class is a mix of photography and photoshop. Using a DSLR I have down fairly good for a hobbiest but I've never used photoshop. Until $450 (student discount!) later and now. Here are the first two things I did at home, just using youtube tutorials, never having even seen CS6 until doing these. I gotta say, I really enjoy being around lots of people. Having deadlines and requiremen...

Nope, not a trip to the waterpark but rather snorkeling. Well, it started as snorkeling but the water was turbid and the swell was kinda up, so not really the best shark viewing conditions. So from that we decided to go do some basic free diving. Swim off shore to a buoy. Relax. Find the chain connecting the buoy to the ocean floor. Relax. Three good breathes. Submerge. Equalize your ears. Start going hand over hand down the chain to the bottom. Relax. Slowly exhale continually and ascend to the surface. Repeat. Like so: Wanna know something really cool? Of the three of us that went today, there was basically a 20 year age difference between all of us, from JB to me(RB)20 years, and 20 from me to DB. But we all were able to get along, share knowledge, help each other and have a good time. It's not really your age, it's your attitude!!

All photos taken by me and all within the past day to month.

Little bit of day dreaming here, but bjorn with me. SuperD is fully vested at work 9-2015, or two years from now. If things continue upward then hopefully the housing market rebounds as well, making it an ideal time to move from San Diego after that date. Fork in the road A. Move to the Austin Texas area if family requires it. If you gotta live in Texas, then Austin seems to be the place to do it. I've been there lots of times and I'm sure I could find all sorts of things to like about the area and importantly lots of "newness" in things to me. Wages, housing, taxes and such are all OK there, so no worries. Just gotta get used to the weather and the "Texas" part of living in Texas. If J2W move there for graduate school that'd just be an even greater bonus. More family, more fun right? I can still motorcycle there, shoot there and enjoy a healthy outdoor lifestyle. I'm sure it's just wishful thinking but there seems to be an air of openness an...

I don't just crave change, I need it. It is a hardwired, biological, unrelenting force in me. What's the difference between a rut and a grave? Jut the size of the hole. So as I sit here going nutso, waiting for UPS and FedEx I'm trying to get my frenetic side under control. The side that wants to buy a mascot costume, light it on fire and run and jump off a cliff into the ocean just for fun. Let just my rowdy-ness out! It's so bad, my change impulse, that I painted my toes. With that I'm trying to positively focus on some future changes. Silly or good. 1. I'm growing a beard. Which is a change. But now that I have it, I want to shave it off. For some quick and easy change. What to do, what to do.... I'll probably try to make it through the first week of classes (see below) and then shave it off. 2. Classes. I signed up for a simple math class and a digital imaging class at Mesa College. They start next Tuesday. As most of you know, I haven't had...

Went to go snorkeling in La Jolla Cove yesterday and while in the shallows these two dudes started just chatting with me out of the blue. They were pretty obviously not big time water guys and in the course of their introductions they asked if I would go with them to swim through one of the caves with sea lions in it. Because they were scared and didn't want to go alone. Think about it, adult males in their 20s admitted to a stranger they were scared and asked for me to essentially hold their hands. Wow, no way would I have ever done that in my 20s! Ever. As we swam and talked they turned out to be pretty cool guys and I hung out and swam with them longer than I really needed to. New friends! In fact, I went out of my way to use my camera and get pictures and video for them, I'll be emailing them the link soon. You can watch the video now: You know, when you're traveling you just got to take a chance that most people are intrinsically good. You might just get a plea...

Just call me Sho-Nuff. Don't get it? Then you weren't a kid in the 80's the way I was. But I won't hold it against you. I actually feel more I'm from the 90's anyways. So, shooting. And competition. In what I do there are gun division and skill classifications. From bottom to top the classifications are UNclassified, MarksMan, SharpShooter, EXpert and MAster. In one of the gun divisions I am EX. This past Saturday I finally beat a MA class shooter for the first time! And by like 4 seconds, not 0.01 or something like that. Sadly for me, my main local competition at EX has also really bumped his game up in the past few months and he beat me by like almost 9 seconds. He was first overall and I was second overall out of the 33 people there that day. And double bad, he is also going to the national championships where we will shoot against each other. There are 33 shooters in our division and classification. According to the rules that means trophies for 1st th...

So my last grandparent died this past week. The funeral was today in Oregon. I didn't attend as I had a local shooting match I needed to attend in preparation for the national championships. I'm sure he'd understand actually. But I do have to admit it is weird to think of my family tree's contracting. My parents are in their 60's.... I'm not sure I'm ready for what happens next. Let's banish that thought... When I was talking to my mom about the funeral and travel and such I asked if I could have a family memento, that would remind me of the early years in our family. Something multi-generational. After much discussion about it, she was able to secure an old brass hunting horn for me, that I do remember from like being 5 years old. It has no particular story, my grandmother had bought it an estate sale is all. But now that all my grandparents are dead I needed something from this side of my family. So from my mom's side I have this horn. From m...

So my little neighbor buddy asked me to take him surfing again today. And snorkeling as he leaves for a family trip to Cancun soon and he wanted the practice. He was 10 minutes early to my house, 750am and all ready to go! This time we, well 'he' since he paid for it ($8 for an hour) and the kid is only 14, rented a 10' foamy board, so something much better for him to learn on. And by the end of the hour he had stood up pretty well twice! He wants to keep going and doesn't mind the suffering of learning something new. Surprisingly humble about it for a teenager. More concerned with learning than how he looks. He wanted me to film him but I told him he needs to stand up reliably before I'll film him. But today I did put together a fun little edit of me surfing on the small summer mush I like so well and then snorkeling with the seals. He earns the gas money by cleaning all of our gear after each trip and my listening to me. Next time I told him it's also go...

I hate paying to park. It is the number one reason I don't ever go downtown. I like what downtown has to offer but couple paying to park and lots of homeless people and I just end up always finding a reason not to go downtown for anything. Probably the most egregious example of getting worked over for parking was when I worked for UCSD. I was charged $90 a month to park for work! Crazy! And then if I added on a motorcycle it was $40 a month! Wow... good thing I was making more than $20 a hour, but still...... $90 bucks a month just to park at work. Being the crafty guy I am, one who enjoys subverting the system, I have a long history of battling the parking police and often getting away with it. Right or wrong, I still seem to find a perverse pleasure in doing it. I love when I have a new vehicle and no plate. Hellooo free trips through the toll roads. No plate for them to photo! In college I bought my first semesters parking hang tag for my car. After that I just made color...

When I moved into the house I'm currently in the neighbor kid was like 8 or 9 years old. Now he is 15. We've goofed off a lot together over the years. Fireworks, stilts, bicycles and so on. Well last week he was hanging out with me in my garage and asked me if I would take him surfing as he'd never been and it was one of his things to do this summer. After I reassured his mom he wouldn't drown we made a time to get together. Now, I'm not a capital S surfer. I just goof off at it for fun 'cause I live in San Diego and I can. But I know the basics well enough to get most people started. (or break their teeth out!) So it was kinda cool to help someone learn a new thing, especially as he was sooo enthusiastic about it and once to go once a week till school starts. That's the kiddo above there in the photo. Next time if it looks like he is starting to stand up I'll let him use my GoPro and get some pictures of him actually surfing. He'll like that...

So here is the preparation of me sleeping for science. Well, medicine really not just science. I'm anxiously waiting my results. This is about half of what was done to me as you can see by the ending photo in the vid. Something I'd never thought of is how important sleep must be if we spend almost 1/3 of our life in it. I mean, doesn't every person complain of being tired and not sleeping enough? It seems universal, not an individual medical problem. But then I stop and think of how many adults I know who complain of nightmares on average of 3 nights per week and then I realize I do have something not quite right and that going to see a doctor about it is OK. I'm not crazy and I'm not a wuss. Sleep is important and I need to have my issue with it treated. And as a bonus, here is the very first video I ever put on youtube, back in 2007. My "office" in Baghdad.

In the past week I've been hassled by The Man more than I have been in the past like 4 years. Barring the speeding ticket I got in Utah earlier this year, which I totally deserved and took like a man. That was his job and he did it quickly and didn't hassle me. Here locally though it has been a different story in the past few days. -On each of my motorcycles I've gotten hard second looks from cops as I ride past them, "just riding along". One even followed me for a bit. I have a license for a motorcycle. I have insurance. I wear a real helmet. I'm an adult male with no criminal record. So why they gotta give me the stink eye? Braaap! And I'm gone. Just like when people tell me, "you can't park there" on my bike or try to squeeze me with their car when I legally lane split. I could just smack someone. (this is my helmet and yes I took this pic) -While out shooting on public BLM land, with all legal guns, all registered, everything leg...