Kierkegaard, Dostoevsky and me.

Two of the three are some of my favorite existentialist writers. Dostoevsky is a close third. It's been said all problems are ones of time and/or distance. I think this was said before the advent of modern banking or they would have added gold in there as well to complete the triumvirate of components in the problems we all face.
My "crisis" this morning is the dreaded to do list, like half a year's worth hanging over my head in a way Damocles would understand.
(if you're not getting the references, read more)

All of the stuff I feel I need to do:
-get a paint and drywall guy to fix three areas in my house damaged by water from the broken water heater. $??
-make an appointment for three different medical procedures. a MRE, colonoscopy and upper endoscopy. $free!
-synch my work, shooting, travel and school schedules. i fear i have some mistakes in them....
-get the shutters on the west side of the house painted $500?
-hotels, flights, rental cars for all my upcoming shooting events out of state. $3,000
-plan and pay for the upcoming S Korea vacation for 3 people. $redacted
-sell two motorcycles and some accessories on craigslist to purchase others.
-prepare for Killer's return
-prepare for Juice Boxs' wedding
-get a custom screen door made for the front door. $1000
-buy the different stuff i want from the stuff sold 4 points earlier
-have a true gardener/landscape person come and fix my mostly dead bougainvillea and replace the ground cover in the back yard and add some fruit trees. $2000???
-do my volunteer time to keep a club membership in force
-new tires for my truck. $800. 90,000 mile service for my truck. $450. headlight refurbish $50.
-install new parts and oil changes on two motorcycles before selling them. $250

One hard 8 hour day on the phone could probably get the ball rolling on 3/4 of this stuff. But the inertia of it, the import of most of it and the dollar amounts involved have just paralyzed me. I just keep hoping it all works out on its own, in its own time.

"Hope is not a plan"-Mysterious Eric.

Dress for the job you want.

Professional shooter. That's the job I want. In getting closer to that goal, here is a pretty close mock up to the new shirt I have to/get to wear to claim different prizes and such. That whole contingency thing mentioned a few posts back. Oh and my full name is on the back across my shoulders in orange.

XC

I don't fly across country to come home empty handed. North Carolina was 1st place. Massachusetts was last place. This weekend in Arkansas yielded a 2nd place in a tough field. I got a sweet etched glass trophy, nicer even than the one I got at last year's national championships.

Which lead to this funny post on fb and me being called "California" and "California Kid" all weekend. Hearing it in their southern accents only made it even funnier.


And since I've also been called "Hollywood" due to my constant filming with the gopro, here are some action shots. 'Cause I'm an action man.

The Walking Dead

Well not exactly, 'cause I'm not in Georgia but I am in Arkansas currently. Rural Arkansas. And boy is that rural, let me tell ya.

Which really isn't that bad when you think of owning some property, trees and stuff like that. Bucolic small town romanticism.

But when you see lots of cash-for-gold stores, liquor stores and no on you know some stuff aint good. But then at the same time you can go to Stubby's BBQ, Mr Whiskers' catfish house and Nom Noms Mexican Grill-n-Chill.

Which would you prefer to focus on? Southern comfort food or economic depression? Or maybe it's observation bias?

If I win tomorrow I guess I won't really be thinking about it. =)

Contingency

So if you're familiar with motorcycle racing, you should be familiar with the idea of a contingency program. You use a company's products in competition. You put their sticker or logo or whatever on your bike and clothes. You list them as sponsors in press releases and such.

In return, when you win they give you stuff, money or whatever. It's often used as a stepping stone from paying the company to use their stuff to getting paid to do it.

Well a few companies in the shooting world do the same thing. Most of them want some sort of photo or video to use in their promotion of you, winning with their products.

Here is an example of a recent video I submited to claim my prizes.

The prosecution would now like to call.....

As you can see, I now qualify as an expert witness in the subject of motorcycle safety. Pretty neat.

What do you do??

Since I have a non traditional schedule/life I'm often asked by regular Joes, "What do you do during the day?" So to answer that question I'll give you a run down of what I'm doing today, Monday March 10th, 2014.

Run 3.6 miles at Lake Murray.
Shower and clean up.
Put gasoline in the truck, motorcycle and gas can.
Exchange out propane tank for new one for the bbq grill.
Cut up and brine salmon prior to smoking it.
Turn in paper work for the motorcycle teaching job.
Go out to lunch.
Shop for small errand things.
Load 200 rounds of ammo and possibly go to range for quick practice. If not, dry fire practice in garage.
Look at/window shop the Ducati I'm interested in.
Browse internet for jobs in the United Arab Emirates for a possible relocation.
Make appointment for new Gastrointestinal doctor I'm going to see.
Fix and cook dinner.
Watch Top Gear and Regular Show.

I imagine I'll get 90% of these things done today. So yeah, that's the kind of stuff I do during the day when regular people are at their desks or whatever. I try to stay busy and I try to do relevant things. I just happen to not be collecting a steady paycheck from any of today's activities.

Mysterious Email

An actual, copy and pasted email exchange earlier from Mysterious and myself:

M-Howsoever, but, to wit, i.e., my immaculate design would be range suitable
and resettable, requiring no sticks or other contrivances, only the pull of
one(1) of two (2) lines/cords/cables/leashes/pull-string-thingys to make
it go, and then to make it come back and get ready to go, again, again.
Be not so quick to dismiss my elegant, elemental eloquent feat of erudite
engineering and such side-to-side swinging success for your target targeting.

Ok, so you're gonna use alliteration and different words than you normally do. My turn.

R-yea verily, you are the virtuosic verisimilitude of verbose! an excellent epitome of eloquence and elocution.

M-Um....what?

R-you're good with words. or something to that effect. never get in a dictionary pissing match with me i guess is the real take away. unless you stack them as high as the toilets in the gardemon airport outside of oslo....... i had to use the kids one as the adult one's rim was above my working level.

To which Mysterious makes a good reply with;

M-That was, I say, that was a joke, son, a joke, there.
Jes' having you on, as it were.
Mak know misteak, I no howe to tak goud.

Oslo restroom commode......now that's a stretch.

These songs....

These songs have all brought tears to my eyes at one time or another.
This one makes me think of the perfect love. That perfect acceptance and flow that comes when you're with someone special. How you can see something special in someone they don't see themselves. The type of song you could hear 20 years later and be instantly taken back to those sun kissed moments of true happiness with another.

I heard this in the Wien Konzerthaus live, second row back. I know it's Grieg, but in the location (Vienna) and where the greats like Mozart and such performed in person. Overwhelmingly powerful. I can close my eyes and feel through my whole body and mind the concept of life, nature and beauty when I hear this song.

Though born of the Civil War, this Union song is one that just really resonates with me how most Americans a hundred years ago held a strong correlation between their Christian religious beliefs and national service. I don't care what you believe but I sure can feel their passion in this song. I want this song played at my funeral.

You have to listen to the lyrics and know my life's story to know why this resonates with me. If I sing this song in my truck I start out at full volume and taper to a whisper by the end. It feels like the inevitable hitting me, and how much control I have to exert over myself to not live a tragic life. "And when I'm gone and at my grave you stand.....", chokes me up every time.

Not my best.....

Don't really look at me, but look at the stages and how quickly some of the targets disappear.

S&W Indoor Nationals 2014 from rowdy matt on Vimeo.

March Madness

This month I'm off to Arkansas for my "far away" shooting match. I want to be in the top 30% of Expert dang it! So lots of practice on my weak areas in the next three weeks.

For some really weird reason I've been nostalgic for a record player. To have the ambience of being at home and listening to old records. The analog experience. I'd only need like a dozen records probably, but it's something with a strong allure for me right now.

I need some make up advice for a photo shoot idea I wanna do. I might have to practice on Super D first..... It's a picture of lips covered in candy sprinkles, but I have no idea how to adhere them?!?!?

With the new money from the motorcycle teaching job it makes me want a new motorcycle! Currently I'm dreaming of a Ducati 899 Panigale. Only 15 grand msrp. I'm gonna have to teach a lot of beginners how to ride if I wanna swing that!

Working on getting two consistent job things going. Per diem nuclear medicine at a hospital a mile from my house and the motorcycle teaching gig. The rider coach job is a go, just need to do the paper work and three days of local training when it meets my schedule. The motorcycle gig is $20 a hour and the nuclear one is $40, so that should work out as a good income addition for the house hold.

I haven't ran or played tennis for 10 days! Good thing I'm doing something about that tomorrow!

Sponsorship negotiations for my shooting career are still on-going and not getting resolved as quickly as I would like with one of the companies. So one is dragging, one is just average and the other is doing great. So shout out to Academi* for treating me great this year!

I'm trying to lose 5 lbs by June 1st. Not that I'm fat but just working on leaning out some. Gotta look slim and trim for the wedding I'm in this summer.

Anyone have a tree removal service in San Diego they'd recommend?

Finally I'm going to make a lot of smoked salmon this month too. Oh yum!!

* Academi used to be Xe who used to be Blackwater, just for your fyi.