Satire

Beards. You know who has them?
1. Terrorists. Whether they are Chechens, ISIS, followers of Che, ultra right wing Jewish settlers, the Uni Bomber, Black Panthers, Hamas and so on. People who instill terror in other people for a political motive. That's who has beards.

2. Lazy people. They have a beard simply because it is easier than shaving. These people also never make their bed or wash their truck.

3. People without access to hot water, razors, soap and a mirror. People who've been kidnapped for a long time, certain other prisoners, people with jobs in remote places for extended time periods. Basically forced upon them by hardship and circumstance.

4. Closely related to some of the other categories, but religious figures or even religious nut jobs, depending upon your adherence to their teachings. Pick your historical, mythological or other poisoned stereotype and put it here.

5. The cruelest and in my observation most prominent, the compensatory beard. A beard is a push up bra for masculinity. A symbol or proof of manhood and testosterone because your actions and other outward appereance does nothing to convince strangers or family that you have a surfeit of masculinity. Rather than having to have surgery and change your shirt size you just skip some of your grooming for 2 months and voila, you're suddenly thinking that other people are thinking you're more virile, handy around the house, lift more at the gym or whatever other "beastly" activity you want to think of.

And of course your beard figures prominently in your Instagram posts. Look at it. Look at it.

Pocket Change

So I do some private firearms teaching, via word of mouth. I have a competitive rate at $25 per hour, per person. So I teach a lot of 1's and 2's. Which is fine by me as I like giving individual attention rather than running a line of shooters.

I spent the morning today teaching a doctor mostly how to change his grip and better determine where his focal plane should be during various actions. A good morning as he adapted to the changes and there was visible results on the target in a positive direction. Success!

With that bit of cash from spending a morning teaching I was then able to buy today:
-2 mag pouches for IDPA for my 1911 $30
-Kershaw pocket knife $40
-3 shot package of B-12 injections $50

All little things I wanted to do for a while but was able to do without showing any $120 effect on the bank account. And that makes me smile as well.

That thing they say about real estate.

Looking at the next long term move, at least in the discussion phase these are the towns that get brought up and why or why not they'd be acceptable. The basic requirements are that 1. It be a larger town for that particular state. 2. It have an international airport in less than an hours drive. 3. It have all the religious buildings less than an hours drive. 4. The presence of family within a two hours drive. 5. Acceptable venues for food, entertainment, outdoors, shopping and hobbies. 6. Consideration given to the natural and cultural environment of the greater area. 7. Presence of universities and higher education.

So in no particular order:

A. Las Vegas, Henderson, Summerlin area. Not on the list but definite plus of the area are the housing prices and taxes. It would also be easy to reconnect with San Diego friends. One of the things missing is proximity to family by car, though the airport and number of flights from that location could help offset that.

B. Austin, Georgetown, Round Rock. This is probably the primary area for search efforts. It would really click a lot of the family stuff off the list at an appropriate time. But church stuff is far. And a big airport is a drive as well.

C. Rockwall or other nice suburbs of Dallas. Sometimes you have to go where the work is, and this might be that kind of option. It just doesn't have family within the parameters of an ideal spot. Also not sure how I'd feel about it being a 'this could be the last place you live' kind of thing. I do miss the West and feel more at home there.

D. Denver and surroundings. Family super close. Church stuff super close. Big airport. Lots to do. Back in the West. House prices are higher than other places and the winters are the only negatives. Other than that on paper is really looks good and I feel good inside about it. Also, other family might relocate there as well which makes it a stronger consideration.

E. Boise. I don't know why, but this does come up as a location. It would need an in person visit to figure out before any serious consideration was given to it.

F. Random places of chance or opportunity. Bend Oregon. Mesa Arizona. Places that don't meet maybe half the things on the list but present something else soooo strongly they have to be considered. Professional life and quality of life bonuses could make something like this happen.

Another sign I'm "old"

I had a good Father's day but I think it was also another sign I'm getting old. Super D gave me a gift early. I didn't receive a card from anyone. Only J texted me, no calls or any contact from M or K. I chit chatted with my dad for a bit on the phone. I had a simple dinner that I wanted.

No formalities, no extra communication, no special lovin'. Just simple, brief acknowledgement. I think the fact none of that bothered me in the moment is a sign of getting older. Accepting things more quickly and easily comes more readily as one matures I guess.

I now have a sweet Yeti cooler for matches and stuff now.

So Happy Father's Day!

Clicked

Something has clicked in my shooting and shooting of matches. Reviewing my "big" match performance from the recent two months shows a nice trend:

Arkansas State IDPA: SSP Division Champion
Mississippi State L10/PCC/CO Championship: 2nd place overall L10
Double Tap Championship: 9th place overall Production
Arkansas Section Championship: 5th place overall Production, high state resident

I have the Mississippi State Production Championship this coming weekend and then 6 weeks off. I'm feeling no pressure going into this next match. For good or bad.

But I've never had a string of this many good finishes in a row before, ever, at any skill level. Time to keep pushing!

Happy Father's Day.

Gross. Warning.

So three weeks ago or whenever it was I went to the ER in Mississippi for upper intestinal bleeding. It was from my small intestine so I ended up pooping out all that blood. And lots and lots of it. Well that has a very specific smell. And I know it well because in my old nuclear medicine job we used to scan people with gi bleeds all the time.

Well ever since having to experience my very own gi bleed, every time I pass gas or poop I smell that gi bleed smell. Even though my poop may be "normal", I smell that smell.

And it is disgusting.

I guess

So I came in 9th place at the match I wrote about a few posts back. A good showing and accomplished what I wanted.

The "I guess" title comes from a thought I had this morning. Which was "I guess I should be happy that without having a real job I am still up and showered and ready for my day at 7am."

It's as if I'm basically retired but am still physically capable. Well as much as any Chrons person can be expected.

I;m really excited for vacation next month. I want to have some good quality time away. A re-connection to fun.

Tired

I'm getting really tired of sleeping from 930pm until 1230am and then waking up and having my body think that's enough and just fine. I'm also getting really tired of not being able to sleep unless it is perfectly quiet, completely dark and just the right temperature.

This is causing to me to fall into a cycle of using over the counter medicine to sleep at night to try and get 6 hours of continuous sleep or long periods of wakefulness in the middle of the night where I am unhappy, uncomfortable and unsatisfied.

I do a good job of getting exercise. I don't drink alcohol. I have low stress in life. I try to avoid drinking anything with caffeine after around 4pm in the day. I do my best to go to sleep and get up on a regular schedule. I rarely nap. So I'm doing a great majority of the behaviors one should do for good sleep.

The only one I don't really follow is less screen time within an hour of bed. I normally cut off my electronics usage about 15 minutes before trying to sleep, rather than an hour.

Currently I'm in a hotel in Texas and the damn AC unit mounted in the wall by the window, like semmingly all low and mid range hotels have, is sooooooo loud it's impossible to sleep. I also have all the spare pillows against the bottom of the door to block out noise and light pollution. All to no avail as it is 143am and I've been up for an hour.

I tried just laying there. I counted to almost 400. I said the alphabet many times. I listened to an audible book. I tried just being still and calm. An hour passed and I finally just got out of bed. I'll probably fall back asleep at 4am.....

Curse words, curse words, curse words.

Nervioso

So tomorrow is a very big day for me in my shooting career. It is the first time I'm in a super squad of people shooting the same division as myself. So I'm with my division's heavyweights for the very first time.

Two, this is the first match where I'm also shooting against big name people in my classification. For you who don't know, division is related to what gun you shoot. Classification is how good you are. So I'm in a Production gun division and of the skill classifications from highest to lowest there are Grandmaster (G) then Master (M) which I am, then A, B, C, and D.

In Production Master at this match there are 4 big name people in my sport. This is my very first match ever where I get to have the chance for direct competition with them outside of a National Championship. (Where I historically under perform)

Tomorrow is the day to show I can shoot with and beat the best. This is a real chance to shine, to make or break my reputation as someone good and upcoming.

Seven, 7, Grandmasters. Then in Master with me, Gordon Carrell, Randi Rogers and Bobby Mcgee. A total of 10 Production Masters in the match.

At 6pm tomorrow you'll know where I finished.

ar ugh

Things I won't miss for even half a second when I get to leave Arkansas
1. high humidity
2. the bajillion bugs
3. the prevalence of fried everything and dearth of fresh fruits and vegetables
4. rural poverty on a large scale
5. inordinate pride in where one was born, race or things southern
6. a state capital without an international airport

Things I will possibly miss
1. cheap gasoline
2. a pleasurable experience at the dmv
3. general friendliness to strangers/ the sir and mam effect
4. the house I live in
5. simple, normal gun laws
6. beautiful sky scenes of clouds and color