Just some pictures I took myself. 'Cause like I'm a photographer and all.

Just Riding Around

Oh, it is almost time!! Next Wednesday I go to Austin Texas for the second MotoGP race of the season, held for the very first time at this track. Booyah! Fri, Sat and Sun filled with motorcycle roadracing and just being in Texas.

And as if that wasn't enough, then on Monday following the race I hop in the rental car and head to "bootcamp". hahaha. I mean I had to a 4 day riding course with none other than Colin Edwards III, world champion! Four days staying at his ranch and learning how to tear around on a motorcycle better. Faster. And when we're not all doing that there is shooting, paintball, gokarts and whatever.

Then once 'vacation' is over, it's back to hardcore practice for The Masters IDPA tournament on May 11th in Alabama. Where again, I'll be doing something motorcycle related in visiting the museum and such at the Barber motorsports track while in Birmingham.

Then it will just be a couple weeks till my birthday! Then a trip to Yellowstone. Then just the normal stuff in San Diego for June. Then July will be my mega trip of mountain biking in Utah and Colorado.

Wow, I do get around........

Beach Boys: "...yeah the bad guys know us and they leave us alone. I get around."

And a post from me wouldn't be right without some action!

Hobbies and Interests

I have a lot of interests. International relations, cinema, good food, history, motorcycle racing, opera, black and white monster movies, off roading, tennis, rock climbing, surfing and so on. Things that capture my attention but don't necessarily drive or motivate me the same way a hobby would.

My hobbies currently would be things then like downhill mountain biking, foreign travel, motorcycles, shooting sports and photography. Of all of these photography is the one I have spent the least amount of money and time pursuing. I would like a new camera body and lenses, like a Nikon D7000. I'd like a legit copy of Photoshop. I'd like a quality waterproof point and shoot. I'd like to take another class about photography. I'd like to enter pictures into the fair and contests.

But the act of taking pictures is a pretty solitary pursuit. And I think that is what slows me down in just really taking off with it. I do think about it and work at it. I do try to improve the photos I take but I just don't know much about it or do it that often as an activity in and of itself.

You look at my other hobbies and they get a significant portion of my life in comparison to photography. Photography, and by extension videography appear to be just an adjunct. Because I am doing "something" I want it captured. I can see it takes talent and skill and appreciate it when I see it done right. And as I hate doing something mediocre if I like it, I wanna step up my photography game.

Knowing it would be windy yesterday I went to the beach to take pictures of a local kite boarder I know. All with the intent of just practicing what I could with my camera and a moving subject in poor light. I have the very most basic, entry level of DSLR's and lenses. D3100 and the two kit lenses, like I said. I've read one book on composition and taken one 8 hour class, "Introduction to Digital Photography" and that's it.

Of the 410 pictures I took yesterday, here are the best of the lot. The show is only 9 minutes, so you're not wasting too much time if you are browsing this at work. Guess I need a photo buddy......

Dave's Windy Day at Dog Beach from rowdy matt on Vimeo.

My winning ways.

Watch my winning ways and funky self. Sadly you miss my umbrella. And stage 5, but I was shooting from inside a barrel so wasn't really GoPro friendly.


1st in SSP-SS. Would have been second in SSP-EX (the class above me skill wise, that I just moved into). Would have been second to last in SSP-MA hahaha (which is the highest class possible skill wise). 25th out of 140-some shooters over all. And 10th out of 47 for my total division. blah blah blah. hahahaha.

I am super stoked and ready to put in more work. My next big match is May 11th in Alabama, The Masters. Watch out!

Oh, just being rowdy Rowdy

Magic Chinese Noodle House in the greater Phoenix area was my dinner the other night. Yum! I had lemon garlic noodles and beef. The noodles are hand made when you order and you can watch the process. It's as artful as watching pizza dough get thrown.

I've kinda rediscovered riding again now that it is spring. I'm feeling fit, enjoying my new bike and for some reason have a lot of confidence in my ability on the bike, so I'm riding "moar", if that makes sense. Going big and going home. I really hope to do another Utah, Colorado trip this summer to downhill at resorts for a week.


I'm actually almost 5' 7", technically 5' 6.5", so when I saw this water depth thing at my hotel's pool the other night I couldn't resist. And of course I dove in head first, no diving sign or not. If I wasn't worried about competing the next day I would have back flipped.

You may or may not remember that I have some monster movie posters framed as art in my house. Well when I was last in Vegas I went to an exhibit all about the great Chuck Jones, animator and director. Mostly famous for his work on Looney Tunes. Seeing these two animation cells for two cartoons from my childhood just really hit the nostalgia button for me. The Hocus Pocus/Walla Walla/Abracadabra one with Bugs and then the short film adaption of Riki Tiki Tavi by R Kipling. Great, now I gotta go spend time on youtube.....

Thank you.

I started a totally new sport in September of last year, shooting my very first IDPA match after only owning a pistol for 3 months. Yesterday I competed in the Arizona State IDPA Championships and finished first in my classification, Stock Service Pistol-Sharpshooter. In doing so I was bumped up a skill level to Expert.

This was not done alone though and I would just like to now say thanks to everyone who has helped me along this journey.

Bob at American Shooing Center for mentoring and my indoor training.
Pat and Jimmy at Aegis Academy for my trigger control and their Basic Pistol class.
Bill at Academi for coaching me extensively on the game and his Advanced Pistol class.
Sean at SGO Fitness for maximizing my fitness and customizing it to my needs.
Dave and Victor at The Glock Store for setting me up with flawless guns.

All of my friends, the businesses I frequent for clothes and other purchase related to the sport and especially Super D's long suffering support.

Successful people do daily what other people do occasionally. Fear is the mind killer. Thinking is the enemy of perfection. Bleed in training so you sweat in war. It's the fire that refines. These are some of my favorite sayings. But they are just sayings. I use them to motivate myself and to stay on course for my goals. In some circumstances they would also probably be considered trite. I use them and repeat them to myself often. But I don't go around telling them to other people all the time.

Until real life happens. Want to read a true story about fear, accomplishment, being refined by fire and coming out the other end in one piece?

Here is a link then to the post sister wrote about her actions and reactions during a medical ordeal with her son. (my nephew who is the shark lover, like me)

READ IT HERE

Fear, faith, hope, anxiety, love, anger. The breadth of human emotion writ on flesh.