Chop Chop

So here is an unedited before image as I took it at Torrey Pines three days ago, near sunset.

And here is the same image after applying my new Photoshop skills.

I think I like this program. Way more fun that just putting mustaches on everyone like I did for two days when I first started learning the program. But still, I'd prefer to get as much right as I possibly can inside the camera and do as little post processing as possible.

But if you want a mustache added to your pictures I'll still gladly do that too.

Just the Car Facts, Ma'am

So in the past decade I have owned these cars:
2002 Toyota Tacoma I bought brand new in Arizona. It was stolen in Modesto in 2004 and replaced with a...
2004 Acura RSX that worked great for autocross, long trips and living in the Bay Area. My lifestyle seems to require a truck so...
2009 Toyota Tacoma parte dos found its way to my house. And I still have it and drive it 4 years and 75k miles later.

Ten years, three cars.

For the past decade in my household there has also been a.....
2006 Lexus RX400H, luxury hybrid suv. But I was abusing it like a truck, so the afore mentioned purchase. Gone.
2007 Porsche Cayman S. Amazing car but required more dedication than expected to own. Gone.
2011 Mini Cooper S. Still in the garage, but it's not "mine".

Ten years, three other cars. Hardly conspicuous consumption and not near the level of motorcycles I've had in the past decade.
That would be something like, hmmmmm Honda VTR250, Yamaha R6, Suzuki GSXR600 (times two), Suzuki DRZ 400SM (times two), Yamaha WR250X, Honda CRF50, Yamaha TTR125, Honda NT650 Hawk, Yamah FZR400, Kawasaki ZX6R,Triumph Daytona 675, Triumph Bonneville, Ninja 300, Honda CRF250L. So what's that?? Only 16 motorcycles in the past decade? And a lifetime total of probably about 24 or so?

So yeah, I've been driving the same truck for 4 years. And the same type of truck as I've had before. So it kinda seems like it has been for even longer!

If you know me, and I'm sure some of you do, can you see why I want a new car to drive?!?!?!?! Something sporty, not just transportation. And used, to fit the budget and not feel bad about parking it out of the garage.

-Porsche Boxter or Boxter S
-BMW Z4
-Subaru WRX or WRX STI

Shooting

Last Pala IDPA match I was second overall out of 40. Last Pala steel match I was 3rd out of 120 shooters. Today's Prado IDPA match I was 5th overall out of 54 with a major error. Last USPSA match I shot I was 2nd overall in Production out of like 16 people.

So pretty much in Southern California I am always gonnna be in the 90th percentile of competitors overall. But I am not elite level for the nation. The potential really is there for me to be one of the top ten pistol shots in the US. I'm working hard at it, but I still need to do more. Better.

I need to execute the fundamentals, on demand, perfectly, every time and at speed. In exactly two weeks I'll be sitting in the banquet for the national championships for IDPA. I'll let you know how it goes......

Carnegie Hall. Carnegie Hall.

School

School is going good. I seem to tutor a lot of people in my break between classes for algebra. Good to help people who are struggling and need to get better at math.

Photoshop/Digital Imaging is teaching me soo much I didn't know before. Like how to give people mustaches. hahahaha.

School does try my patience, and I often feel like a fish out of water but I am glad I am going. Next semester I'm thinking a continuation of some sort of photography thing, writing of any kind and tennis.

Oh and I do have an A in each class currently. Just like before, I got out of my Bachelors with a 3.33 gpa.

Seriously!!

I'm seriously having I guess what is my mid life crisis. I need to just steal $13,000 from savings and buy a Porsche convertible. Probably a Boxster for that price.

Yes, yes I know I already had a way better car, the Porsche Cayman S. But it was 40+ grand, cost $2,000 in tires every 6 months, a $350 dead battery and then someone keyed half the car and my insurance company paid for a subpar repaint.

But after all that's happened this week, of which I'm not writing any of it here, I am seriously needing it.

A fury that could heat the sun.

The difficulties I am having working between PC at home at Mac at school with Photoshop, cameras and memory cards is driving me to a cursing, blinding rage that could heat the sun it is so hot.

Nothing is working in concert with the other, recognizing, formatting or saving across both platforms. And this is mission critical, so I'm about to go freaking crazy and smashing everything electronic around me into a million pieces!

Blog-o-rhea

-Kicking Tail and Taking Names
At a fairly big local match, over 100+ shooters I was 3rd overall. When I checked the scores I beat my chest like King Kong (more on him later) and jumped around the living room. I love celebrating in private when I do well but in public I prefer to just smile big and say thanks.

-Sex and the Movies
I've rewatched some movies from when I was younger and just now noticed the huge sexual undertones in them. The late 70's King Kong had a lot of monkey lust for the girl I never picked up on when I watched it on TV as a kid.
Breakin'. Yeah, a movie in the 80's about break dancing that my brother and I saw in a sketchy part of town. The theater was packed and the usher told us "no dancing in the aisles." But what the heck, the dudes in that movie are sooooo ghey!! Again, never saw it as a kid.
Finally the one that always gets mentioned, Top Gun. Yeah, that volleyball scene is pretty homoerotic in a way I just didn't pick up on as a kid. Who knew? Evidently everyone but me!

-Stupid Should Hurt
Well I am here to tell you it often does. It doesn't it matter how many years I've ridden a motorcycle without more than a rare scratch or bruise. No matter how many track days, races, professional schools or whatever. Being stupid on a motorcycle will hurt eventually.
So I'm here to tell you no matter that you're riding only 1/2 a mile away, that you're a great rider and that you almost always wear full gear, well if you do decide to ride in shorts and a t-shirt you will burn THE CRAP out of your calf on the exhaust, permanently scarring it in the process.

-Passport
If things go well, then should be moving to Norway in the spring of 2016. From the sun and sand of San Diego to the forests and snow of Lillehammer.

-Skool
Going to community college has been fun. Getting a nice refresher in basic algebra and learning lots in my fine arts/digital imaging/photoshop class. I'd like to continue learning the photo stuff and next semester add in a writing class to replace math. Then I should probably learn some Norwegian as well! Probably have to take private lessons for that though.

-Home and Hearth
No big back yard remodel. Two easements that prevent it on my property. Foo! Guess it's just re-landscape time then.
Looks like my mom and dad will visit next month. And that JW2 will visit in October. And with trips to Oklahoma and Washington DC in those times should get a little of my travel fix.

-It's All About Me!
Totally off my nightmare medicines. I passed out twice a few nights ago to low blood pressure. Once in the bathroom and once at the foot of the bed at 3am. Not good. I'd rather just not sleep and have nightmares.
I shaved my beard off, too many people told me I looked older with it. I'm vain, sorry. Youthfulness is a drug.
I stopped the type of workout I was doing and I've gone from 145lbs to 141lbs pretty quickly. That's fine by me. All I've noticed is a loss in aerobic capacity but I should be able to get that back on my own.
Not a single one of the many jobs I applied to got back to me. Phooh!
And I think I missed my calling as a classic country singer impersonator. All the Hee Haw reruns must have really stuck in this kid, born in rural Oregon in the 70s..................