Calm. Confirmed. Quick. And now starring Quiet.

My shooting coach and I had an After Action Report (AAR) about my shooting for the past couple tournaments and practice sessions. The main point of it was something like this:

Coach, "So do you realize what you need to work on?"
Me, "Yes, I know where I am weak technically and the drills I know I need to do to improve. I also need to properly deal with my finger injury. I also have my major matches planned out for 2014 and my goals within each one."

Coach, "Do you know what else I think you need to do?"
Me, "No, what? Not hurt my finger?" (laughs)

C, "Well why did you hurt your finger?"
M, "Showing off. Trying to alpha male the other dudes around me. Make a statement. Kinda like physical trash talking."

C,"And how did that work out for you? Or the times you talk trash? Or that time we went to Alabama and you were sure you were going to win and you got smoked? You realize you can't do that, that sort of thing. Has it ever gotten you any gains? Have you ever won after that type of behavior or attitude?"
M, "Well no, but it's who I am. It's my personality. I love doing that kind of stuff."

C,"And again, how has it worked out for you? What you need to be, and what I think of, is being a 'quiet professional'."
M, "OK, you're right. Hubris and my attitude has screwed me in the past. I will work on this. I have a mantra I use when things are going bad or I need to calm my jitters, so I will find a way to add this to it."

So the saying I previously said to myself before matches to ease my jitters and to focus on the task at hand was "Calm. Confirmed. Quick." Calm was to not let my mind wander. To breath and focus on the task at hand. Confirmed was my way of being in the moment. Seeing my front sight, seeing my shots. Knowing what I was doing, not doing things prematurely. And of course Quick. To then also do this stuff as quickly, but not too quickly that I make errors, as possible.

And now it is time to add Quiet in there. Be a quiet professional. Let my shooting and results do the talking. To act like how I do when I'm teaching kids shooting for NRA camps. How would I act if they were watching? I need to be a quiet professional.

Like today, some of my competitors who know me well tried egging me on. Getting me going. And normally I jump at that sort of thing, getting all trash talking and showing off and such. I resisted as best I could, since this is a new change for me, doing probably 60% less of that behavior that I would have otherwise.

The result? First place in my division of 16 shooters and first OVERALL of 25 shooters. Calm. Confirmed. Quick. Quiet. I was probably 70-80% of where I'd like to be on all of those attributes today. It was my first real day back with my finger injury after all.

And while the competition was admittedly light at this particular match, I still had to beat everyone else.

Veni. Vidi. Vici.

Luvz

I love my cat.

Fortune Cookie

Yesterday on my lunch break I ate at Mitsuwa, a Japanese market here in San Diego that also has a small cafe inside it. After my meal of shrimp and rice I went and bought a bag of small fortune cookies. Not Japanese I know, but I like them as a snack.

Eating them like it was my last meal I only stopped to look at one of the fortunes, which read "You will prosper today."

Hmmmmm, so I go to school and on the way to class I find $700 dollars on the ground. Well, someones uncashed paycheck for that amount. Stub still attached and with a recent date.

Then in Algebra/Geometry the teacher passes out a take home test and what test hits my desk? The one that is her answer key!

Wow, in one hour I got a free check and all the answers to a test!

But not really. I called the business on the check and they called their employee who came to school and got his paycheck from me. He was dumbstruck as to how he lost it and it got there. But I'm glad he got it back. If you're only making $700 every two weeks you need all the money you can get.

And while the students around me clamored to take cell phone pics of the test key, I waited a beat and then gave it back. She acted as if I had already completed the test, and I said no but rather it was her own key. She gave me a blank test with a curt nod of thanks.

Did I prosper? Not really in the physical sense. Spiritually? Karmic? Nothing?

The riddle of Rowdy

As you know, I've been taking a match and art class at community college here in San Diego to help fill some of my free time and for personal development. College Algebra and Digital Imaging, in which I am currently getting A's in both classes with just finals left next week. My A in algebra is a 92, so if I get a B on the final I might get a B in that class, but oh well.

I've enjoyed it, even on long homework nights and I've gotten soooo much better at photoshop and definitely back to speed on algebra. A good mix of left and right brain things.

This has been so much fun that I decided to register for classes in the spring as well. Some people I know shake their heads in dismay at this, going to school when you don't have to. But I actually enjoy learning and improving myself. But to what extent? This next semester will test that as the two classes I enrolled in are previous difficult areas in my life.

Russian and swimming. I've dropped out of a private Russian class once already. Aaaaand I didn't learn how to properly swim until I was an adult. Ergo within the past 4 years. Do I have what it takes to be successful this second time around? I think so!

Starting January 27th I'll be swimming for 90 minutes (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) and then going to Russian for the same amount of time every Tuesday and Thursday night. Wish me well in getting fit and learning a new language!!!

Motociclisimo

Some good motorcycle news!

1. Check out this amazing footage from a guy on the 163. Next time you get irritated at a motorcycle who is lane splitting LEGALLY and you decide to be an utter A-hole and squeeze them with your car, think again after you watch this video. I can't count how many times people have actively tried to harm me while I was riding my motorcycle.

If you saw a rider who had crashed would you do what this guy has done?


2. Adding a piece of quality gear finally! I know it's not really that big of deal living in San Diego, but it does get cold and rainy here sometimes and this will just make it soo much better to ride year round. What is it? A nice RoadCrafter 1 piece riding suit from Aerostich. For a cool $1,000 you know I'm gonna wear the hell outta this thing!

Mine is gray with silver accents. Whereas the picture is gray with black.

3. In my quest to find something as a gap filler, I'm entering the process to teach motorcycle riding for the State of California. An official, real position. The process takes about 2-3 months and has you doing some things to 'prove' you really want the job, but I do and I'm gonna go for it.

Mike Mike Mike Mike, what time of year is it?

Movie time! And there are ohhh soo many movies I want to see! And in no particular order, here most are most of them:

-The Hobbit, The Desolation of Smaug
-Anchorman Two
-The Wolf of Wall Street
-Out of the Furnace
-The Dallas Buyers Club
-American Hustle
-Lone Survivor

All in all December should be a pretty good movie month and it looks like I need to see about two movies per week. Wow. Fun!!!

Shooting post scrip....

The match mentioned where I fell down during the course of shooting? I ended up winning my division and placing 4th overall out of 18. And my classifier score is gonna bump me from C to B class in production.

Saturday I shot a match entirely with my left hand only. I was 16th out of 28. So with my 'wrong hand' and it alone, I still beat almost half the people there.

My injured finger still hurts. I am going to have to wait till like December 7th before I really shoot again with my right hand in competition.

I gotta say, I was really surprised to have won my division and been soo high up in the overall at USPSA thursday and then to almost beat half the field saturday in IDPA with literally one hand tied behind my back.

Must............. Check...................Ego..............