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