Happy Thanksgiving!

Lots of folks are running lists of the good things they're thankful for today.

I'm going to go a little bit different.

I'm thankful for the assholes, idiots, problems, setbacks, and outright failures I've suffered in the past year.

The good things I'm thankful for are too numerous to write them all down; I'd inevitably leave some out.

But like stars, they don't really stand out unless they're against a dark backdrop - and the dark backdrop of all the negatives in life make even the smallest positive stand out - like a distant, dim star that still sparkles on a really dark night.

The negatives make even the smallest positive something notable - something to enjoy; something to make note of; something that can make you smile, no matter how small.

Wade through the crap, and remember - it's manure that makes flowers bloom brightest.

New Shooters

I sent this to Kim, but he didn't publish it so I will:

I've spent the past few weeks teaching two of my younger cousins to shoot:

Here's Crystal:


And this is Austin:


Both of these 20-somethings have mastered the Four Rules, and this week, I ran them both through a practice CHL test - Crystal scored a 229/250, and Austin scored a 246/250. Passing score is, iirc, 175. Both of these youngsters are good pistol shots, and about to go get their CHLs before Obama makes them illegal. Hooray!

New Shooter Report

Two of my younger cousins, Crystal and Austin, recently expressed an interest in learning to shoot pistols. I was, of course, all too happy to oblige.

Both have been practicing at least weekly at my range, and having fun. I took Crystal to buy her first pistol a couple of weeks ago; Austin shouldn't be far behind. Both of the youngsters are good shots.

Shooting Advice

Namely,
If you're scheduled to do any kind of shooting qualification, try to reschedule if you're sick.

Alex brought home a nasty little stomach bug last week, so of course Lisa and I caught it too.

It fully hit me sometime mid-afternoon Saturday. Of course Saturday was the day for my re-qual for my CHL.

Now, for four years, I've been mightily pissed at myself for losing focus and shooting a 249 out of a possible 250 on my initial test. I've been practicing fairly seriously since about February of this year, fully intending to get the perfect score that I missed by one due to "Oh wow, I might shoot a perfect score!" whoops - threw one low and left. 4-zone instead of 5-zone. I was DETERMINED that I wouldn't make that mistake again.

Instead, when it came to the shooting part (100% on the written, thankyouverymuch), I had quickly alternating fever/chills, and my hands were kind of shaky.

So I shot a 240/250 - nine points worse than four years ago, despite heavy practice and all the concentration I could muster.

At least the hershey squirts didn't hit until Sunday. That MIGHT have been more embarrassing than the scatter-shotted target.