7 Quck Takes Friday

1.       Inspired by the excellent Conversion Diary, I’m going to give this a try (because my attempts at regular series have been so successful that I feel perfectly comfortable adding another one).

2.       Last weekend I went down to the local gun-store to purchase my carry pistol (my CCW hasn’t come in yet, but I figured I might as well get ahead of things). Unfortunately, they didn’t have the gun I was looking for in stock. Somewhat on impulse, I compensated by purchasing my dream gun; a Mossberg 590 12-guage pump-action shotgun with an 8-shell magazine (depending on the shell size) and ghost-sights. A little pricey, but I’m planning to pass this thing on to my grandkids some day, so I think it’s a good investment. Since I haven’t had a chance to go out to the range and try it out yet, I’ve held off buying any ammunition, so it’s currently just sitting in its case in my closet being quietly awesome. I occasionally take it so that I can match up what’s in the manual to the gun itself (I’m reading the instructions very carefully so that it doesn’t blow up when I use it), and just to get something of a feel for it. So far I’m loving it, but I’m taking this relationship nice and slow, aware that we haven’t hit the really rough patch where it starts kicking me yet.

3.       On a related note, I have never received better customer service than when I was buying that gun. The guy who sold it to me was extremely helpful; he answered the questions I had about the gun, packed it up for me, then unpacked it so that he could measure it against the case I was buying to make sure it fit (it’s a tight squeeze, but it works), ran through a list of things I needed and steered me towards the best value items. At one point, looking at a cleaning kit, he picked one up, but then said that he thought there was one more or less the same for a lot cheaper…and found it! He didn’t pressure me to buy anything I didn’t need at the moment, and was friendly as could be the whole time. Really, I love that store!

4.       On Tuesday I was officially inducted into the Knights of Columbus. It was a very moving experience; it almost felt like a rite of passage and taking my place in the company of men. All the men there were very pleasant to be around, and I’m looking forward to joining in this community. I’ve already signed up for some charity work this weekend! (It also means that I don’t have to buy a new Rosary after all; my old one was falling apart a little too often. This new one seems to be made of sterner stuff).

5.       Wednesday afternoon I came down with a bout of bad stomach cramps. No idea where they came from, since I didn’t eat anything out of the ordinary that day, but they were an on-again-off-again torment most of the afternoon and evening. One minute I’d be thinking “Oh, I’m fine; I really should go to karate tonight…” then, a short while later it was “thank GOD I didn’t go to karate tonight!” Fortunately, they tapered off towards bedtime and they haven’t really returned since. Weird.

6.       I think I have a new item for my Bucket List: to be invited to speak at Comic Con, an NRA function, and a Catholic Men’s Conference (which reminds me: I need to start a new Bucket List. They keep getting edited out of existence).

7.       My diet for the last week or so has largely consisted of either eggs-and-bacon or pancakes (with or without bacon), occasionally supplemented by either sausages, canned soup, or take-out from the local Coney Island. I have some frozen pork-chops and kielbasa, but I keep forgetting to pull it out the night before so it can defrost. Plus, honestly, I just get lazy a lot. On the plus side, my snacking is now mostly either almonds or carrots-and-peanut-butter, so I’ve got a fairly healthy diet going on that front. I tried Vienna Sausages the other day; they were incredibly revolting and shall have no place in my bomb-shelter.

Day 10

"What do you like to do alone and why are these solitary activities?"

Bad question, since I'm usually alone, and so practically everything I do I do alone. This is partially due to a quiet, solitary temperment, and partially due to the fact that I don't have a whole lot of friends (at least not nearby). So, sad as it is, I'm alone most of the time.

Most things I'm more comfortable doing alone, but don't mind doing in a group. A few things I much prefer to do with someone, and a few others I much prefer to do alone.

Reading is an obvious one. When I'm with someone, I like to talk or actually do something to emphasize that "hey, I'm with someone now! Better make the most of it." Reading, therefore, is a pretty much solitary activity for me, since it seems rude or at least odd to be with someone and have your nose buried in a book.

Exercise I much prefer to take alone. I don't want to be comparing myself to someone else while I'm working (though, admittedly, I can think of some exceptions).

Writing I definitely prefer to do alone, since I'm easily distracted and it takes a good deal of focus to get in "the zone."

Practicing my violin, though this is more a case where I think everyone else would like me to do it alone, since it gets pretty ugly sometimes.

Praying. This may make me a bad Catholic, but I much prefer to pray alone in private, or at least not specifically with someone. That is, I've never really enjoyed it when someone says "come on, let's pray together." I prefer to "wrestle with God" privately, rather than in a group, and I tend to experience His presence better that way. This doesn't apply to Mass, obviously.

Finally, when I'm stressed or upset I typically prefer just to retreat from everyone else and let it 'drain out' of me. Sometimes, particularly for really major problems, I like talking it out with friends, but more often I just prefer to back out and let it run it's course in private.

Evolution of a Gun-Nut

I am in the process of mutating into a gun-nut.

The transformation has had subtle beginnings: I used to just be an ordinary guy who thought a gun would be useful for self-defense and a little fun down at the range, but I swallowed the standard line about "no one needs X gun, because that's just nuts."

But then I started reading up on guns in preparation for getting my CCW permit. I found 'gun-culture' blogs. I began hearing about the new gun control measures being proposed. And slowly, subtly, I began to change.

It first came when I learned that 'assault weapons' were a. not really assault rifles, b. extremely useful since they're effective and easy to shoot, and c. exactly the sort of things the 2nd Amendment was written to protect.

Once I accepted 'assualt weapons' as good and just, the blinders fell off and I saw the light. I realized that it's kind of odd that the one item that citizens are explicitly permitted to own has become so difficult to purchase.

The transformation had become inevitable; I would become a gun-nut at the rising of the full moon.

Why have I embraced this change?

First of all, because the gun-nuts I've read and encountered have a much higher rate of knowing what the heck they're talking about than the other side (don't believe me? Look up 'Joe Biden on self-defense' and shed a little tear for our country).

Second, because the more I read the news the more I adapt a 'survivalist' mentality and feel that the soundest financial investment at the moment is "to put everything I have into canned food and shotguns" (I love that line: Gremlins 2, in case you're wondering).

Finally, let's face it; guns are a lot of fun. I can't wait to try out that 12-gauge I've got my eye on (though I can't buy it until the weather clears up and I can go practice with it).

Molon Labe!

Rush Hour

    Last night, after a long, tiring day at work (not the worst I've had over the past week, but annoying. Why does our Xerox guy only buy supplies for one of our three machines?), I decided to just go to Adoration instead of going all the way to my parents' house for karate. Had a good session with Jesus, then got back in my car, thinking about how relaxing it would be to be able to go home and not have to think about overdue invoices for another twelve hours at least.
    Then, a little distracted, I realized I had missed the turn onto the expressway.
    You see, the chapel where I usually go to adoration is attached to the complex where one of my friends works, whom I occassionally meet there for lunch. So, I've gotten in the habit of taking the far entrance ramp leading south to my office, rather than the nearer one leading north to my apartment. Keep in mind that it is about 5:00 PM at this point, and that both routes will get me home in a reasonable amount of time.
    So, naturally, I decided to try to turn around.
    Again; 5:00 PM. In a business-friendly area.
    A traffic light, two parking lots, and another missed on-ramp later, I realize that in order to turn around I'm going to have to go back into the place I just came from (the complex with the adoration chapel) and essentially start from scratch.
    Now, this was maybe ten minutes after I had left it the first time. At that point there had been a line of two-or-three cars waiting to turn. As I pulled into the complex for a second time, I saw a line of cars stretching as far as the eye could see and even around a corner with a stop sign.
   It was about now that it occurredd to me that I really should have just taken the longer route home instead of trying to turn around in the middle of rush hour.
 

Day 9: The Greatest is Love

"The Greatest of these is Love: Why?"

Seriously? You're making me justify St. Paul's conclusions?

Just kidding; I enjoy the intellectual stimulation.

There are a number of reasons why Love is a greater virtue than Faith or Hope. For one thing, Faith and Hope are both temporary virtues: we won't have either in Heaven, because both depend on things unknown. Faith is "the belief in things not seen," the divinely-inspired step extension beyond the intellect. Hope is the expectation of God's goodness; the trust in what God will do in the future. But in Heaven we will see God face-to-face, so there will be no need of Faith, and we will experience all bliss, so there will be no Hope. But there will still be Love, and indeed the fulness of Love. Faith and Hope will both have served their purpose, but Love will only just be getting started.

Another reason is the fact that Love, more than the other two, deals with the will; the core of our being. Faith and Hope both deal more with the intellect and only are tangenitally attached to the will. Love, however, is entirely an act of the will and so has the greater effect on our souls.

Finally, Love is the virtue of God, while Faith and Hope are virtues given by God. This is related to the first point, but when we are acting out of Faith we are not being like God, since God has no Faith since He is all knowing and no Hope since all time is present to Him. To Love, however, is to be like God; to live in His life. Therefore, since Love is more God-like, Love is greater.

On Writing

Yesterday I had to make a very hard decision and basically scrap all the work I've been doing on my current writing project, The Chronicles of Hendricks. The reason for this is that I realized the set up I had just wasn't working as well as it should, that I was taking far too long to get to the important things like monsters and mad scientists, and that an alternate set-up that I had been mulling over for a while would simply fit the story better.

So, two or three months worth of work go down the drain, and I start over for the...fourth time? I'm not sure at this point.

But no complaints; it was the right thing to do. I'm planning on leaving Hendricks to ferment for a while: I need to work out how the new set-up will work and what other scenes/elements/characters I might need to drop to make it flow. Meanwhile, I'll be taking another crack at Lepus, which also went through a major story-change which, I think, makes the whole thing much more interesting (and gives me more room to spread out and add more story elements).

One thing I'm learning is that no writing is wasted; yes, all the work I did on Hendricks is getting scrapped, but I learned a lot from it. The characters - particularly the heroine - are a lot more developed now and have started taking on their own little quirks and personalities. I have a better sense of where the story is going and how it will unfold than I did, and I also have a better sense of what doesn't work and things I need to avoid going forward.

I'm having a lot of fun so far planning out the next draft of Lepus; hopefully I'll be able to crank it out faster than the previous draft. Stay tuned for more updates!

Day 8: Favorite Day

What was your favorite day this year and why?

I'm taking this to mean 'this past year,' since this year is less than a month old.

I'd say my favorite day was, if I remember correctly, Nov. 10th. In any case, that's the one that springs immediately to mind. The day started out with Mass, after which I met my dear friend AnnMarie and we went to brunch, where we spent a good couple hours talking politics. I don't know about you, but I love talking politics with someone who a). is well informed, b). shares most of my views, and c). is luminously beautiful.

After we parted, I went to the dojo for some semi-one-on-one training with a couple of black belts, where I spent an hour and a half or so working with sais. Then, having had a fine and interesting work out, I went to my parent's house to hang out with my best friend Tim for a few hours.

This day stands out as being both active, but not overwhelming: there was a lot going on, but I enjoyed all of it and I finished up feeling like I had really accomplished something. Of course, I always like hanging out with Tim, and any day I get to see AnnMarie automatically jumps a grade, so combine both of those with Mass, serious-though-not-strenuous intellectual stimulation, and a solid, though not overwhelming workout and what you have is a very good day indeed.