Personal – Page 49 – Shall Not Be Questioned

On Guest Bloggers

Since Bitter and I are going to be away next week, I’ve been thinking about guest bloggers.Â Â I have Brad, who normally does sports here on the blog, but I’m not sure how much volume he can keep up given a job, a wife, and two young kids.

I had a crazy idea to have my friend Jym’s wife, Christina the Stripper, guest blog for the week about her line of work, but I’m not certain whether or not I want to take the blog in that direction, even for a week.Â On the other hand, it would definitely be a change of pace, and I’ve always enjoyed her crazy stories. Â But, if I let her guest blog, she wouldn’t be able to complain I don’t take her seriously anymore ;)

Sometimes I Regret My Suburban Upbringing

One of the things Carrie’s family likes to do when they go to their ranch is shoot one of the wild pigs and have a pig roast. Unfortunatly for me, I was born and raised about 5 miles south of Philadelphia, and I’ve never cleaned and butchered an animal in my life. The idea does not repulse me, in fact, I think it’s something people should know how to do, but no one ever taught me, and none of the other women I’m going with have actually done this with a pig either, just watched it being done by other guys in the family.

I like the idea of the pig roast, but I’m afraid my suburban upbringing has never equipped me to deal with this circumstance, so it’s probably not going to go beyond the idea stage. I’d have to use one of my “terrorist rifles”, probably the PSL, since apparently these wild pigs are rather large, and I don’t have any non-military patterned rifles. But shooting it I can handle, it’s the turning it into dinner part I’m not familiar with. So for those of you who hunt, what’s the basic process once you have a dead animal?

It’s Everywhere You Want to Be

4oz Bottle of Hoppes No. 9… 5.99

Cleaning kit… 14.99

Bag of Q-tips – 3.99

Having a girlfriend that will clean your .44 revolver for you? – Priceless.

Preperations

Bitter and I have been preparing for our trip to Texas for a week of shooting time fun. We went up to Cabela’s in Hamburg, PA this weekend to stock up on some needed goods. For one, we needed some ammunition, and some misc camping supplies. I decided to was time to pick up a Surefire 6P and holster. I generally carry a flashlight on me because I find it useful, and it’s a good idea. This replaces my older halogen, which isn’t nearly as bright or durable as the Surefire.

The rest of the weekend was spent cleaning guns and figuring out plans. The hardest decision to make is what guns to take. I can’t take everything, because I don’t have room. But so rarely do I get to shoot on a large chunk of private land, that I’m going to take most everything if I can. On the list so far to go:

AR-15 Carbine – If I could only take one rifle with me, this would be it. The only problem is, 5.56x45mm is damned expensive these days.
AR-15 – This one has optics and a standard 20″ barrel and fixed stock. The carbine is my “grab and go” AR. This one is just for fun.
AK-47 – If everything else breaks, I know this one will still works.
AK-74 – Same as above, except that it has very mild recoil, and I have about 2000 rounds of ammo for it… all of it corrosive. If I can get rid of even 1000 of it here, that means I get to have a lot of fun for only a single cleaning. After that I can replace it with non-corrosive ammo.
PSL – Time to try some long range shooting with this. I suck at shooting this, hopefully I can get better.
Mosin–Nagant – As long as I’m taking 7.62x54R along for the PSL, might as well.
10/22 – Because if I’m going to shoot all day, I need something I can afford to shoot all day.
Glock 19 – This is what I carry, so it goes, and travels on me, except through Maryland, because their politicians suck ass.
Ruger MK II – Because I’m already taking a lot of .22LR, and there’s room. It’s also fun to shoot.
S&W 629 Classic – Texas has crappy laws about having to carry concealed if you have a license. When I hike in more remote parts of PA, I’ve been known to open carry this pistol loaded up with some hot .44 mag soft nose. For Texas, I got some snake shot too. I don’t plan on gratuitously killing any snake we see, but if one gets too close to camp, and doesn’t make on its merry way, I thought it was a good idea just in case. Most of the rattlesnakes in PA I have familiarity with (timber rattlers) are pretty non-aggressive, and generally avoid confrontations with humans. I’ve seen timber rattlers before, end never had any cause to get aggressive with one. Western Diamondbacks are more aggressive, and I’m not familiar with how much more aggressive.
Makarov – Every outing needs at least one to shoot. Carrie thought that the star on it looked like a Texas star, even though it’s a commie star. But we can pretend for a week.

So that’s the list. At least what I’m taking. Bitter will have her own additions. Carrie as well. Should be a fun week. The drive down should be a blast too. On the way there, and on the way back, we’ll be stopping in various places to meet some folks.

Dessert Protocol

While I am on the topic of homosexuality and restaurants, it got me thinking of a funny thing I’ve run into with commenter Brad (who is also a friend from college).Â If we went out to get some beers and food, and one of us ended up ordering dessert, the waitress would invariably bring two spoons.Â That’s two spoons, one dessert, and two guys.

After this happened a few times, I started saying “Dude, do we look gay or something? Did she miss the wedding ring on your finger? I mean, this isn’t Massachusetts.” So we went back and told Brad’s wife about this, and she suggested that women would make the assumption that two male friends would want to share a yummy dessert.

So we set out to test this theory when one night we had a male waiter instead of a female waitress. I ordered dessert, and sure enough, he brings a single spoon. A few more female waitresses would give us two spoons after that, so it would appear that the theory was correct.

So, ladies, if you ever wait tables, men do not share desserts with other men. They may share them with women, and I suppose women share with other women, but the only possible circumstance where men would be able to share a dessert is if it was so impossibly huge as not to be reasonably possible to be consumed by a single person, but even there, throw in bananas or any similarly shaped food items in it, and the deal is off. So when you bring two spoons, and one dessert to guys, they will start wondering if they are giving off gay vibes.

So the next question becomes, would a flaming gay waiter, presented with the same situation, bring one spoon or two? These are the kinds of fundamental questions about the universe I would like to have answers to. So Brad, we should go to the BBQ place with the flaming gay waiter, and one of us order desert, so that it will be a mystery no more. Just don’t order the smoked sausage plate.

“Out”

So Bitter and I went out for some BBQ tonight (in PA, nothing spectacular), and had a flaming gay waiter. This presented a bit of dilemma, because I normally like to get the smoked sausage, but I didn’t know whether I could keep a straight face having a really flaming gay guy serve me what looks, in effect, like a giant schlong on a plate. I definitely wouldn’t have been able to contain at least a snicker, but it could have easily erupted into full blown laughter if he made any comment in regards to “I hope you enjoy it,” or “My, doesn’t that look tasty,” and definitely would have not been able to contain myself if he said “Oh, excellent choice. Those are my favorite,” after I ordered it.

So to avoid risking any homosexual sensibilities, I decided to go with the ribs and brisket. It’s really the safe choice, when you go out for BBQ in Pennsylvania, and have a flaming gay waiter. Just something to keep in mind if you ever visit the area :)

Don’t Hate Me!

There’s a few things about the making of this blog that I feel it’s time to reveal publicly. I once said it would be a cold day in hell when I left the LiveJournal world to start a real blog, because I had a hard time finding things to say, even on there, and figured blogging wasn’t worth the trouble. So what got me into it?

Well, the truth is, I started this blog to impress a chick. Some of you might have already figured out who I’m talking about. About three months ago, a love interest I had been persuing for some time finally said it wasn’t ever going to happen. A little discouraged, I was talking to a friend, when an idea popped into my head:

Sebastian: I think I totally need to figure out how to meet Bitter Bitch
Friend: ?
Sebastian: http://www.pagunblog.com/thebitchgirls/?p=5982
Sebastian: Namely the comments
Sebastian: She’s single and seemingly unattached!
Sebastian: I need to start posting crap on my LJ about how much is sucks not to have a girlfriend
Sebastian: Now… is she sort of quietly hinting she digs guys over 30? :)
Sebastian: Single, gun toting chick who only dates guys over 30? Where do I sign up?

This was really just a joke, because I figured it was a snowballs chance in hell of actually scoring a date with her, but eventually, Bitter made a fateful post:

Iâ€™m gonna be up forever now. Damn. Use the first day of the year as a sick day?

No, Iâ€™m better than that. But my ass may be dragging tomorrow. On Google Talk as bitter.chick if anyone else is up and bored.

I saw an opportunity, so I added her to my GTalk client. AÂ few days later, she responded:

Bitter: hello?
Sebastian: hi
Bitter: i saw you added me, so i thought i would be friendly
Sebastian: Yeah… saw your post last night…
Sebastian: I’m Sebastian… BTW

And then finally:

Bitter: why are you mostly just a commenter? you seem to have really good comments, how have you resisted the drug that is blogging?
Sebastian: I’ve thought about it, but I don’t know if I could keep up enough volume to keep people interested

Well, that was all that really needed to be said. A few days later, I registered the domain, set up WordPress, and got started. There was no way I was going to miss a chance to impress Bitter! My inner traffic whore was to be released.

As we kept talking, it became increasingly obvious this was going somewhere. We agreed to meet at the National Aquarium at Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, and then have some drinks afterwards. We lost track of time talking to each other, and didn’t end up leaving the bar until close to midnight, and I didn’t get back home until 2AM. After that it was definitely going somewhere. We haven’t gone a weekend without seeing each other since, and that was more than a month ago at this point.

We decided things were going so well, it was time to stop beating around the bush with undisclosed locations and mysterious other bloggers. We’ve decided we like each other enough to become an official couple, and be seen at parties and other social events together.

No matter how much time I spend with Bitter, or how much time I spend talking to her through GTalk, I never tire of her company or conversation. I can’t ever imagine that changing at this point either, because we seem to be wonderfully compatible. And I’m glad she got me into blogging, because it’s a lot more enjoyable than LiveJournal.

But don’t hate me, please, for taking an alluring, young female gun blogger off the market! It started out as a joke, I swear! I sure am glad that it didn’t turn out that way, though. We’ll be attending the NRA convention in April, so if you’d like to say hi (or strangle me for snatching her up), let me know. We’ll also be passing through Roanoke, VA, Knoxville and Nashville, TN, Waurika, OK, Northern Texas, and a few other places in that vacinity very soon, and we’re regulars in the Philadelpia and DC area, so if you’d like a chance to ~~strangle~~ meet me, and meet Bitter, be sure to let me know!

Public Schools Teach Valuable Life Lessons?

Dr. Helen writes about gifted kids in public schools:

It seems to me that the main source of socialization for many kids, especially smart ones in public school, is found in learning how to cope with the egos of teachers who can’t teach and other kids who are uninterested in learning anything beyond dominating the social hierarchy.

I don’t think we can discount the value of this lesson, because, let’s face it, one could easily say:

It seems to me that the main source of ~~socialization~~ frustration for many ~~kids~~ adults, especially smart ones in ~~public school~~ the corporate world, is found in learning how to cope with the egos of ~~teachers~~ managers who can’t ~~teach~~ manage and ~~other kids~~ worthless petty coworkers, who are uninterested in ~~learning~~ contributing anything useful beyond dominating the social hierarchy.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.Â I often find myself thinking that 95% of the people who occupy professional positions aren’t really doing much beyond consuming oxygen and turning into more greenhouse gases.Â I think that’s a good lesson for kids to learn early, so they are prepared to deal with it when they get into the “real world”.

Back in Pennsylvania

I’ve returned from my three day weekend at an undisclosed location.Â Time to catch up on the blogosphere, and happenings, and see if I have anything to ~~bitch about~~ say.

Three Day Weekend for Me

Somehow, I don’t know how really, because no other company in the area, or that I’ve ever worked for has gotten President’s Day off, I have off from work today.Â At the end of the day I’ll be traveling back to Philadelphia from my undisclosed location.