Monday, September 28, 2009
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Nothing like it...
Had laser eye survey Friday, so I'll be brief. Today I had, for the first time since I left Turkey, Turkish coffee and baklava. A combination made in heaven, that. Say what you will- it's better than espresso. Yeah, yeah, you'rve had it here at Harbucks or whatever...but once you have it in a little sidestreet in Jerusalem, or at a cafe looking over the Hagia Sofia, then you can give a valid opinion, yeh?
I actually had to strongarm the owner of the local Lebanese restaurant to get some. But oh man...was it worth it. Actual Turkish coffee, with the pistachios, in a plastic beer cup. But it was awesome. Gave me something to do while I sit here and recover, not really being able to game or work out or watch TV or read.
Happy trails, yo.
Des
I actually had to strongarm the owner of the local Lebanese restaurant to get some. But oh man...was it worth it. Actual Turkish coffee, with the pistachios, in a plastic beer cup. But it was awesome. Gave me something to do while I sit here and recover, not really being able to game or work out or watch TV or read.
Happy trails, yo.
Des
Thursday, September 24, 2009
And in fun-time news...
Toronto seizes 400+ unlicensed firearms from people legally able to own them.
Wow. I'm sure all of my American friends' jaws are dropping at this one... the reason is, they're dangerous if stolen. That's right, the entire sweep, because these guns MAY be stolen. You all know how common that 10/22 is in the barrio, and all those gunfights between gangstas with SKSes have been making the news...
Wow. I'm sure all of my American friends' jaws are dropping at this one... the reason is, they're dangerous if stolen. That's right, the entire sweep, because these guns MAY be stolen. You all know how common that 10/22 is in the barrio, and all those gunfights between gangstas with SKSes have been making the news...
Objectives
This whole transition isn't easy. It started awhile ago, but still. All through elementary, all through high school, university, college, I was indoctrinated as a liberal. The police's job is to protect us. The government is gonna help us in a disaster. Guns are bad, and only for highly trained professionals. Being taxed all to hell (not that I was, as a student) didn't seem all that bad, after all I have 'free' healthcare! What would I have to do to fulfill my end of the social contract except shell out the cashy monies, not sling dope and not punch anyone else? What could go wrong?
Yeah. I'm glad I've changed. It took a team of great DIs to pound sense into my skull and begin the process. I guess it might have started at Katrina, I guess. It was a huge deal to my pre-police-academy class in school. I was just so sickened by humanity, watching the reports of medical choppers taking fire, that padre getting gutshot. It actually occurred to me that if the shit hits the fan, I'm on my own. I thought I'd be okay at first...till I realized the first criminal with a gun would just shoot me. I was never a fighter, though. I was the nerdy kid everyone broke down, who thought that he could outrun every bully and mugger he ever met. Yeah...I've grown some. Realized that's not what it's like in the real world. In the real world, there are muggers who are faster than me. That once I start making an income that'll sustain me out in the world, I'll be taxed obscenely. That should any of the stuff that keeps modern society going suddenly disappear, even for a couple of days, I'd screwed. I'm like a dog that ends up dumped in the woods- yeah, I got all kinds of stuff buried in me, but I'm so domesticated, I wouldn't know what the hell to do, and the only way I would survive would be for me to become a brute that needs to be put down. I don't wanna be like that anymore. I don't want to rely on convenience or anyone else. The end objective of this is to become a fully independent MAN, not a boy who works in a cubicle nine to five and whose only contribution to society is being an economic cog.
So here I am, rambling. Time to get some progress done. So, right now, I'm a little ahead of your average kid my age- I can cook for myself, I have some self-discipline. But I have a long, long way to go before I become independent manfolk. I've divided objectives into two categories: skills I want to obtain, and stuff I need to become independent of all that modern crap that's churning out a generation of milk-fed, dependent overgrown boys who can barely fend for themselves.
The Short List of Skills:
1. Hunting. I've never been hunting. I don't know what to do. I can shoot straight enough, but even if I hit something delicious and kill it, what then? I don't know how to skin, gut, or carve anything up.
2. More and better shooting skills. I have my trigger time with the AR, the Browning, and a little bit of time with whatever guns my American friends have been able to loan me. I have nowhere to practice since Toronto's mayor has essentially shut down every range in Toronto by refusing to lease municipal land in the city, and failing to renew the leases of existing shooting ranges and clubs, there are no ranges in the Greater Toronto area. There's a couple a ways out of the city I can investigate, but owning no firearms...yeah, going and watching would be a tad creepy.
3. Better first aid skills. In evolving to the 'civilian sheepdog' mentality, I've come to the conclusion that it means more than packing a gun. It is, at its core, about helping people. And your job doesn't stop after all the brass is on the ground.
The Short List of Stuff:
1. A car. Toronto is blessed with a fantastic public transit system, which has more or less negated my need for one. But then again, these things are fickle, and if I'm gonna hit a range, I'm gonna need wheels.
2. Restricted-level gun license. My current papers only really allow me to have some long guns (but nothing I'd really want to bring to a firefight, unless I had a lot of armed friends or it happened in 1942). I want access to ARs, not because I really like them, but because they're functionally the only EBR I can get my hands on, and one of very few semi-automatic firearms that can legally have a ten round mag. It'll also get me access to a sidearm...which I can't carry.
3. Firearms. If you can't keep what you got, you got nothing. The current list of prospects is as follows:
-Lee Enfield Mk IV
-Remington 870
-Tavor (well, I can dream...it's 3000$ CND)
-Lever Action .357
-Mosin
-Maybe an SKS, but it would only legally be allowed a five round magazine
-Mauser 98k for a 'sniper rifle'
That's about all I have to say for tonight...now back to work on my paper.
Yeah. I'm glad I've changed. It took a team of great DIs to pound sense into my skull and begin the process. I guess it might have started at Katrina, I guess. It was a huge deal to my pre-police-academy class in school. I was just so sickened by humanity, watching the reports of medical choppers taking fire, that padre getting gutshot. It actually occurred to me that if the shit hits the fan, I'm on my own. I thought I'd be okay at first...till I realized the first criminal with a gun would just shoot me. I was never a fighter, though. I was the nerdy kid everyone broke down, who thought that he could outrun every bully and mugger he ever met. Yeah...I've grown some. Realized that's not what it's like in the real world. In the real world, there are muggers who are faster than me. That once I start making an income that'll sustain me out in the world, I'll be taxed obscenely. That should any of the stuff that keeps modern society going suddenly disappear, even for a couple of days, I'd screwed. I'm like a dog that ends up dumped in the woods- yeah, I got all kinds of stuff buried in me, but I'm so domesticated, I wouldn't know what the hell to do, and the only way I would survive would be for me to become a brute that needs to be put down. I don't wanna be like that anymore. I don't want to rely on convenience or anyone else. The end objective of this is to become a fully independent MAN, not a boy who works in a cubicle nine to five and whose only contribution to society is being an economic cog.
So here I am, rambling. Time to get some progress done. So, right now, I'm a little ahead of your average kid my age- I can cook for myself, I have some self-discipline. But I have a long, long way to go before I become independent manfolk. I've divided objectives into two categories: skills I want to obtain, and stuff I need to become independent of all that modern crap that's churning out a generation of milk-fed, dependent overgrown boys who can barely fend for themselves.
The Short List of Skills:
1. Hunting. I've never been hunting. I don't know what to do. I can shoot straight enough, but even if I hit something delicious and kill it, what then? I don't know how to skin, gut, or carve anything up.
2. More and better shooting skills. I have my trigger time with the AR, the Browning, and a little bit of time with whatever guns my American friends have been able to loan me. I have nowhere to practice since Toronto's mayor has essentially shut down every range in Toronto by refusing to lease municipal land in the city, and failing to renew the leases of existing shooting ranges and clubs, there are no ranges in the Greater Toronto area. There's a couple a ways out of the city I can investigate, but owning no firearms...yeah, going and watching would be a tad creepy.
3. Better first aid skills. In evolving to the 'civilian sheepdog' mentality, I've come to the conclusion that it means more than packing a gun. It is, at its core, about helping people. And your job doesn't stop after all the brass is on the ground.
The Short List of Stuff:
1. A car. Toronto is blessed with a fantastic public transit system, which has more or less negated my need for one. But then again, these things are fickle, and if I'm gonna hit a range, I'm gonna need wheels.
2. Restricted-level gun license. My current papers only really allow me to have some long guns (but nothing I'd really want to bring to a firefight, unless I had a lot of armed friends or it happened in 1942). I want access to ARs, not because I really like them, but because they're functionally the only EBR I can get my hands on, and one of very few semi-automatic firearms that can legally have a ten round mag. It'll also get me access to a sidearm...which I can't carry.
3. Firearms. If you can't keep what you got, you got nothing. The current list of prospects is as follows:
-Lee Enfield Mk IV
-Remington 870
-Tavor (well, I can dream...it's 3000$ CND)
-Lever Action .357
-Mosin
-Maybe an SKS, but it would only legally be allowed a five round magazine
-Mauser 98k for a 'sniper rifle'
That's about all I have to say for tonight...now back to work on my paper.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Here's the problem with just about every Goddamn thing I see on commercials: it's all form. The way I think, I say "What does it do, and how well does it do it?" This is the whole basis of my attitude towards buying stuff. The modern man, it's all about your style, your popped collar, your bling, your fuckin' crackberry. I mean, there's nothing wrong with form, but in the long run, would you rather have something that works well, or that looks good? It also almost guarantees problems with my girlfriend.
"Des, why don't you get a suit?"
Do I wear a suit, day to day? No, I go to college across a number of bus routes. I'm not going there to look pretty. I'm going to learn, and to carry my kit, I want a decent set of pants that I can put everything I want in. Therefore, is a suit going to fulfill my purposes? No, it's going to make me stand out and make me a target for the criminal element.
"But Des, you'll need it when you enter the real world!"
Uh huh. I didn't need my DEUs (dress uniform) terrible often the last time I was in the 'real world'. What I need right now are pants that fit, that are comfortable and rugged. I need shirts that are comfortable, rugged, and don't scream OH HEY LOOK A NARC/COP! Now, let's look at my options:
1. Common, stylish pants: Not rugged. Not comfortable. Since I'm doing more than sitting in a cafe smoking cloves, anything that could possibly be called stylish can go pound sand.
2. El Cheapo Bonanza pants: comfortable, but will shred like, as my buddy Jeriah put it, your cock after a week at a Thai brothel.
3. Suit Pants: Do I have to say much?
That's just an example, I suppose. I don't think it's such a massive paradigm shift that I wear cargos to school. Or a decent set of jeans. The way I see it, I already give off a bit of cop vibe. I wear cargos and boots, and I keep my hair short. This of course makes me a Bad Man to the dope-smoking philosophy majors. I usually wear what can only be described as a nerd shirt (something with a game design or pop culture reference), so that helps mitigate the appearance that I DARE to wear clothing that's practical. On a tangent- when did it become weird to wear clothing that works? Deviant to wear easy-going, comfortable pants instead of jeans that require a jar of Vaseline to get on? Or criminal to have a pocketknife?
And another thing! Since when did looking good trump being warm in the winter? I mean, I wear a big ol' Soviet Afghanka coat, have a toque and leather gloves in the winter. Hell, if it's blustry enough, I'll even grab a scarf. This makes me deviant- just look at the kids standing around outside with puffy jackets and ballcaps when it's twenty below out. Hell, that's if they have headgear.
Christ Jesus, I'm a dying breed at 24.
"Des, why don't you get a suit?"
Do I wear a suit, day to day? No, I go to college across a number of bus routes. I'm not going there to look pretty. I'm going to learn, and to carry my kit, I want a decent set of pants that I can put everything I want in. Therefore, is a suit going to fulfill my purposes? No, it's going to make me stand out and make me a target for the criminal element.
"But Des, you'll need it when you enter the real world!"
Uh huh. I didn't need my DEUs (dress uniform) terrible often the last time I was in the 'real world'. What I need right now are pants that fit, that are comfortable and rugged. I need shirts that are comfortable, rugged, and don't scream OH HEY LOOK A NARC/COP! Now, let's look at my options:
1. Common, stylish pants: Not rugged. Not comfortable. Since I'm doing more than sitting in a cafe smoking cloves, anything that could possibly be called stylish can go pound sand.
2. El Cheapo Bonanza pants: comfortable, but will shred like, as my buddy Jeriah put it, your cock after a week at a Thai brothel.
3. Suit Pants: Do I have to say much?
That's just an example, I suppose. I don't think it's such a massive paradigm shift that I wear cargos to school. Or a decent set of jeans. The way I see it, I already give off a bit of cop vibe. I wear cargos and boots, and I keep my hair short. This of course makes me a Bad Man to the dope-smoking philosophy majors. I usually wear what can only be described as a nerd shirt (something with a game design or pop culture reference), so that helps mitigate the appearance that I DARE to wear clothing that's practical. On a tangent- when did it become weird to wear clothing that works? Deviant to wear easy-going, comfortable pants instead of jeans that require a jar of Vaseline to get on? Or criminal to have a pocketknife?
And another thing! Since when did looking good trump being warm in the winter? I mean, I wear a big ol' Soviet Afghanka coat, have a toque and leather gloves in the winter. Hell, if it's blustry enough, I'll even grab a scarf. This makes me deviant- just look at the kids standing around outside with puffy jackets and ballcaps when it's twenty below out. Hell, that's if they have headgear.
Christ Jesus, I'm a dying breed at 24.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
A first step or two...
I've been on this road awhile, now. So, firstly, a briefing about me:
I'm a twenty four year old Canadian, who grew up in a liberal household. How liberal? Well, not NDP-commie liberal, but hardcore Trudeau supporter. At least he was a badass, right?
Until university, I was the kind of guy the liberals would have dreamed of. Bright, driven, dedicated to leftist/socialistic ideals. And then, after a long argument with an American friend about gun control, it hit me. He was right. I was wrong. I spent the year more or less challenging the things I had dear, and lo and behold, liberalism crumbled before the might of reality.
The truth is, the police are there to protect you, in theory. In reality, you're on your own until they show up. And if the bad guy is armed, and you're not, well, you're fucked. I realized it, and a whole mess of things came crumbling down. Canada DOES need a strong military. The United States, while not always right, IS our best friend and we DO need to support them. Personal responsibility is something EVERYONE needs to take.
So here I am. I'm out of a short term in the military, and I was hoping that you guys would be willing to see what happens when you try to make the modern male do a complete 180 in viewpoints.
Wanna go for a ride?
I'm a twenty four year old Canadian, who grew up in a liberal household. How liberal? Well, not NDP-commie liberal, but hardcore Trudeau supporter. At least he was a badass, right?
Until university, I was the kind of guy the liberals would have dreamed of. Bright, driven, dedicated to leftist/socialistic ideals. And then, after a long argument with an American friend about gun control, it hit me. He was right. I was wrong. I spent the year more or less challenging the things I had dear, and lo and behold, liberalism crumbled before the might of reality.
The truth is, the police are there to protect you, in theory. In reality, you're on your own until they show up. And if the bad guy is armed, and you're not, well, you're fucked. I realized it, and a whole mess of things came crumbling down. Canada DOES need a strong military. The United States, while not always right, IS our best friend and we DO need to support them. Personal responsibility is something EVERYONE needs to take.
So here I am. I'm out of a short term in the military, and I was hoping that you guys would be willing to see what happens when you try to make the modern male do a complete 180 in viewpoints.
Wanna go for a ride?
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