Roller Coaster

I get a star, because I'm special!

So, I'm back working nights in an even more rigorous burn-out schedule than last year. Now, I get at most three days on the same schedule before switching.

And not just to the next shift, but skipping shifts---going against my rolling internal clock.

It's sort of like walking into a museum and dropping into some artistic roller coaster.

Or maybe a gravity assisted hamster ride.











Where you spin down... down... down... to... something. I forgot.









It's a metaphor for something....wait.... it will come to me.

World Building

I would like the moon over that right peak please, and bring up the pink a little.

Gretchen, I'll have that Duvel now please.

OK, OK, less pink. How about violet fading to black at the top?

Angel Michael

He pulled this guy to safety, and kept on fighting the good fight. Now he's no longer on this good earth, but he's still with us. Saint or Angel? I would say Angel, because he brings us tidings of great joy.

Turn Left...First

One of the things course designers like to do is put you in starting positions that can put you out of your comfort zone. Like facing up range, with nothing but walls and closed windows behind you. This is at the Nationals, and I'm doing my best to stare down the spot behind and to the left of me where I'm going to run to. From that spot, I'll be able to see targets that will open one of the windows. Then, I'll be able to open the rest.

If I draw a split second too fast, the range officer staring at my gun will throw me out of the tournament. She didn't get me this time, but on another stage starting up range one of the shooters we meet regularly met his Waterloo. Ironically, I had warned him before the tournament to be very careful.

Opinions differ: someone close to him says he barely broke the 180-it was an over reaction by the ROs. Two people in his squad that I know (and that he didn't), told me that they'd looked up and "Holy S***, we're staring down the ports of his compensator."

One person DQ'd on the same stage by starting to load and make ready facing up range. The heat and pressure will do strange things to a person.

Happy 4th

I'm spending the 4th working, but here's an essay from Red Square to explain it all.

If you have trouble getting up in the morning or hitting the snooze button too much, you might consider this alarm clock.

Chrono of Doom

This time our squad faced the Chrono of Doom without any of our number going minor that wasn't declared minor. To be major, the velocity in feet per second times the weight of the bullet in grains divided by 1000 needs to be greater than 165. We had two at 165.5, whew. I was safely major.

You can see from the above chart, that a few people had monster power factors, some barely scooted by, and quite a few were bit by the chrono-spider, including at least one Open shooter on the Super Squad.
Slow bullets are caught by the spider, and remember Thou Shalt Not Whine.

Nationals Rush

What happens when the excitement of being in the Nationals hits ya? How about double tapping so fast your brass is only a few inches apart?

I didn't have any misses on this stage, but I ran into speed kills on another one. I zeroed my first field course ever. Go as fast as you can see--and no faster!

If you can't win, at least learn something. I learned a lot.

Don't be Standing There

I hope this is a remote camera behind plexiglass...