Life updates

[Gaazy]

Aaaaaand then on a plus side today the corporate office called and offered me a pretty wicked job overseeing a huge warehouse and purchasing. Gotta move again though. Now im a bit north of STL

[Durothil Skyreaver]

Last time I posted was on page 6!!

Anyways, paid off my student loan, teaching at the same school for the 3rd year in a row (5th year teaching now). Looking to get blasted in the face with a laser to fix my eyes. No more putting down my glasses then not being able to find them.

[Jay]

Just passed my third month at my new job. Got a nice raise and they bought me a new Honda CR-V. I'm a patient care coordinator, not a salesman, but coincidentally when I was on an outpatient call I met the director of an Aegis Living facility and he happened to be shopping around for a big company wide purchase of low pressure air loss mattresses and I was the lucky sap that was standing there with business cards. It ended up being a $235,000 sale for $95,000 profit to the company.

[Harrison]

Oh, I also went through the arduous bullshit process to become licensed to hunt!

It actually was more difficult, thorough, and encompassing than the "training" to get my LTC. This makes no sense to me but, whatever. They want to be assbackwards morons about it, be my guest.

I'm excited to put food on the table that is 100% my doing from start to finish. I don't imagine we have many hunters on the page left but, felt like sharing.

[brinstar]

^ nice.

this probably comes as no surprise but i used to hold hunting in disdain. i thought it was all testosterone and bloodthirst and homoerotic whiskey-soaked pre-dawn grabass in tree stands

(i mean it probably still is in some cases lol)

but then a good friend who hunts sat me down and explained to me that hey dude i always take care to be as humane as possible, i don't do it for the thrill, and everything i shoot gets processed and taken home to feed my household. plus, particularly in the case of herd animals like deer, most of their natural predators have been driven/killed off by human encroachment - so if no one hunted them their population would explode and they'd be vastly more prone to disease and/or starvation and the suffering that comes along with those things.

changed my mind completely. i mean, i'm still not gonna do it, because that's not me - but as long as it's done for the right reasons (population management, food, etc) and with the right care and compassion, thumbs up

and i know i've said this before but you'd probably really appreciate the quality of butchers we have around here

[Tuggan]

Oh, I also went through the arduous bullshit process to become licensed to hunt!

It actually was more difficult, thorough, and encompassing than the "training" to get my LTC. This makes no sense to me but, whatever. They want to be assbackwards morons about it, be my guest.

I'm excited to put food on the table that is 100% my doing from start to finish. I don't imagine we have many hunters on the page left but, felt like sharing.

Are you still in MA? What's the process to become a hunter?

In MI you don't have to do shit but spend the money on a license, and then (for deer) buy "tags" for however many you hope to get.

[Harrison]

Massachusetts requires a fairly intense course with tests, both paper, and practical.

Homework, books, online tests before the actual class, everything.

It's crazy how much effort went into it and I'm glad it's that way, and not like other states where you just pay for the license, tags, and go. (Leads to a LOT of piss-poor ethically lacking hunters.)

They teach shot placement on large game, field dressing, storage, laws, and actual hands-on training with bows, rifles, shotguns, and handguns. There was even a course on tree stand installation. (all types) Tree stand installation, use(falling from), and misuse are the leading cause of injury and death in hunting now, and getting shot is the least. That's huge.

What 99% of people don't realize is that if it weren't for hunters in their current state, game animals and likely huge swathes of the food chain would be devastated or flat-out gone. Disease would spread like wildfire from deer+ticks+fleas alone if we didn't effectively keep their populations in check, with the aid of biologists.(which are 100% paid for by taxes collected from ammunition, bows, rifles, and shotgun sales)

It was a three day course not counting the at-home studying, online test before the actual classes, and the practical days.

I rambled, sorry. I'm on shit-tons of coffee to burn through this long day lol

[Tikker]

.

[Drem]

Massachusetts requires a fairly intense course with tests, both paper, and practical.

Homework, books, online tests before the actual class, everything.

It's crazy how much effort went into it and I'm glad it's that way, and not like other states where you just pay for the license, tags, and go. (Leads to a LOT of piss-poor ethically lacking hunters.)

They teach shot placement on large game, field dressing, storage, laws, and actual hands-on training with bows, rifles, shotguns, and handguns. There was even a course on tree stand installation. (all types) Tree stand installation, use(falling from), and misuse are the leading cause of injury and death in hunting now, and getting shot is the least. That's huge.

What 99% of people don't realize is that if it weren't for hunters in their current state, game animals and likely huge swathes of the food chain would be devastated or flat-out gone. Disease would spread like wildfire from deer+ticks+fleas alone if we didn't effectively keep their populations in check, with the aid of biologists.(which are 100% paid for by taxes collected from ammunition, bows, rifles, and shotgun sales)

It was a three day course not counting the at-home studying, online test before the actual classes, and the practical days.

I rambled, sorry. I'm on shit-tons of coffee to burn through this long day lol

grats on the license. i've never hunted, but have lots of childhood friends that now feed their families with the deer and elk they bag

they're like DeNiro in Deer Hunter. not one shot, but that kind of strict mentality

i think your view of other hunters in states with less requirements for getting a license is kind of weird. i'm from oregon, i don't hunt, i don't know our laws, but i'm pretty sure you just buy tags for whatever season with no question and can give it a go. but that shit is tough. and a few of my old friends even bow hunt, which is a whole other level of badass imo

anyways, i'd say the overwhelming majority of hunters are out there for a reason. not just because they can

it's pretty fucking hard, far as i can tell

[Harrison]

We're out there scouting now, planning places for tree stands, clearing too-thick brush that would impede our movement and reveal our positions via scent and sound, looking for feeding areas, mid-day bedding, etc.

I'm still toying with the idea of using one of my tags for bow this year, too.

[Menelvir]

I love shooting my bow, though I have not done so for quite a while now.

I'd hunted with the bow a bit, but I'd never taken game with it.

In fact, with the exception of game birds (with a shotgun), I never took any game on a hunting trip -- I guess for me it was just more the experience of it, and of bonding with dear old dad. I've entertained the idea of taking it up again, but just never gotten around to it.

But bows are plain just fun to shoot -- more fun to shoot than guns, if that's possible. And I know I'm old, but I'll take longbows and recurves over compounds any day.

[Insanityfair]

Wow, there are still people here! I can't find words!

[Zanchief]

How's Taxx.

[brinstar]

yesterday i played two shows, two hours apart, as part of two different bands, in two different cities an hour apart

i was so tired today but i'd still rather do that every single day than any normal kind of job ;\

here is a gif someone made of our smokin' set from last friday:



"Life Is Cool" L to R:
kendra, hype girl and co-vox
aaron, percussion
nasty nate, bassist and ladykiller
jim, lead shapethrower/vox and rhythm gtr
brinstar, a small sun that uses photons and solar wind to play drums
alicia, keys (get it?) and backing vox
eric, lead gtr
cam breezy, horn



...school starts again in a month ;\

[Insanityfair]

How's Taxx.

No idea, sorry...I haven't talked to him in almost a year. He was doing okay as far as I knew. I would say to say his name 3 times and see if he appears like Candyman but I don't know if he's been here in years. That would be something though.

[Harrison]

Placement testing done, courses chosen, semesters paid for, and now just tying up loose ends with insurance claim numbers and bullshit. (I don't know about other states but in Massachusetts if you're enrolled in college they require you to be insured, and if not they will charge you for it and give you a shitty plan.)

I'm so not looking forward to going into school at 30 and dealing with 18 year-old kids fresh out of school, though.

[brinstar]

i did it at 28, definitely a culture shock

BUT i'll tell you this - i think it actually made school easier, because i wasn't distracted (much) by students or their silly antics. just tune 'em out and take good notes, you'll be fine

[Harrison]

Aaaaand chalk up another casualty to the ACA. My insurance was apparently changed in the shitshow and they lost my information. The site I am told to go to tells me to call a number, that tells me to go to the site, that doesn't work.

>_<

Now I get stuck with a $2k bill from the school to get shitty coverage that comes right out of my financial aid. Awesome.

[Harrison]

A month of classes down nearly, and I'm kinda disappointed in college so far. I'm excited to get these classes over with and hopefully move on to more challenging courses. I don't feel challenged by anything yet except the sheer amount of time-consuming homework necessary for 16 credits of classes.

I feel like I'm doing middle school level work with a couple sprinkles of college level concepts twisted into it.

My professors are all pretty awesome in my opinion and I get along with all of them. I'm told that's rare.

I'm also pretty disgusted by what little the recent high school graduates know in the respective GenEd courses(Maths, Sciences, History, and English). I blame the school systems they came from and not them directly. The way schools are now they are taught almost entirely just to pass a specific standardized test, and not what I call a real curriculum. In this state it's the MCAS and my generation was the first to be required to pass it to pass your respective grade when you took it.(I think, anyways. It's hard to remember that far back.)

I actually had some bitch give me a snarky response when I assumed she knew what the rivers Tigris and Euphrates were while I was attempting to help her with her map. I have more examples but, that's the worst I can type up quickly.

Other than that, it's fun, and I just learned when I transfer to UMass, my tuition will be waived entirely.

[Jay]

It's rare because most people at the school are 18-21 and barely know what it's like to be an adult.

[leah]

^ that's also part of the problem where you're finding the coursework to be elementary-seeming. you're older and theoretically smarter; they're just dumb kids. higher-level courses will be far more challenging.

[Jay]

I don't wanna say smarter or otherwise because the kind of "smart" I think you're thinking of doesn't apply. If anything I'd say Harrison has somewhat of a disadvantage going in since he's been away from school for x years. I think what it really is is that Harrison is less distracted than the kids are. I remember when I started college I didn't have that "let's finish this and move on with our lives" mentality until mid 3rd year. I wanted to party and drink and fuck everything that moved. 3rd year I was like man, I need an apartment where it's quiet and I need to finish homework and projects and I'm too tired to party. I imagine he's not too concerned about the next kegger or picking up dem bitches.

[leah]

aha, good point.

[brinstar]

Harrison is less distracted

it made school easier, because i wasn't distracted

[Tuggan]

i recently started attending classes again to get my culinary degree, and i'm constantly saying to myself "i really don't remember this shit being so easy".

it's kinda funny how different the approach is compared to old fuckers like me that just want that stupid piece of paper, and the youngsters just outta high school.