Great idea. [link]

Excellent plan they have there.

Thanks Java. We really miss our little friend Ellie. Nobody could ever patrol around the house first thing in the morning the way she did it.

I knew she was mortal when I adopted her and that I would have to say Goodbye too soon, but it is awfully hard every time. You'd think I'd get used to it, but noooooo. I suppose it's good to see that my crusty, indifferent heart still has so much emotion hiding in it.

"Did your organizer come yet? I guess not."

What an asshole.

"Did your organizer come yet? I guess not."

What an asshole.

What she said.

Hey y'all. Life at Chez Suzi continues to be interesting. Crowley is healing from last week's stitches and will get them out just in time to get neutered. The thumb luck on my patio door broke off in my hand and they didn't give the repair dude the right part, so he just left and hopes to be back next week. Kelly and her family are leaving for Phoenix tomorrow for a funeral. Sunday I finish up the classes for my major and move into 4 classes for my specialization.

CJ took me shooting yesterday. My first shot of his pistol, while on target, unnerved me. I had to put it down and walk away for a while. I didn't grow up around guns. I didn't know anyone who had them (if they did, I didn't know) until I moved to Colorado. With each firearm CJ has purchased, he has gone through all the information on it with me - the safety features, how to load it, unload it, and so on. But I hadn't handled any of them myself until yesterday. He was great about talking me through each step, being patient and checking in on me, gently encouraging me to try again. The rifle felt more controllable, which I completely didn't expect. CJ mainly wanted me to be able to put into practice what he has been showing me so if I HAD to use any of them, I could.

I had a similar experience when a cop friend took me shooting, Suzi. Almost all of the handguns were so heavy and so REAL, they were kind of overwhelming. The only one that didn't bother me was the .22 rifle.

And I also agree with earlier assessments of Hil's landlord.

The most fun I ever had around guns was going to a Black Powder shoot. You want loud? You want clouds of black powder smoke wafting around? You want geeks talking about powder, balls, and wadding? It sounds miserable, right? But you see this guy pick up this hogs leg of a fricken long-barreled pistol and point it at the target, pull the trigger and "ssst-pause-BOOOOM!"

And muskets are the best. Shoot once, peer at the target, pour in the powder, ram the patch and ball down the barrel, do that end-for-end swing thing Daniel Day Lewis did in Mohicans, sight down the mile-long barrel, pull the trigger and "ssst-pause-BOOOM!"

Black smoke everywhere. It's a wonder the west was won, I tell you what, with all the pouring and patching and "sssst-pause-BOOOM!"

ETA: None of which addresses your post, Suzi. Because yes, modern pistols are more chilly intimidating than fun.

Remember when I said I was scheduled to talk with the HR rep of a vendor about one of their guys being inappropriate? I got an email today from the owner of the company telling me that the guy in question would no longer be involved in work at my place of employment or with our staff (which is what I had asked for) and that all full time employees of his company will be going through cultural and gender sensitivity training. So hey, that's positive!

And just to keep things in balance, I realized today that I failed to renew my license plates. It would be an easy fix if I didn't have to get an emissions test before renewing. I doubt I'll be able to get that done before Saturday. I may have to drive to work the next two days to reduce the chances of being ticketed in the meantime.

CJ wants me to like guns as much as he does. I'm glad we went and I may go again, but I didn't get a rush from it. Yes, i got an adrenaline surge but in a bad tummy kind of way.

Crowley can't fit under my bed with his collar on, so he can't chase Noodle under there. Instead he pokes his head under one side, yips, runs to the other side, yips, jumps up on the bed, and repeat over and over again. This has been going on for the last week. I finally laid down to see what Noodle does during this frenzy of activity. Basically, she ignores him. If he pokes his head under and is too close to her, she will hiss. That is about it. Silly animals.

CJ wants me to like guns as much as he does.

Yeah, I don't want anybody to like guns. I'm against handling a tool whose primary purpose is to kill other humans.

I've come to the not popular opinion that "responsible gun owners' is a bullshit thing which propagates and allows gun culture, and is the open-gate that allows massacres.

You know where they don't have responsible gun owners? Australia. Because they took the fucking guns away.

Do you know where they say a precipitous decline in gun massacres? Again, Australia.

This is causal, not a correlation.

I completely understand why it's a rush to have such power in your hand.

But the enjoyment/false security you get from that play is what allows the other shit.

I'm sure it would be a huge rush to use a flamethrower, or own a loaded tank. But we don't let people do that for reasons.

I am that asshole that would take all the guns away. And I am very confident that my gross executive fiat would be beneficial to the USA. Very simply, things would be better if lethal power was not doled out to so many idiots and crazy people.