Happiness is a Warm Gun...

I worked dilligently yesterday in eager anticipation of my first night at the gun range. It was one of those tedious and seemingly unending days that caused me so much undue stress that I absolutely felt the need to shoot something at the day's end.

I've worked at Publix for the last four years and have experienced all of the ups and downs the retail world has to offer, especially the undue strain caused by the absence of employees when we are already on run on such a limited schedule. For the last week, we've been experiencing an outbreak of pandemic proportions, causing quite a few employees to call out due to a stomach virus and/or a cold. On this particular day, we were down two managers and two front end associates. As a result of the crisis, I became solely responsible for the smooth running of the checkout experience. Although this is something I have done before, there are days when my preference would be to operate as co-pilot. This happened to be one of them. Not that I am one to shun my responsibilities; on the contrary, I am extremely conscientious when it comes to work, perhaps too much so, to the point that I've found myself roused from a deep sleep by dreams (nightmares?) of memorable customer interactions.

So where was I? Yes, I needed to shoot something. I made the mad dash out of work, expertly changing my clothes on the drive to Matt's house. He took the liberties of driving to Shoot Straight as he'd been there previously, and with his expert manuevering it took all of 25 minutes to cruise from Brandon to Dale Mabry. En route to the range, we passed Raymond James Stadium, lit up like Christmas, with people crawling up and down the stadium bleachers like ants, doing the initial bomb sweep in preparation for the following Sunday's Super Bowl festivities. So as of Monday, it appeared the stadium was explosive-free. Fan-fucking-tastic.

As Matt pulled in and parked the car, I could hear the pinging of metal on metal as the bullets ricocheted of off the back wall of the range. We collected our gear, and walked into the

I had the good fortune of being able to utilize Matt's guns, as well as his expertise in shooting, as I don't know if I would ever muster the courage to fire a gun of my own accord. I needed an encouraging word in my ear, and a scolding if I was doing something incorrectly.

The List

After careful thought and consideration, I have a compiled a list of the much-anticipated activities I plan to engage in over the semester. These are in no particular order of completion or importance.

The list:
- fire a weapon
- motorcycle ride (drive?)
- hot air ballooning
- skydive
- get a tattoo
- take a dance lesson
- attend a Renaissance festival
- karaoke
- get published
- try a new cuisine

I realize some of these are more tame than others, but I don't want to overwhelm myself right out of the gate. Let's see how week one fares. I figure I can always add or remove as needed, and as time progresses I may get a little more daring.

First up: Shooting Sports Tampa!

The Reason for my Ramblings

I’ve been discussing the subject matter for my blog with my comrade Matthew over the past week. The idea for my blog burst forth from this collaborative wellspring.

For some time I've been mulling over the things I've wanted to achieve as short-term goals. Those goals, however, seem to be inching further and further away with every day. I employ the usual deferment tactics, i.e. lack of money, lack of time, finger pointing in every other direction other than inwards. I’ve concluded that I need to quit blaming externalities and focus on the personal shortcomings that are preventing me from experiencing life. I’ve decided to create a blog focused on the realization of goals over the course of this semester. And so I bring you the "Fuckit List", a variation on the Bucket List, recently popularized by a Morgan Freeman/ Jack Nicholson film of the same name. I'm not into creating long lists of goals, much less those that take into account my impending death; I don’t plan to “kick the bucket” anytime soon. However, I DO want to live my life in the here and now, instead of waiting until retirement, saving scrupulously, planning methodically for my latter years. Who’s to say I’ll even live that long? So fuck it, I say, I’m going to leave behind all of those unconvincing justifications and start living my life the way I want to, with conviction and purpose. I’m ready to dig a little deeper, enrich my life, and meet new people in the process. For the rest of the semester, I plan to embark on a new adventure once a week and blog about the experience. All of my objectives are within my reach; the only thing that remains is for me to venture out into the world and achieve them.

This blog will serve a threefold purpose. The first is to expand my writing horizon, to move out of my comfort zone of traditional discourse and to enter into the 21st century of “digital citizenship”. I must admit, I am intimidated by the prospect of venturing into the online world, but this is an unwarranted fear, just as arachnophobia, claustrophobia. Webaphobia? Nonsense! I’ll be using the Internet to research and plan my adventures, so this will help to familiarize me with some the accoutrements . The second purpose is to create a work that will serve as the jumping off point for my future ramblings, something that will inspire my creative genius. I want my blog to be more than just a classroom assignment; I want it to serve as a foundation upon which my writing can build. Although the framework may at times be shaky and unstable, I believe the cornerstone is of sound construction. I believe in my abilities as a writer, but I need the confidence and the experience for my voice to swell in a sea teeming with scribes of modernity. By exposing my writing to a more critical and objective eye, or potential “eyes” via the Internet, I can obtain a fresh perspective that I may not receive by submitting my work only in printed form. I hope that by writing on a more informal level, I can shed some of the self-consciousness that keeps me from writing passionately. Finally, the third purpose of the blog is to inspire me to get out there and do things I’ve wanted to do for some time now, but have been making excuses for myself as to why I couldn’t. Writing about my experiences will comprise the bulk of my blog, and pictures will document the validity of my participatory observation. I’ll also try to pepper in some video footage if and when possible.

It seems that I have a viable journey ahead of me, one that should prove both academically and personally rewarding. I'll incorporate as much of the process into my blog as possible, from the planning stages to my musings on the adventure of the week (prior and post event). This week's adventure: the gun range!