Good news: I made it through the range session this afternoon without my wrist bothering me at all.

Bad news: My shooting was sub-par. Not flat-out awful, but I wasn’t at my best. Just an off day, I suppose.

While I was bumming around the shop afterwards I got to chat with the regional Browning/FN/Winchester rep, who had a few interesting things to say. According to the rep, Winchester has a whole bunch of new stuff coming out this November. 1894s are probably coming back and the Model 70 will either be reintroduced or replaced with a new bolt-action design.

I also asked when Browning was going to do show a little love for the Hi-Power, and he answered me with a sigh and a shrug. Browning has done nothing with the Hi-Power line since the introduction of the .40 S&W guns back in the mid-’90s. There’s no advertising, no promotion of any kind, no new models (aside from this abomination), no factory night sights, etc. It’s like they’re ashamed to sell the things. While every gunmaker in the country is racing to crank out 1911s, Browning’s other great pistol design is left to wither on the vine. Sad.

But hey, at least we can hold out hope for new Model 70s in the near future!

Sorry for the lack of blogging lately; I’ve been in a bit of a rut the past few days, second-guessing (more like n-th guessing) myself about going back to school. I’m heading out right now to spend some time at the range and hopefully clear my head a bit.

In the meantime, go check out this brilliant take on Peanuts as Charles Bukowski would’ve written it.

“You’re a piece of work, Charlie Branaski,” Schroeder said.

“How do you mean?”

“Well, it’s always the same with you.  You try to fly your kite, you play baseball, you drink all night and you’re lousy at all of it.”

Leelee Sobieski

Les Jones posted some hilarious Norm Macdonald video clips the other day. I’m a big fan of Norm, especially when he gets to ad-lib and wreak havoc. Great example of that: Norm destroying Courtney Thorne-Smith’s interview on Conan.

Someone give that man a new show!

I’ve deployed search parties to track down my missing muse; that damned strumpet ran off a few days ago without even leaving a note.

In the meantime, here’s a peek at tonight’s celebratory going-back-to-school dinner:

A pretty decent strip steak, grilled just to the rare side of medium-rare and covered with a garlic/shallot reduction sauce.

Andouille-kebabs. Weird as hell, I know, but they taste great.

You’ll note that the meal was approximately 75% meat, with veggies limited to garlic, onion, shallots, and peppers. Nothing green on the plate. I am a paragon of healthy eating.

Application has been filed, transcripts are en route, and I’m 90% sure I’ll be headed back to school this fall.

I’m doing the right thing. I think.

In Other News, I’m working towards picking up a Ruger 450/400 Nitro Express. Unfortunately the gun budget is right at $0, so something else has to get sold in the process. I’d say it’s like selling one of your children, except I don’t like kids. It’s more like, uh… selling one of your guns.

That’s all I got, folks. Allergies are hitting me hard today and sapping the will to write.

Not me, this gentleman over here. He’s made me want to get back into handloading.

Picking up the meme from SayUncle and Robb Allen, here goes:

1. I shave as little as possible because I have the sort of beard that produces lots of ingrown hairs. I’ve tried different razors, shaving creams, shaving techniques, and lotions without notable success. It ain’t easy, being this manly.

2. I lost my virginity to a witch (an actual, practicing witch), in a movie theater, during Star Trek: Insurrection. Hey, we were horny kids with nosy parents at home and insufficient funds to get a hotel room. And the theater was empty. Mostly.

3. I’ve attended a black-tie, $1,000-a-seat charity concert at the Lincoln Center in a T-shirt and tattered blue jeans.

4. In addition to the witch, I’ve also dated a bisexual drag king (who was actually very beautiful when she wasn’t dressed like a dude), a bipolar junkie, and a crazy German girl who wanted to violate my tender young body in an entirely unacceptable way. I know how to pick ‘em.

5. I’m mixed-handed. I write and do most other fine motor skill operations with my left hand. I play baseball and golf (both very poorly) right-handed. I shoot long guns right-handed but shoot handguns just about equally well with either hand. I use a computer mouse right-handed but tend to favor my left hand for touchpads and TrackPoints. I never know what the hell to do with eating utensils.

6. I’m a lousy athlete whose lone gift is a freakish talent at the standing long jump. The one thing I can do well, isn’t done anymore.

7. I’ve been rail-thin my entire life, but I weigh about 25 pounds more than you’d guess from looking at me. Yes, that makes me extraordinarly dense.

8. My ex-girlfriend took a series of portraits of me that won several awards. Only she didn’t have my permission to enter the photos in any contests. And I was nekkid in them. Being naked on the internet is a hard thing to undo.

It’s as if millions of voices emo kids suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear pray something terrible wonderful has happened.

I was lurking on THR tonight and came across this thread: Am I a good shot?

It got me to thinking about my own shooting, which I consider passable but not by any means outstanding. Given a handgun with decent sights and trigger, I can typically hold for 1.5″-2″ per 10 yards of distance. That is, my 25-yard groups will be no bigger than 5″, offhand from a Weaver stance.

My limiting factor is my vision; I can hold better than I can see. My eyes have been bad since the second grade and aren’t improving with age. Iron sights give me trouble, especially when they’re the tiny GI-style jobs. With an optic that puts everything on the same focal plane I shoot noticeably better, which confirms that my fundamentals are otherwise sound.

Comparing myself to the folks I see at the local range, I do better than probably 80% of them. There are always the crusty old-timers who can shoot their High Standards into the same hole all day long, but for every guy like that I see 4 or 5 shooters who have a hard time scaring a letter-size piece of paper at 7 yards.

So I suppose I’m better than average but not as good as I’d like to be. I wonder how I’d do with LASIK…

Edit to add: Alright, I showed you mine, you show me yours. How well do you shoot, and how do you feel about your abilities?