Turning Money into Noise

I just spent two beautiful days in lovely Parump Nevada. For those of you who do not know Parump it is North West of Las Vegas. Imagine Vegas without any glamour or water and very few people. That is Parump. The main draw in Parump FrontSight shooting range. My brother Bob, his son Avery and I shot a two day course there this week. 

 Now before you put me in the box with all of the Preppers and Right Wing Nuts, let me just say that making things go boom is fun. Firecrackers, toy cannons, paper bags are nothing compared with a good .45 handgun. And if you think a .45 is fun, try a full auto machine gun! Yes, I did. I paid forty dollars to shoot one, count it one magazine of 9mm in an MP5. I still have that silly grin on my face. Really, the laws must be wrong when something that fun is illegal to buy. I would register my fingerprints, DNA and retinal scan to buy one of those. In fact I'd register my rectal scan to buy one. I know I would never need it, it would be like a Ferrari, but safer and one twentieth the cost. *sigh* Oh, well.

We finished the course in a shoot house. It is a scenario simulating a threat in your home. You take your position and pictures pop out (paper posters on frames). You have to decide to shoot or not shoot. In this case a wall fell open revealing a bad looking man with a big gun pointed at me while my instructor yelled insults to increase the stress, realism or fun, depending on your take. Something like, "YOU STUPID DOGFUNKED OYSTER SODDED MOTHERLESS STENCH WEASEL!" I may have forgotten the exact phrase, as I was busy drawing a gun and putting a single bullet right between his eyes. I actually hit the bridge of his nose. I was suppose to put a controlled pair of bullets into the center of the chest, but I was looking down the barrel of a really big gun. The nose seemed like a good idea at the time. 

The rest of the scenario went well, except when I ran out of bullets at the end facing a hostage situation. I pulled the trigger and no boom. A very loud silence indeed. A quick, or rather an emergency reload and another head shot and all was good in the world.

I have a stressful job, at times a stressful home with a special needs child. We all face money and health issues now and then. Odd that going somewhere and playing with the most stressful situations I can imaging could be so relaxing. I guess it like Halloween, a chance to face or even make fun of your fears in a safe way. I think the sudden rush of adrenalin, the quick excitement and the chance to learn and review is very different from the daily grind where as soon as I finish one challenge another takes its place. It was also fun to do something completely different. Basically, this is like golf with noise. Besides, I can hit the target with a gun, have you ever seen me golf, now that is scary and dangerous!