My Third Decade Begins

I still have a hard time grasping the fact that I'm twenty years old now. But then again it's only been three days. Guess it takes a bit longer than that. But still, if someone comes up to me and says "act your age" I'm not gonna have a clue what that means. Is it "act your age", or "act your age"?

March 10th 2014
I remember on March tenth I got up in the morning with the house to myself, and went out for a walk; to go down the road and then by the creek, to find some river stones. Still some snow left on the ground, and I had my wooden staff and HandyCam with me. Half a field away, I saw a grey shape sitting still, crouched in the snow. 'Wait...' I thought. 'Is that a fox?' I took out the HandyCam and used the zoom lens to get a better look at it. In seconds, the red and grey fox rose to its feet and started running. Quickly I took four photos as it was moving away.

(attention city people; You see? THAT is the sort of thing you're missing. In places like this there's peace and natural life. No traffic or gangs all over the place)
Unfortunately every rock at the creek was angular and uneven. Not round or smooth enough for throwing, but heavy enough to weigh a sling down. I picked up four and put them in my pocket before leaving for home.
I went back to the creek later in the afternoon with my leather sling, to practice the throwing technique/s with the stones provided and figure out which throw I was going to use for filming the next day.

You know what can make someone's day? Seeing birthday presents covered in all Duck Dynasty wrapping paper. I was laughing literally right away. I even got a couple of their books, "Si-cology" and "Happy, Happy, Happy".

The chocolate chip cookie cake was delicious. I mean, obviously! It's a giant soft cookie with green and brown frosting decorated on it! (It's a C.C.C.C.C., a Camouflage Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake!)
Several hours were spent watching behind-the-scenes on Catching Fire with my sister till we both got too sleepy to stay up much longer.

March 11th, 2014
The next day I put some of the other stuff I got to good use.
I got to wear my Beorn t-shirt for this episode of Beorn's Tent, and use a new set of paracord and leather to make a a new sling.
The only really annoying thing was the battery in my camera kept wearing down in not too much time, so I had to charge it and and edit the footage between filming sessions.
It was cool, though. I shot a long-distance fight sequence outside with the new sling and my flannel camouflage cloak. In the editing I made it look like a warg was charging at me and I was throwing a golf ball into its mouth (I showed a golf ball in my hand, and later I switched it with a random rock so the pouch would be weighted and I wouldn't have to worry about losing good ammo in the snow). Although I guess it's no secret to say, that scene was a bit tricky to edit. So was picking out additional music for the whole episode when I was running out.

March 12th, 2014
I got to go to the shooting range at French Creek Outfitters with another friend (so I brought both my bows, both shooting gloves and every arrow that would work) and, well... she wasn't exactly the best. But I guess part of the reason is 'cause we were the same distance from the target and she had the lower-weight one. Mostly it was trouble with the anchor point and pulling to full draw. But that means there's room to improve. "If it makes ya feel better, I've been doing this since I was sixteen." I said. It was a pretty funny shooting session.


I'm just glad my last few teenage years were awesome. Now, still plenty more life ahead to enjoy and give meaning (and a LOT of time to grow a beard too).