Dreams & Shooting

Two nights ago was only the second time I had to shoot someone. Dreams can be good or bad, the bad ones are called nightmares.

I grew up around guns. To say I was afraid of them would be putting it mildly. Maybe because I was a girl I had no interest in them and had no desire to even see or touch one. My father kept his guns handy and knew how to shoot. He was a pistol champion. As a child I always saw dad cleaning his pistols. He also used to mimic shooting the bad guys on the black and white TV set we had in our living room. There wasn’t much room in the four room apartment that held the seven of us, and there wasn’t really any place to go to not be around the guns.

At some point in time, I started dreaming about being shot every night. No one ever made a move to actually shoot me, or even threatened to do so in real life but the dreams became more regular and came more often. I was sure that one of these days after dreaming this night after night that it would come true. It made me want to avoid any and all firearms. It almost made me want to avoid sleep. It certainly could be called a reoccurring nightmare. Until one day they stopped, after I was married, out of my parents house and maybe because of the distance from the actual guns?

Fast Forward … 2004
Ever catch someone trying to break into your home? How about a second attempt? The first time we experienced this and tried to catch the intruder — we didn’t succeed. The second time, we were able to get a license plate number. With the help of several friends and a series of coincidences, which I prefer to think was divine intervention, we found out what was going on. A neighbor rallied the neighborhood to file a lawsuit against us, making up charges and opening a dummy corporation “representing” the homeowners association. The reason was one particular man who wanted us “out of his neighborhood”. Nothing more, and nothing less would satisfy him. He was wealthy and thought he could control everyone and everything. He made up lies about our family and spread them as gospel truth to the other homeowners. He even had another man strong arm the neighbors into signing – mostly by lies and intimidation. They hired private investigators to follow, track, record, film and to break into our home.

Because we were not guilty of any of the dozen charges he made up, we did what we felt was right. We stood our ground. This was the last thing he expected. Surely the power of a seriously wealthy man would intimidate most, but not us. We have no “dirt” to dig up, no skeletons in our closet we haven’t dealt with, no secrets to hide. I believe he found and used things like that against others in our neighborhood but with us there was nothing to find, so he resorted to making them up.

When someone is “out to get you” and makes it pubic knowledge that they are, the options are almost always either fight or flight. Since flight wasn’t going to be our choice, we decided to get our concealed carry gun licenses.  We wanted to be prepared should he decide to escalate his efforts.  Here in Virginia, you don’t actually have to have a concealed carry license to have or wear a gun on your side. Virginia is an open carry state. As long as the gun can be seen, and not carried into prohibited places (schools, etc) – you can holster your gun and wear it while you go about your day.  The requirements for concealed carry (where your gun is hidden from view) in our area of Virginia, is to take an 8 hour class, then pass a written and a shooting test.  After that, a judge has to sign off on your request to carry a firearm and your concealed carry license is issued.

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Sometime Friends ~ Short

Friends are nice to have – most of the time.  They are there for you and you are there for them.  It’s something that helps makes the things that happen to all of us in this world easier to accept.   Someone to call when you have good news or bad.  Someone to spend your leisure time with having fun. Someone who is there and cares for you no matter what!

Occasionally a friendship goes a little wrong, and they become a “sometime” friends.  That’s right, sometimes they are your friends and sometimes they are not.  All of us probably have  had this happen to us, especially if we have any years under our belts.  There are reasons and seasons to life where friends are more important and play more key roles in our lives — and other times when our family takes priority and we must limit our time with our friends.

But then again sometimes things just go awlfully wrong.   In the video on YouTube here:  VIDEO ~  there is an example of what we believe was once friendship, ending just so wrong.

This is our gas station and this incident just happened Sunday night.  It seems that the man paid for the gasoline in the vehicle the girl eventually leaves in.  The man had been in the rest room… then he kind of wobbles out towards the car and  falls to the ground.  The girl gets out of the vehicle, not once, not twice but three times, emptying his pockets of everything he has… she even turned him over to make sure she had everything.  And then sadly, she leaves him there “unconscious” on the ground.  She doesn’t alert anyone, she doesn’t call 911 and she sure doesn’t stick around.

When the ambulence got there, he told them he was robbed.  He had had prescription medications on him as well as other things.  She took everything… he didn’t even have his ID any longer.  It was all long gone with the “girl”.  She robbed him, and she didn’t call for help,  and she left him there.  I cannot imagine totally why – I could guess, but it would only be a guess.  So, I can just say one thing… please people if you have a friend, acquaintance, neighbor or just see someone who needs help  — be kinder to them this woman was!

It’s Annoying ~ Speed and Red Light Camera’s

The first thing I want to say about these to be crystal clear — these aren’t about anything but revenue.  The revenue is for the owners of the camera and for the towns/states/municipalities that use them.  This revenue is no small amount; we are talking multiple millions per year.

If that wasn’t the case, the municipalities that use these cameras would care if there was an actual violation and who actually committed it. But they don’t, pure and simple.  They just want the vehicle owner to pay the fine. They just want the money.

Most times you will not win, if you try, as they assume guilt. Hey, they have the picture, right? And even if the camera is broken, you are still guilty.  And even if you were in Iraq or on the moon, your car was the one we have on camera and you are guilty.

In my opinion, and everything I write is my opinion, I think that stinks.  Why? Because I often let others use my personal and company vehicles. I often leave my keys in case someone needs to use my vehicle, or move it, etc. Sure I expect them to drive it gently, and to obey the law.  I believe most times they do.

Annoying Example One: Traffic Light Street Line

There is a seemingly new interpretation regarding the red light cameras in many states.  I guess their revenues weren’t as high as they expected.  It seems now, that if your tire touches the white line – you are guilty of running a red light and they are sending tickets for same*. If your car stopped, but if your tire went over the white line you can and most likely will be found guilty of this violation at any traffic signal equipped with these cameras.  My advice then, based on that is run the damn light and get the ticket legitimately.  The hell with safety, and doing what’s right by trying to stop – if you are going to get the ticket anyway, and have to pay the fine, with little to no hope of contesting it and it’s “just that close” run the damn light.

 

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