Tag Archives: holiday

People who really care about you don’t want expensive gifts

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Don’t let the fact that there are a bunch of labor-intensive holidays this month distract you from the important things. What, pray, could that possibly be? The answer, of course, is: you.

Don’t let anyone guilt or browbeat you into doing something really stupid this holiday season. In a world of pandemic, inflation, high fuel prices, and that sort of thing do you really want to go hundreds (or thousands) of dollars into debt just to give expensive gifts to people who may or may not actually be that important to you? Or you to them?

If you care about someone enough to want to get them an expensive gift, and they care about you the same way, then they care about you enough to not want you to financially martyr yourself by buying some ridiculously expensive gift. If they’re a real friend, they’d rather you take the $100 you were gonna spend on them and spend it on making your life better, your life safer, and your life more resilient.

If you can swing it, sure, get dad the Rolex, buy mom the Peloton, gift the wife that diamond she’s always wanted. But all those people who love you, if hey really love and understand you, would rather you just give them a hug and a $20 gift rather than hurt yourself financially by getting them something because you or someone else has you convinced that you ‘have to’ go into debt ‘because its Christmas’ (or whatever holiday).

Look around you, do you really think this environment we are living in right now is the kind where you want to exhaust limited resources just because you’re getting pressure to give outrageous gifts? Aren’t there more important things to do with your limited resources?

I have a few close friends and I would much rather they take the money they were going to spend on me and spend it on themselves instead to increase their resilience, increase their safety, and increase their security.

Part of being a survivalist is having to be able to ignore peer pressure. Now, if you’re squared away, of if you’ve got a goodly bit of disposable income, go ahead and buy great gifts for the people in your life. But if you’re really concerned about the future, and you think having a little extra this or a case or two of that in storage might be a good idea, then dial it back a bit this year in terms of gift giving. If someone asks why you ‘cheaped out’ this year when you were handing out $250 Amazon gift cards last year you tell them truth – you’re putting your resources into making your life safer, more secure, and resistant to the chaos we’re in now. And if those people have a problem with it, well, then they’re people you probably don’t need to have in your life anyway, let alone be giving gifts to.

Nobody ever lost their job, was staring down an eviction notice, and said “You know, I’m sure glad we spent all that money on those expensive gifts for people we barely see during the year.”

People who really care about you don’t want expensive gifts from you. People who really care about you just want you to be okay. If they really care about you, then theyre going to think thats the best gift they can receive – knowing the person they care about is well. Give ’em a hug, a box of 9mm, and tell them how much they mean to you. In the long run it’ll be a great exchange for both parties.

 

Its beginning to look a lot like Festivus

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I got, I kid you not, a Festivus card in the mail the other day. A thoughtful reader sent me a Festivus card and a thoughtful (and greatly appreciated) gift. Darn nice of him, if you ask me.

What does Zero want for Christmas?

Well, ammo anyway.

Actually, precious metals (of which ammo would count) make awesome gifts. I genuinely don’t have much I could ask for for Christmas. I did splurge and get myself another lovely Filson garment as an early Festivus gift to myself. I like their products, their style, and quality….hate the price. But..buy once, cry once.

However, were Santa to ask me if there were any preparedness related items he could have his non-union labor force whip up for me…..well…I wouldnt mind a nice ICOM transceiver with power supply and antennae, some more NATO gas cans, another EU2000, and that sort of thing. While I’m something of a sentimental fool, I have trouble with the notion of Santa encouraging children to believe that they can get toys simply because ‘they deserve them’. It seems like it would foster an attitude of entitlement. Still, not as bad as Halloween…where children are encouraged to put on disguises, head to wealthier neighborhoods, and demand treats under penalty of tricks. All thats missing from that picture is a ‘no justice no peace’ sign.

But…not everyone sees it that way.

Turkeyday

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Happy Thanksgiving, boys. Sometimes life is a swirling cesspool of despair from which no ray of hope can ever escape. (Or as I call it, “Lifes default setting”) But no matter how craptacular it is, it could often be worse. So, sure, take a moment to be grateful for what you have. But also be grateful to yourself for getting you there.  You overcame that crappy obstacle. You put yourself on the right track. You did the hard work. You made the tough choices. You fought the battles. You made the sacrifices. Sure, you may have had advice, help, and direction from others, but in the final analysis it was you who got you where you are now…good or bad. Own it. If you’re hitting bottom, slap yourself in the face a few times, grit your teeth, cowboy the F up, and do what needs to be done. If you’ve recovered from hitting bottom and are on your way to being a baller, keep your foot on the gas, amigo.

But take today to recognize what you’ve done and what still needs to be done. Then pig out, sleep it off, and get back to the plan.

 

‘Tis Independence Day

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To me, Independence Day is mandatory go-practice-with-guns day. Also a good day to bone up on your history and political theory. I think that Independence Day is the second most political holiday after Election Day (which, I suppose, isn’t actually a holiday.)

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust; if you don’t take it out and use it, it’s going to rust.

And we’ll take a right good-will draught, for auld lang syne.

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And so it ends….not with a bang, but with a whimper.

Although it impacted me far less than many people, it was still a long year. To my uninformed, cynical mind 2021 portends worse.

The polite and socially-acceptable thing for me to do is to wish all of you a happy New Year and wish you good luck for 2021. I say ‘screw that’. Luck is for rabbits. If you’re reading this then you’ve the mind to be the one who makes your own luck. Laissez les bons temps rouler.

 

 

Seasons Beatings

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Well, I’m not really a Christmas kinda guy..what with being a nonbeliever an all, but I recognize that a lot of folks get into the holiday so I’ll go ahead and cover my bases and wish everyone a merry Chrismahanukwanzika.

I’d also like to take a moment to thank a couple people who sent me Amazon gift cards as Christmas presents .Very thoughtful, guys…thank you very much.

2020 goes into the history books in another week and then we face 2021 with all of the unknowns arrayed before us. It should be an extremely interesting year.

BUT…thats a week away. In the meantime, have a nice holiday and let me know if you got any cool gifties.

 

Hit it, Placido….

Its beginning to look a lot like Festivus……….

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The holiday season approaches. Whats on my list for Christmahanukwanzakah? Not much, actually. Oh, sure, a Barrett will always be on the list but other than that….I think I’m set.

Usually I give out 10/22 mags as gifts since I got into them so cheaply but, unfortunately, the Current Situation has me thinking that I’m better off holding onto them since in about two years they’ll be worth at least $50 each (give or take the $200 tax stamp).

Tell you what, doing holiday shopping for anyone who is into guns must be quite a challenge right now since virtually anything gun related is outta stock at most stores. On the other hand, give someone a 20-rd box of Winchester white box .223 and it’d be almost like handing out crisp $50 bills.

What are you asking Santa/Hanukah Harry/Voodoo Man for this year?

Friday of Color

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Ok, so we’re in the post-Thanksgiving stage now. Now is the run-up to Christmas and then…the new year of 2021.

Media says that folks are staying home for the most part and that any Friday of Color of serious quantity is being done online. Works for me. I love online shopping. You youngsters may not remember it, but in the dark days before Al Gore invented the internet, if you wanted to shop through the mail you had to get a catalog. And the only way you even knew that there was a company you wanted a catalog from was to see their ad in a magazine or something. Then you’d send them a letter asking for a catalog, wait for them to receive the letter, they sent you a catalog, you waited to receive the catalog, you ordered from the catalog by sending them your order in the mail, wait for them to receive it, they ship it to you, wait for it to arrive, and then…finally…you got your cool survivalist geegaw. And then you’d find out it’s the wrong size/color/yield and have to send it back and the whole process would start over. Broadly, it could be a month from when you saw the company’s ad in the back of Soldier of Fortune to when you actually got your goodies.

Nowadays, I can literally….literally…have a plate and plate carrier on my doorstep in three days or less with one-click of my mouse. You kids have no idea how spoiled you are in terms of amazing choices and accessibility to quality survival gear. No idea.

I can be sitting at my desk watching YouTube and someone says “Hey, I bought a [Item] and have been testing it. Its awesome, you should get one!” and I can have one on order in less than a minute. How utterly amazing is that? There are people on this planet who have to walk five miles with a bucket on their head to get drinking water and I can order up a hundred pounds of ammo to be delivered to my door and I don’t even have to get out of my chair. I love this country!

Of course, there’s a drawback to all this – it’s easy…really, really easy…to spend money quickly and carelessly. I won’t say I have never had buyers remorse, but I’m much better at resource management than I used to be. Still..sometimes it’s an enormous relief when I go to order something and find hat I can’t because it’s out of stock.

So…while you’re doing your FOC shopping today think back to those dark days of survivalism where you actually had to slap a stamp on an envelope to order up your LL Baston underbarrel Mossberg 500 mount for your AR15. You kids have it so easy today.

“We’re all gonna buy.” No lie, this was an Actual Thing back in the ’80’s.

Turkeyday

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Today is Thanksgiving, which is, nominally, a day to give thanks. For me its a day to eat turkey. My life is a swirling dumpster fire of rage and pain, so I tend to not be thankful as much as I am vengeful. Nonetheless, I realize I’m in the minority on that sort of thing…so, for those of you who engage in the Norman-Rockwell-esque version of Thanksgiving, I say ‘enjoy’.

Following the holiday are the Black Friday Friday Of Color sales. I cannot imagine any vendor needs a holiday sale to get product moving in this Current Situation. Why would you mark your guns and ammo down for a holiday sale when you can double the price and have it fly out the door seven days a week? Still, I’ll go through the motions anyway because I’m always looking for a deal. Lemme know if you guys find any good deals that are actually in stock.