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.

I don’t want to be pedantic but….we celebrate Independence Day, not the fourth of July.

Now, having irritated many of you, I suggest you take that irritation to the range and go shoot some guns. Independence…whether its from other nations, people, ideas, or paradigms…does not come peacefully and without incident*. Be ready… emotionally ready, mentally ready, and physically ready.

“The price of freedom is the willingness to do sudden battle anywhere, any time and with utter recklessness.”  ― Robert A. Heinlein

* = I cannot hear the phrase ‘without incident’ without thinking of this incident.

Another year come and gone and…no apocalypse. Well, no apocalypse in the sense of some great run-for-your-lives-we’re-all-gonna-die sort of thing. As individuals, we all have plenty of horrific catastrophes that hit us. But, as a group, no….no big apocalypse this year. But you never know. No boom today, but tomorrow…boom.

2019 was, sadly, another gun-heavy year. Just off the top of my head I can think of at least three shotguns, two or three ARs, at least a half dozen pistols, etc, etc. It really seems to be getting out of hand. However, I still resolutely believe that at some point things will hit a stage where the ability to purchase an ‘evil features’ gun with a ‘high capacity feeding device’ will be curtailed…at which point I will sit back on my armored butt and smile to myself.

Broadly 2019 was a quiet year, which is how I like it. As I get older my goal is security, predictability, and routine. I want to wake up every  morning to a warm house, running water, food in the fridge, money in the bank, and all my organs functioning at acceptable level (and one organ in particular operating at its normal superhuman level). This is not to say I dislike new things or excitement, but I want those things because I wanted them..not because Fate decided to throw me a curve ball. I’ve been told, more than once, that I am a person who hates change. Not true. I hate unwanted change. Let me give you an example: someone gets cancer and they complain about it. Would you accuse them of hating change? After all, having cancer is a change for them, isn’t it? No, you would sympathize with them. Cancer is an unwanted change. However, short-sighted narcissists who lack self-awareness will only look at the broad strokes and say ‘you hate change’. Well, duh…find me someone who doesn’t hate change that hurts them. And before you get all Nietzsche on me, yes, that which doesn’t kill you makes you stronger…but usually it just kills you.

2020, unfortunately, will be a year full of change…mostly because it’s an election year. Yes, I voted for him. And I’ll do it again. But I cannot say whether his re-election or loss is a sure thing. And because there is that level of uncertainty, I foresee 2020 being a bit of a chaotic year in terms of markets, legislation, and a few other things. Every year, it seems, I keep beating the drum of ‘buy guns and mags’. And, thus far, every year nothing substantial occurs that prevents our ownership of those things. But…just because something hasn’t happened doesn’t mean it won’t. Make of that what you will.

I hope 2020 is as peaceful and relatively quiet as 2019 was. I hope I’m sitting down at my desk a year from now writing a very similar post about how it was a somewhat uneventful year, and we all grew older and a bit wealthier. But despite the motto of failed Democrats, hope is not a plan. Hoping for a positive result is not how you get that positive result. So, while I hope 2020 is quiet and does me no harm, I will continue to take steps to mitigate the damage just in case.

It’s easy to slack off on being a good survivalist when the lights are on and your job is steady. But thats exactly the time you want to be in high gear getting stuff done and making plans. Learn to swim before the boat sinks.

So, enjoy the New Years holiday, relax and reflect on whats gone past and what is to come. And then cowboy up, grit your teeth, get out there, and make stuff happen for you.

I suppose that if a person digs deep enough, no matter how wretched their circumstance, they can find something to be grateful for.

Tomorrow is Friday Of Color. Let the games begin!