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camwynFor whatever reason I was feeling kind of down last night. Don't know what it was. Haven't accomplished all that much creatively lately, maybe. (Ha, says the voice in my head, and what do you call the insanity that history.VicMage.Asia.China is turning out to be? Or the visit from the Ugly Art Fairy?) Maybe it's just insufficient sleep, I dunno. I tend to run on a sleep deficit if I don't watch out. I'm feeling better now, though. Let's see how the workday goes.
The one thing that really did seem to go fairly well last night was archery. I got over to the range, pulled a target up at seven yards, and started shooting with Bendis. Better to groove in proper form at close range than to drive myself nuts overcompensating for minor variations that look enormous when shooting at a 20-yard target. I like the local range. It's got a few problems, but I can deal with them. One is that the lighting is very dim, which is a problem for me as a LASIK patient; my eyes work best when there's more light. Mind you, I've had problems with low light since my first set of contacts in sixth grade, so it's not like I really remember having good night vision to begin with. I just have to compensate. The other problem with the range is that it's underground. It's a basement range, built under several businesses including a hair salon, a plus-sized clothing place, and an Italian deli. I can deal with the assortment of noises, even when someone's waxing the floors up above, but I shoot longbow or recurve. I'm 5'9". My longbow is 68" unstrung. There's a low ceiling with exposed beams and a low-hanging water pipe... d'you begin to see the problem? I have to cant my bow very, very carefully in order to avid whacking it on one of the beams, or on the pipe. The compound shooters all have plenty of room to shoot in, since their bows are smaller. Oh, well... this is why I try to do most of my shooting outdoors during daylight hours. At least I got in a good half-hour or so of shooting, and some good chat time with a compound shooter who was already there and admired my stickbow. The fact that I was able to bring it to near-full draw even though it was 50 pounds impressed him. (I suspect it was full draw on someone with shorter arms - I was shooting with my thumb knuckle against my face about an inch away from the corner of the mouth, and my draw is 29.5 inches.) I was also shooting instinctive, and grouping pretty well. Several shots wound up going into the same hole in the target on a few of the rounds. This is not much of an accomplishment at 7 yards, but I guess it looks impressive to folks who're used to four-pin sights, weights, stabilizers, and 85% letoff. I think I shot something like 36 arrows last night, and they all landed square inside the target circles, with four or five hitting the equivalent of the 8-ring or better (I was using a field target that's black and white, rather than the coloured targets - the contrast is easier to deal with in a low light setting). I'm happy.
Today's pulp survival tip is #7. After you're done with your pistol or revolver lessons, you're still not done. Learn to use the most popular distance weapon of your time - a hunting rifle will generally suffice prior to about 1940 or so, but there's nothing wrong with longbows either. You may have to save the life of someone who's doing something cool with the sword from rule #5.
The one thing that really did seem to go fairly well last night was archery. I got over to the range, pulled a target up at seven yards, and started shooting with Bendis. Better to groove in proper form at close range than to drive myself nuts overcompensating for minor variations that look enormous when shooting at a 20-yard target. I like the local range. It's got a few problems, but I can deal with them. One is that the lighting is very dim, which is a problem for me as a LASIK patient; my eyes work best when there's more light. Mind you, I've had problems with low light since my first set of contacts in sixth grade, so it's not like I really remember having good night vision to begin with. I just have to compensate. The other problem with the range is that it's underground. It's a basement range, built under several businesses including a hair salon, a plus-sized clothing place, and an Italian deli. I can deal with the assortment of noises, even when someone's waxing the floors up above, but I shoot longbow or recurve. I'm 5'9". My longbow is 68" unstrung. There's a low ceiling with exposed beams and a low-hanging water pipe... d'you begin to see the problem? I have to cant my bow very, very carefully in order to avid whacking it on one of the beams, or on the pipe. The compound shooters all have plenty of room to shoot in, since their bows are smaller. Oh, well... this is why I try to do most of my shooting outdoors during daylight hours. At least I got in a good half-hour or so of shooting, and some good chat time with a compound shooter who was already there and admired my stickbow. The fact that I was able to bring it to near-full draw even though it was 50 pounds impressed him. (I suspect it was full draw on someone with shorter arms - I was shooting with my thumb knuckle against my face about an inch away from the corner of the mouth, and my draw is 29.5 inches.) I was also shooting instinctive, and grouping pretty well. Several shots wound up going into the same hole in the target on a few of the rounds. This is not much of an accomplishment at 7 yards, but I guess it looks impressive to folks who're used to four-pin sights, weights, stabilizers, and 85% letoff. I think I shot something like 36 arrows last night, and they all landed square inside the target circles, with four or five hitting the equivalent of the 8-ring or better (I was using a field target that's black and white, rather than the coloured targets - the contrast is easier to deal with in a low light setting). I'm happy.
Today's pulp survival tip is #7. After you're done with your pistol or revolver lessons, you're still not done. Learn to use the most popular distance weapon of your time - a hunting rifle will generally suffice prior to about 1940 or so, but there's nothing wrong with longbows either. You may have to save the life of someone who's doing something cool with the sword from rule #5.
