Desert Wanderer wanted to know: What about something you were unexpectedly good or bad at?
The first thing that comes to mind is shooting. Or, well, marksmanship, I suppose. Precisely hitting what I aim at over a long distance, at any rate, as opposed to most shooting in actual combat, which tends to be less about precision and more about suppression.
I hadn't thought much about that aspect of being in the Army before I went to Sandhurst. I knew I was going to be in the Army, of course, and I was in the RAMC medical cadetship programme, but medical school didn't leave a lot of room for thinking about anything but medical school, and my F1 and F2 years even less so. I suppose I thought I'd be perfectly adequate at it, but I didn't expect it to be... Fun is the wrong word. Satisfying, maybe.
It's a difficult physical skill, and, while the Army teaches you a lot of difficult physical skills, most of them don't require that much mental focus. I'd say it's more like surgery, but it's not really like that either. It's its own thing.
And, of course, it's a skill I've very seldom had to use off the target range. That probably makes a big difference in my attitude toward it .
42 comments:
Wow! Two questions in one day. I am the luckiest wanderer ever.
Shooting does seem to be a bit like surgery in that it's all about your control over yourself (hands, breathing, technique, etc.) in a way that not a lot of things are.
I am a relatively terrible shot, which has a lot to do with my lack of focus on the range more than anything else, I guess.
I'm glad you didn't find much cause to you use it. Never a good thing when the medic has to use their weapon.
Thank you for answering my question. :)
It's a day for the unexpected apparently.
Never a good thing when the medic has to use their weapon.
No. Very bad indeed, generally.
Shooting does seem to be a bit like surgery in that it's all about your control over yourself (hands, breathing, technique, etc.) in a way that not a lot of things are.
That's a very good way of putting it, and better than I managed, thanks. Absolutely everything you're doing (or not doing) in that second matters, especially over longer distances.
I can imagine you being very focussed, and therefore very good at it. Plus your ability to keep very calm in stressful situations.
But Sherlock is going to be begging you to let him shoot something now. And he really is too small to shoot a rifle or shotgun...
As far as I'm concerned he'll be too small for that even when he inevitably ends up taller than I am.
Ha, it is rather inevitable...
I couldn't mind taking him to shoot clays, when he's much older.
I don't have to go to work in ten minutes really, do i?
Much much older. Maybe 30.
...Would you believe me if I said no?
It's only 2:18 in NY. If you were here, you won't have to go in for another 4+ hours. :) (Of course, everyone you love is there. So much for that idea.)
Sherlock with a gun. Hmmmmm. (Still, better to know how to use one and never need to than the other way around.)
(Although NOT at age 6.)
No, suppose not.
I really should get ready.
John, I kept waiting for the Spanish Inquisition to pop up in your post given the title. Although I will confess I'm hopped up on cold meds so I may be missing a reference.
My dad taught me to shoot a rifle when I was 18. There is something very ... quiet, I guess, about the focus in the moment before you fire. I enjoyed it, certainly, and I wasn't a terrible marksman either (a great change from my experiments with baseball and other sports apart from golf and hockey).
Guns make me nervous. Even being around armed police near Westminster and in airports makes me twitch, and I *know* that I can trust them not to do anything... worrying. But guns make me nervous nonetheless. (Actually, there's a part of me that hopes that never changes, I'm not sure I ever want to be in a situation where I become inured to their presence).
So, given my nervousness, and given your situation with the boys and security and stuff, I am very reassured that you have a calm focus and hit only what you intend when you are armed :-)
Learning to shoot a gun is an idea I take out and consider a few times a year. I do, after all, live in a rather large and not particularly safe city, and it seems like it would be a useful life skill. On the other hand, it would only be useful if I kept a gun in the house, and I don't know that that's the best idea at the moment.
So far I haven't voted yes, but I suspect I'll give it a try at some point.
I can hit the paper with a .22 pistol, but that's about it, so I'm impressed. (I dated the president of the rifle and pistol club at University, and we had a range on campus, so I learned there.)
Nameless Anon - I had an American culture shock moment while reading your comment, since ALL our police carry guns. The California Highway patrol routinely carry shotguns racked between the front seats of their patrol cars.
Being a country girl, I learned to shoot at home, with a target drawn on cardboard and propped up in the field. I'm not particularly sure it's a useful skill to have, and I don't intend to keep guns in the house any time soon, but I like knowing anyway.
My dad always had guns in the house, from handguns to rifles. He took my two siblings and I out to the local garbage dump when we were all very young, I don't think I was more than Sherlock's age, perhaps a bit younger. He wanted to make sure we understand the dangers of the guns, so that they weren't a mystery to us and we wouldn't be tempted to play with them.
He took several watermelons and shot them, to show us what a gun could do. Then he taught us gun safety, and had us shoot some of them.
I have never, ever forgot those lessons, and was very thankful to my dad for making sure I respected, but didn't fear, the weapons.
I was an all right marksman in the military, and I enjoy shooting the rifles down at the range. It does take a lot of practice and skill, and is oddly meditative. I can see you being very good at it, John.
I enjoy shooting shotguns at clays. Don't think I'd ever want to shoot an animal though.
There is something satisfying about seeing a clay explode mud flight and knowing you did that...
Mid flight...
In tired.
Oddly enough, I read that as "mid flight". If you hadn't corrected it, I'd never have noticed.
I'm tired too. :)
And since sunset is near--Shabbat shalom, all!
I just thought you were making a sly pun, sine clay is just dried mud. I will continue to believe that.
Cue Lestrade-standard "aw shucks" comment. :P
DW - Aw shucks.
L - I suppose taking Sherlock to shoot clays wouldn't be so bad (when he's older). And you're right, I'm sure he'll want to.
X - there was meant to be a Spanish Inquisition reference, but it didn't work out. And then I didn't bother to change the title, sorry.
:D
Well played, Sir.
This is the first time I'm seeing y'all's new tags, and I think they're wonderful. The tags on my blog are all serious-like and uninteresting. Have a good night, gentlemen (and everyone else, too).
Any of you still awake know how to fight off extreme tiredness? Having a bad half hour.
Sure I'll perk up ins minute. probably
A faceful of cold water? Or cold air.
Pressups work well. Also, apples and cold water.
Put on some music and jam out in your office.
Just don't stay sitting down. That's deadly.
I'm out on the riverside. Not sure I can drop and do 20... and apart from the Thames, no water...don't fancy that after last time.
Thanks though.
Well, then, only one thing for it.
Exactly what color are John's super short shorts? Do they match his wings? Does his belt match his boots? Etc. ad infinitum
I generally listen to music to stay awake, or talk to someone on the phone. I'm not sure if either is an option for you though?
Luck!
DW - danger seems like the sort to have co ordinate shorts and wings, yeah. Probably gold , to go with his hair. Maybe black boots and t shirt. He'd look like a bee...
I'm sure Sherlock'd like that, too, given his fascination with bees. They can go together to Pride like that and make a hive. You and Mycroft can be beekeepers. :D
Not sure I'm into the beekeeper look...
I could go as a pretty flower...lovely nectar and a big stamen?
Certainly not a shrinking violet. :)
Any more awake?
The gold shorts reference is making me now picture John as Rocky Horror. :P Touch-a touch-a touch-a touch me, and etc. Thanks, L; sorry, John. ;)
Re: the Spanish inquisition, John, I'd rather there be no reference than for me to have missed it!
No drawing or working on drawing today. Am Time Warped-out. Mebbe tomorrow :). Night!
I learned to shoot a rifle around age 10-11 from my dad, who was our 4-H Shooting Sports instructor. For those of you who are city-dwellers and/or not from the US, 4-H is a youth organization that teaches kids useful skills. It arose from the farming communities, where kids would spend a year learning to sew and cook and raise animals, then show off their projects at the county fair in the summer. It's still basically the same idea, but the projects on offer have expanded considerably. I did everything from drama to model rocketry to embroidery over my nine years.
I'm passable with a rifle and a recurve bow, rotten with a shotgun (many clay pigeons flew free) and have only gotten to try using a pistol once. I think I would be better if I could get into the shooting zen zone, but my zen places do not involve loud noises, so. *shrug*
Like the Anon above, I have an aversion to guns. They make me nervous. That being said, as long as the weapon is not obvious, I'm not going to freak out. In the US, police officers tend to carry handguns and it's almost as if the weapons aren't even there.
On the other hand, in London, the cops generally aren't armed, but when they are, they bring out the assault rifles. I always have to remind myself not to get nervous.
-A from NW
surpression ?
Suppressive fire - and that's a generalization, sorry. I just wanted to make the point that it's not often in combat that anyone is focusing on one specific target at a time.
"there was meant to be a Spanish Inquisition reference, but it didn't work out." But that was the first thing I thought, and I appreciate the Monty Python love.
@John
Yeah, no, I got the gist of what you were trying to say (I think). It's the word itself I'm having problems with - 'suppression' I do know, but I've never encountered 'suRpression'. Sounds... Well, French-y. And I'm not nitpicking, I swear!
No, you're right. I didn't realise - usually the spell check tells me these things, but not this time apparently. Thanks.
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