Saturday, June 20, 2009

The Making of a Mall Ninja

It's Sat afternoon, and I am flying solo here at the house with Anastasia. It's been a low key day. Almost a little too low key, but I am getting stuff done to try and keep this place a well-oiled operation. :-)

I have a lot to say. Pardon my rambling. I am prone to get lengthy.

I just received my Phantom Concealment Holster from RCS. It's a little less glitzy than I was expecting but it makes carrying concealed far easier. I can go outerwaist band in an untucked tee-shirt with a full size Glock and I don't print unless I am turning. Impressive. The nice thing about this holster is that I got it set up for a tactical light (TLR-1) attached to the gun, but I can still use the holster if there is no tac light attached, which is a good thing, since I still need to buy one.

I still have problems in the car fitting into the seat without the holster digging into my side. I will work on adjusting it, but I wonder how helpful that will be. The Phantom is definitely a big step up from my Fobus(ted) Roto holster, but the 50 day wait was long and painful. I might go with Comp-tac next time around or a CrossBreed hybrid. All these guys make a fine holster and have a good reputation. I just don't want to wait forever and a half for the product. I suppose that sometimes that's the price of excellence

I will let you know how the Phantom ends up working out with pics. All in all, it's a really sweet holster.

I've decided to stick with 9mm. I was going to purchase another G17 to have on hand for SHTF, but since Glock came out with the RTF frames (rough textured finish), I am reconsidering this move. It's not like I have the money anyhow, but there's always financing via Budsgunshop. That would mean my allowance goes to pay for a gun each month but it might be worth it for the CZ SP-o1 Phantom I mentioned a while back. I love most CZs I've handled and the Phantom makes me drool. I probably shouldn't think about this, but I am. It'd be a hard fight every morning to decide what to carry, but at least I'd be well set-up for a mall ninja.

All this means I would hold off indefinitely on the .357 Sig caliber and just hang with 9mm. Frankly, after checking out the larger calibers in the store, going with a lighter model makes a lot of sense to me, especially given the ammo shortage from hell. I was able to pick up a box of plinking ammo at Walmart last week, but still. Unless your shooting .22, .270 or 7mm, you're just outta luck.

Ok, switching gears here...

Without really thinking about it, I have been sporadically training in earnest the karate I learned years ago. Okinawan Goju Ryu to be exact. Watching some videos on youtube of Morio Higoanna helped with this inspiration. Pretty damn inpressive at 69 years old.

I have met him in person several times and received my shodan under him years ago. He was amazing then, but now he is purely phenomonal. He is so humble. If you met him person, you would never know he was a martial artist, let alone a 10th Dan. When I shook his hand, it was light as a feather. I'll never forget that for as long as I live.

I think now that I am 30 I appreciate more than ever the value of my hard training in the karate dojo. The art, as preserved via the IOGKF, is still practiced today more or less the same way it was practiced 100 years ago, except that the teaching is more open (as in available) than ever. This means that all the traditional ways of doing things, the odd, traditional training tools, are still used. It's a lot of fun and a cultural treasure.

Things at the house are going well. I am making progress slowly but surely. It's hard to carry on daily life and renovate at the same time. Speaking of which, duty calls. It's time also past time to start stacking firewood. I cut some up this morning, but then the rain came, putting the kabosh to my early morning productivity.

That's it for now. Drink tea and kick ass.

Over and Out,

--Nick-Dog

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