Situational Awareness or Paranoia?

[JKosprey]

I dated a girl that thought I was a little paranoid, and she'd tell me as much...but she'd also follow up witht he fact that she felt very safe with me, so it never became a point of contention. I never could get her to shoot though.

The current lady friend(Not the girlfriend just yet) has grown up around guns and likes to shoot, and her brother is as paranoid as I am, so she's used to it.

[Ken 2023]

My girlfriend and I share an apartment. Since I turned 21 I always carry a gun when I'm not going to/from school, and stash them throughout the apartment. GF wasn't totally comfortable with this, feeling it was unncessary/overkill. She freaked out when I armed up to go to WalMart. I was perplexed, because this is an unusual attitude for a girl in the Army...

Anyway, I warmed her up to the idea by simply sticking with it. This summer sealed the deal. One day when she got home there was crime scene tape on our door and police detectives crawling all over the building. Turns out our neighbor down the hall (I didn't know her) was stabbed to death in the hallway*. Neither of us were home when it happened, but it was one of those wake-up calls. She talked to my mom because she saw my apartment on the news, and asked if she was ok. GF told her she was all squared away because I had a gun set aside and loaded for her to use. I now get absolutely no resistance when I strap on a gun or load one up on the nightstand.

*I renewed my lease that month. Rate went up $25/month .

[skb12172]

Yup, I'm too old and set in my ways now to put up with being some woman's "project." If you don't like what you see, too bad. I've never, ever been at a loss when it comes to finding female companionship, so I'm not too worried about it. We're just too different.

[workinwifdakids]

When I smell leftovers and the smell is iffy, I dump it. I don't eat it, I don't wait to see if it will smell better. I dump it.

[Frankingun]

All is not lost on the college generation. Last month my 20 year old niece showed some good SA when we made our side trip to Athens. We had dinner in Monasteraki, a neighborhood that grew up around, you guessed it, an old monastery. There are several streets full of shops that fan out from around the monastery, most of them have roll up garage type doors that cover the entire front of the store, so the areas where the stores that don't sell junk to tourists had already closed for the night were definitely creepy. Anyway, after dinner, my parents stayed by the monastery while Kat and I went to buy souvenirs. We first started up a street that was mostly closed up, and right as I was starting to get my hackles up, she turned around and said she was getting creeped out. So we turned around and then went back up one of the streets that were still full of open shops. She still thought that street was a little creepy. I also kept up my awareness throughout that hour we were shopping. Nothing happened because we watched where we were going, and besides, where else in the world can you buy ouzo bottles shaped like doric columns?

[skb12172]

Think about her and you, as though the two of you were......fish.

She's a tropical fish, in need of a special aquarium, with heated water, special food, etc. Very delicate, easily stressed.

You are a catfish. Catfish can live damn near anywhere, and eat just about anything.

Just my $.02 worth.

Excellent analogy, Termite. In fact, I used this on her last night. She AGREED!

I think we both see the writing on the wall. We're just slowly easing out of things now in the friendliest manner possible.

The kicker was dinner last night. She asked why I switched seats. When I explained that I wanted to observe the entrance/exit as well as the main traffic patterns, she giggled and said: "You should have been in the CIA. I swear, you try to make your whole life a Clancy novel, don't you?"

There are sheep and there are sheep dogs...

[Ben Rumson]

Think about her and you, as though the two of you were......fish.

She's a tropical fish, in need of a special aquarium, with heated water, special food, etc. Very delicate, easily stressed.

You are a catfish. Catfish can live damn near anywhere, and eat just about anything.

Just my $.02 worth.

Excellent analogy, Termite. In fact, I used this on her last night. She AGREED!

I think we both see the writing on the wall. We're just slowly easing out of things now in the friendliest manner possible.

you try to make your whole life a Clancy novel, don't you?"

Let me start by saying Clancy Novels are fiction. I don't want to argue about what he bases his stories on. But for the sake of my comment, Clancy writes fiction.

This is the problem with most Libs and conclusions they draw. They always end up referring to fiction when trying to make a point. They draw conclusions from the fictional shows they watch and books they read and call it fact as if the make believe reference they used actually happened at some point.

We base our actions on fact, history etc etc etc.. I always look forward to a fiction reference from a Lib when debating. My comment usually goes "so you're basing your point on fiction, make believe? Is that correct?" It usually sends them into a tail spin and they leave.

[HTRN]

From the Street Samurai Catalog, Pg 91:

[center]Working the Streets[/center]
Abridged from an article by the same name, written by William "Wedge" Harkwood, first published in the June 2050 issue of Street Fighting Man

BLAM! A single gunshot and another all to wise razorboy gets geeked. Why? Because he was stupid. Because he thought he knew best. Because he refused to listen.
Every punker that hits the streets thinks he knows best. He thinks he's got the ultimate edge and that everybody else will just fold up when he pops those long chromium carbide blades. Wrong. They're going to laugh instead.

The moment you step out on the streets, you must immediately assume that you are in a war zone and that you are a target. On the street, paranoia is a way of life. Without it, you're pizza. Assume that every situation, every deal, is potentially life-threatening and you might live to see the morning.

There is no clean and fast way to work the streets. Nobody has a patented method of survival, but keeping certain things in mind just might make life a little safer.

Assume that everything you do is part of your own personal little war. All this drek about "Zenning" through life is garbage. Might as well put a bag over your head and dance in traffic.

Think about what you are doing. Plan ahead. Study your options. Try to out-think your opponent. Consider what he's going to do next, and what you can do to be ready for it.

Know your enemy. By learning all you can about him, you can being to understand how he thinks, and is likely to react. Knowledge is power.

Always check with your contacts. Even if the deal looks so clean it squeaks, check it out. Even if it's your big-buddy older-brother sliding it to you, check it out. I'm not saying you should always believe everything you hear, but put your ear to the pavement and listen anyway.

Pay attention to your surroundings. Know your territory. Too many young razorboys assume they can get away with carrying their Kingslayer Assault Cannons casually over one shoulder while window shopping along Money Street.

Laws and Enforcement vary, depending where you are. Procedures can change from block to block and from cop to cop. If you're in a neighborhood that the cops like, play it safe, take it easy and keep it concealed. The worse the neighborhood, the more the cops are going to let things slide. A heavy weapon of any kind is an excuse to call out the riot squad, and an assault rifle is worth at least three carloads of back-up, and maybe even a light chopper.

Carrying big guns and obcious armor is just asking for trouble, in any neighborhood. In many places an obvious weapon or obvious armor mak you an immediate target.

Understand how this war of yours is going to be fought. It serves no purpose to have your H&K 227 in perfect working order if your enemy is going to shut you down with long-range magic. Stud they options, consider the possibilities.

It also servers no purpose to take on an obviously superior foe head-on. Use hit-and-run tactics whenever possible. Keep your engagements short and sharp. Use the shock of violence to your advantage and be gone befre that shock wears offf. Leave the protracted open-field fighting to the military idiots who have the manpower to soak up the casualties.

If you do get into combat, try to get out of it as fast as you can. There is too much uncertainty in the chaos of battle to guarantee any result. If you must fight, control it. Choose the terrain, choose the weaponry, choose the participants.

Do not let your opponents set the pace. B active, not reactive. Force his hand, rathe than letting him force yours. Gain and hold the initiative.

Harass your opponent. Anger may lead to an error.

The only thing you can be certain of is what you can do. Everything else is suspect.

And never, ever be dumb enough to think you won.

HTRN

[Evyl Robot]

A few points of information:

Not my wife. She is my girlfriend...

...Not a homophobic bone in my body. I'm simply stating a fact.

Well......shit, where to start......

OK, no starting, just this, and NO OFFENSE IS INTENDED, SKB:

It's your love life, dude, so do as you see fit. But I would break it off, unless she's willing to make massive changes, most of them mental.

......and your's has [strike]a[/strike] several personality(and psycological) issues that I wouldn't put up with.

Yeah, what he said.

Think about her and you, as though the two of you were......fish.

She's a tropical fish, in need of a special aquarium, with heated water, special food, etc. Very delicate, easily stressed.

You are a catfish. Catfish can live damn near anywhere, and eat just about anything.

Just my $.02 worth.

Good grief! You've got to lose that chick!

[skb12172]

Yeah, we had the break-up talk last night. Ironically, we were both watching the episode of 2 1/2 men, where Charley breaks off a relationship because she was constantly trying to "fix" him.

I told her I was constantly stressed when around her, because I felt like I was always having to explain/justify things that are second nature to me.

She admitted she was just as stressed because she just couldn't get me to do it "her way."

I brought up the fish analogy again and she agreed with it...again. She takes a certain amount of pride in the way she is. She thinks it makes her more of a catch, since a man has to work to be up to her standards.

I think it does nothing more than explain why she is 35 and has never been married, despite desperately wanting to be a wife and mother.

It was friendly enough, as these things go. Plus, I already feel more relaxed. We'll call it a good lesson learned.