[Project:ThreeSixFive] Day [LVI].

It doesn't feel like the last update was yesterday. It's been a long, long few days...

There is a town here in Arkansas called Fifty-Six.

Well, well. Today has been amazing. My good friend, Dr Schilling, took me out to a range - his gun club, actually. We fired a whole lot of rounds for a long time. Five and a half hours, to be a little more accurate. I can't describe how good it was. I came home smelling of oil and gunpowder. A manly smell indeed.

For today:

It was hard to choose one photo as the one for today, but I think this one made it. I call this my 105-yard quarter. Because I hit it from 105 yards away. Apologies to my Oklahomies. It was the only quarter I had; nothing personal.

And a drawing, yaay. Not much effort went into this. I'm still fairly elated at both finishing Dogsword the other day and at also getting a mention and a favourite from his creator on Twitter! But yea, today was lacking somewhat in drawing.

On with some more photos!

Here are a few of the guns I was fortunate enough to use today. The pictures are from google, but they're pretty much the same as the ones my friend owns.

The Beretta 92 Inox. 9mm. This particular sidearm is issued to Military officers, I believe. Lovely to fire. Not a whole lot of recoil, but it lets you know it's not a .22 calibre pistol.

This is the Beretta 96 Vertec. .40 calibre. This is the sidearm issued to FBI personnel. It's got a bigger kick than the 9mm but it's still nice to fire. His model was the 1911 and the design is fantastic. It's safe to assume that it is a great design, seeing as though it's 101 years old.

And the FN PBR XP. Or something like that. A .308 rifle that's also issued to FBI personnel. My friend's rifle has a pretty nice scope and a bipod. This is what I hit the quarter with. Nearly took my arm off. Pretty big kick! I managed a 2.5 inch spread at 300 yards - I'm told that's pretty good, so I'll take it! I have no idea.

We also fired a very nice Beretta shotgun a whole lot. You can buy a big box of clay pigeons and a thrower for pretty cheap, so we had a good laugh shooting those for a while.

Then there was a little .22 rifle that we fired and a .22 pistol that we started the day with.

Talking of the .22 rifle:

I shot this shell from 36 feet. It sounds more impressive than 12 yards, but it's the same distance. This is a 9mm shell - about the same diameter as the hole I made in the quarter.

This is the photo that I was trying to decide between for the photo of the day. From 12 yards again - and with the .22 rifle again - I hit the primer on this 9mm shell. Had it been a live round, I would have fired two shots with one trigger squeeze!

I've had a really great day. It's been amazing to do something that's so everyday here. No-one thinks anything of taking a few guns down to the river bank or the range and shooting all day - for me it's something that is ridiculously exciting. I'm definitely making the most of it. My friend and I had a great time with a bit of friendly competition through the day. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

I'm going to sleep well tonight. It's been a great day and there are also no kiddos running round and crying and whining throughout the night. A quiet night is a nice night.

Peace.

[Project:ThreeSixFive] Day [LV].

Quick update.

For today:

Me next to my huge hand. It's in my room next to the drawing desk. I haven't drawn with graphite for long time.

Not as good as the drawing yesterday, but something at least. Here's a guy in the wind.

Well. I'm off to play hide and seek for another hour or so and then watch Spongebob for another two hours. After I've put certain little people in time out.

It's a nice practice for having kids, but it'll be a bit nicer with our own input for the first 3/5 years.

Peace.

Update: Day [LIV].

So here's the finished piece that I've been working on for the past two days:

YAAAY! It's a finished Dogsword the Demolisher! I'm so happy with this. I'm having a great time using blocks of colour in photoshop over my biro line work. It's such a fun thing. I like leaving in the pens and deck floor (in this photo) and things like that. It just adds something to it, I think. I feel good. I might start on another piece.

Hope you like it.

Peace.

[Project:ThreeSixFive] Day [LIV].

Apparently, Mountain Dew has 54 milligrams of caffeine. I don't look at numbers on the back of food - I just eat the food. Books are for reading, food is for eating. There are 54 coloured squares on a Rubik's cube.

A quick, blurry-photo update today; my wifey and I are off out to babysit for the next few days. Don't fear - I will be home during those days, so I can continue to update this blog for you.

For today:

My untidy workspace. The whole room took a long time to get sorted, so I saved this for today. Unfortunately we're off out for a few days, so there we go. I'll have to finish it on Monday...

I'm going to qualify this as a drawing again. I was touching up the tentacle and the hammer this morning. I'll be taking a smaller sketchbook with me to doodle in. The one I've drawn this in is the biggest in-use sketchbook I have, so it's somewhat cumbersome; especially when one is traveling.

That's today. Thanks for reading! I'm off to get some breakfast before we get to work. ... And by work I mean watch Spongebob for hours.

Peace.

[Project:ThreeSixFive] Day [LIII].

53 is the atomic number of iodine. Pronounced "Eye-Oh-Deen". I think it's my favourite element, but I can't be sure.

I had a big ol' tidy up today. A load of dishes, a couple of loads of laundry, vacuuming the living room and completely tidying our bedroom. It looks like a completely different room and it's amazing and I love it again.

For today:

The pool this morning was like glass. It was beautiful. I keep referring to it as the pond because the next things to use it are going to be the bullfrogs. I can't wait. I really want some frog legs.

Dogsword the Demolisher. A quick doodle-type for the evening. A shoutout to Jouste - a man whom I have referred to before; I love his style and his character creations and back stories.

Check out his gallery here: http://jouste.deviantart.com/gallery/

Lovely stuff.

I need to do this at an earlier time. In the evening I struggle to find background noise that doesn't outright distract me. I feel like mentioning it is giving it too much attention, but what is Jersey Shore doing on TV, what is it meant to be about and how do we stop it?

I realise people are all about gossip and controversy and reality TV and car crash television and whatever else they call it, but come on. Right now, I'm watching a girl take far too long to realise that there's a blender and a cookie tray on her bed. Now I think she's just passed out on the couch. Don't people get enough of this at university? I know I did and that was while I was doing my best to stay away from it. Goodness knows how much more people need if this is what they're into. I don't know any more. I think the stupid is contagious. I'm glad I don't have to review it. The thesaurus can only give me so many synonyms for idiot.

Buh. I'm going to bed. If there's a frying pan on there I'm going to get angry.

Peace.

[Project:ThreeSixFive] Day [LII].

Taking into account upper case (majuscule) and lower case (minuscule) characters, there are 52 letters in the English alphabet.

Lots of driving today. Errands and all that. Chick-Fil-A for lunch, though. Very nice. If you're visiting the States, make sure you get to Chick-Fil-A. Their nuggets are incredible. As is their Chick-Fil-A sauce and Polynesian sauce. And sweet tea.

For today:

It's pancake day! Shrove Tuesday is the day before Ash Wednesday, so it's date changes from year to year. It's when we use the last of our flour, eggs, milk and butter in preparation for the forty days before Easter. Although not that many people fast completely for those days, most give up one or two things. Chocolate, pop, Facebook, etc. Here, we had a lovely mix of cultures. Pancake day, yes. But with big ol' American pancakes and not the thinner, crepe type. Still with lemon and sugar, yes. But also with scrambled eggs and bacon. Great!

Another Monkey doodle. Just practicing different poses and whatnot. I've been trying to focus on the dolls at the moment, but it's nice to draw out some quick poses from time to time.

Watched the first two hours (precisely) of Kingdom of Heaven before; to finish Thursday evening (church tomorrow). At the moment, it's the first episode of the second season of Downton Abbey. Huzzah.

Peace.

[Project:ThreeSixFive] Day [LI].

The P-51 Mustang was a WWII fighter aircraft. They apparently took down the second highest count of enemy aircraft in WWII.

Today was the big day - my wifey and I have just got back from doing a little swing dance at the High School pageant this evening. It was really great and we had a fantastic time. It was the first pageant I've been to, so it was fun for me to experience this part of the culture here. It was a great evening and I had a great time dancing with my wifey. The two of us, her mum and her sister all went to IHOP afterwards - a lovely end to the night. I found a new favourite drink there that I cannot remember the name of. A mix of fruit juices and soda. Or something.

For today:

A little picture of the dance. It was so much fun. My wifey and I just had a really great time dancing together. We didn't really care that there were other people in the room with us. It was incredible fun.

I like that my wide-angle lens is also a macro lens. With the lens extensions I have, I could get some really close wide-angle shots. This is another drawing of the monkey I did a few days ago. Different pose and all that. I might throw some colour on him when I have the chance. Tomorrow is going to be a day of Chiropractors, lunch and either chilling with friends in the evening or watching a film at home. Who knows?

I sent off for a Capt'n Crunch T-shirt a week or so ago. I still haven't heard anything. Hopefully it'll come through soon. I want to wear it back home and reenforce the idea that all Americans only ever eat Capt'n Crunch for breakfast.

Time for bed, methinks. I was watching Mudcats last night and it's amazing. I really want to go noodling. That aside; I dreamt last night that my arms were catfish. It was an odd dream.

Maybe I'll draw it...

Peace.