Gamecocks Win! Gamecocks Lose!

I made it back to lovely SC last week. I rolled out on Friday, landing in Atlanta, grabbing my rental and driving the green green patch between there and Columbia. The weather was pretty amazing so the late afternoon, early evening drive was wonderful, the air full of the sweet smell of pine and early Fall. My good friend Foxy has an extra bed and as he lives alone these days, he enjoys my annoying company more than anyone really should. I mean I can't stand to be around myself as much as he can. The only downside is his hyperactive wild child of a pit mix 'Lady'. She's sweet, but crazy. It also means that the doggy dander typically gets my eyes and nose running so I need some Allegra to make it through the week. Saturday, we headed up to Spartanburg for a wedding and to save money we stayed at a dive hotel in town along with a bunch of other rugby friends, spouses in tow. It was a seriously crappy hotel, but since we spent most of the time at the church and reception and only slept there it wasn't too awful. The reception was amazing. I got to see lots of old friends and several of the the girl ruggers I used to coach back when I was in SC. They had grown up even more and become 'real' women as compared to the girls they were back in college. The band at the wedding was absolutely amazing, with a repertoire of songs that was unbelieveable. They played everything.....and very well. Oh and the Gamecocks crushed, say again, crushed Georgia. It was a great night all around.
Monday, I spent most of the day cruising around Cola checking out what was new and what was gone. Not a whole lot had changed, but a whole lot had changed, if that makes sense.
Tuesday, I had lunch with the Fort jackson crew and toured the base to see the few things that had sprung up there since my departure. It was great to see everyone.
I headed to rugby practice a couple nights and saw an old friend Isaac and his young son. We sat on the front lawn drink beers and getting caught up.
Thursday and Friday we worked on Foxy's deck, putting in some new joists, some new decking and moving the hot tub, so the plumber and electrician could work on it. unfortunately it wasn't ready in time for me to enjoy. But it should be up and running next time I visit. He's had a hot tub for over 10 years, but it hasn't worked when I've been there yet.
I also met with Hollie to talk about our divorce and work out some of the particulars with that. All in all it was a good lunch and I expect things will go well with everything.
Friday night, I broke down and hit up Little Pigs BBQ. The best Southern buffet in Cola. They have all the lowcountry favorites. They even have half a hog laying around for picking, you just grab off what you need then slather it is sauce. Fried catfish. Pork chops. livers. gizzards. greens. sweet tea. yams. banana pudding. fried chicken. pork hash and dirty rice. Really, everything I dream of when it comes to southern food, except steamed oysters in the shell. Oh and dove and quail. Really really good. The place has burned down a couple times, but it always comes back. So good.
Saturday was a rugby day. I was also supposed to head to a second wedding for my old lunch pal Brad but after a lot of thought and a couple beers I decided I'd go to their second reception in Cali, where his wife is from. There ceremony in SC was way out in Prosperity and I didn't want to risk drinking and driving. Instead one of the old ruggers, Philly was having a bachelor party and dinner for his second marriage, so i joined up with that crew. We hit up the Brazilian steakhouse in town. You pay a flat fee and the waiters walk around with skewers of meat and slice you off as much as you like until you've eaten so much meat you get the meat sweats. I stopped short of that point but I wanted to keep going. Sometimes you just have to say no. Afterwards, we headed to a couple bars to watch the SC LSU game. It was a heartbreaker with the final being only a few points difference from a stupid interception. Gamecocks, coulda, woulda, shoulda, but didn't. Ugh. They've got the talent and coaching, they just need to put it altogether at the same time consistently.
Sunday, Foxy and I hit up Gourmet Shop downtown and I had a gourmet cheese toastie and tomato bisque soup, oh so tasty and picked up some mexican cocoa bars. They are mostly ground cocoa and sugar and make great hot chocolate or just disintegrate in your mouth. So So good. We watched some Walking Dead, I took a quick 30 minute nap, and headed to Atlanta, finally making it back to CA at 1 in the morning and driving back to Helendale and crashing about 2. When I woke at 6 I felt like crud but got dressed and headed to work and gave a presentation to the Comuunity Council at 9. I had to wing my way through it since I hadn't been to work in a week, but did alright. I crashed out early on Monday and was back to the old grind no problem Tuesday morning. Another successful trip, another successful reintegration.

TEOTWAKI

Awhile back, 5 or so years ago, I became interested in the notion of prepping. I think it stems from my Boy Scout background. The Boy Scout Motto is 'Be Prepared'. Prepared for what? The short answer is anything or better yet, everything. This generally makes for a VERY responsible human being, which I will admit I am not always. I eat out too much, take too many trips and don't plan far enough ahead to be considered overly responsible.
Most preppers spend a lot of time going over lists, buying needed supplies, putting up stores, fortifying their houses, etc. And while any of this is acceptable prepping practice, I think it falls short. Sure it is a great way to feel 'prepared' as everything you have is at hand should A, B or C happen, but what about D, E and F.
It's funny, just the other day, one of the guys at work and I got into a discussion about politics that led to what could be around the corner, TEOTWAKI. For those that don't know, TEOTWAKI stands for The End of the World As We Know It. basically that financial meltdown, giant asteroid, great war on American soil, Peak Oil or whatever else changes our way of life at a fundamental level. I'm convinced it could definitely happen. He even made the point that I seemed to have pretty strong convictions about some of what we discussed, and that is a fact jack. A lot of Americans, this guy included, felt that we were the top dog and would always stay as such and our way of life just couldn't ever change too much. I'm not so convinced. I'm sure if you asked the Greeks or the Romans or the Egyptians or the Brits and any other world power if they thought their reign would ever come to an end they would each say 'hell no' andeach of them would be flat wrong, nations are born, mature and change, some for the better some for the worse. Has ours matured as we have aged? If we look at history, are we repeating the same mistakes others have made before us?. I think most people fail to realize how fragile our society is. How reliant on good faith America is. Ask yourself what if tomorrow your bank cards and credit cards no longer worked? How long could you get by? How much cash do you have on hand? What if paper money was no longer any good too?  What do you have to barter? What if ALL government employees (police, fire) were told to stay home? What if we started having brown outs or black outs? What if the grocery store stopped getting deliveries? What if the bank asked for your entire mortgage note owed to be paid in one lump sum like just prior to the Great Depression? What if banks stopped extending credit to businesses, how many would fail quickly? All of these have happend in other parts of the world in recent years. Some due to corruption, some due to incompetence, some due to globalization, while we are a lot more insolated than most third world countries, we are not completely immune.
So what about D,E, and F? My answer to all of the scenarios is one of flexibility. I am planning to be valuable wherever I am when things go bad. knowledge of medicine, constructing/maintaining shelter, acquiring food and water, security. These are the things at the bottom of Maslows Hierarchy of needs and when it hits the fan, these are the things that matter the most and make one useful to a community, no matter where that community may be. Just something to think about. While I believe it is important to enjoy life, I eat, I drink and I'm pretty darn merry, I still think of the hardworking ant and the frozen grasshopper who failed to prepare for winter while the ants toiled away, which would you rather be when the first snow flake falls??