OT How do you deal with stress?

Discussion in 'Blazers OT Forum' started by Jade Falcon, Feb 27, 2019.

  1. Orion Bailey

    Orion Bailey Forum Troll

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    Get yourself a thomas guide for the state. Great when out of cell range.
    I love road trips and driving where i havent been. When i lived in ny id take a different road towards upstate every weekend. Sooo much fun.
     
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  2. Natebishop3

    Natebishop3 Don't tread on me!

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    tlong goes on Spurs forums and trolls.
     
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  3. SlyPokerDog

    SlyPokerDog Woof! Staff Member Administrator

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    Sign up for Big 5's deal of the day emails, you'll get everything you need for camping on the cheap in less than a month.

    http://links.email.big5sportinggood...M1ODM5MDA5NTg2S0&j=MTYwMDE5NTc5NAS2&mt=1&rt=0
     
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  4. ripcityboy

    ripcityboy Well-Known Member

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    Seriously? Mindfulness. I know that sounds like some Phil Jackson heavy pot induced BS. But I was introduced to it a few years back and took a number of classes on it. There is a lot of mumbo jumbo out there but disconnecting your thoughts from your emotions is a pretty sound philosophy.
     
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  5. UncleCliffy'sDaddy

    UncleCliffy'sDaddy We're all Bozos on this bus.

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    I don’t know if it’s exactly mindfulness but.......lately when I start getting cranked up about something I’ve been learning to take a step back and ask myself if whatever is pissing me off is all that important. And I try to look at the upside of my life; I’m not living under a bridge, I’m not buried in debt and I’m married to a good person who gives me a great deal of leeway. I’m one lucky MFer. What’s to get stressed about? And if assholes of any stripe are stressing me out, I do my best to walk away (where possible) and forget they exist. Fuck ‘em. A quick mental inventory like that has really started to help me de-escalate fast. Life could always be so much worse. So gratitude goes a long way, at least for me. Okay, okay, and maybe a good sativa also......
     
  6. riverman

    riverman Writing Team

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    I'm guessing this also inspired your good advice post! A good sativa is an asshole repellent
     
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  7. ripcityboy

    ripcityboy Well-Known Member

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    Gunna have to pass on the Sativa. Meds kind of preclude me from taking that. But a good mindfulness session will keep me good for quite a while.
     
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  8. Hoopguru

    Hoopguru Well-Known Member

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    Attitude is everything! Put up wings as eagles, and soar above all.
     
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  9. tlongII

    tlongII Legendary Poster

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    Girlfriends help.
     
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  10. MarAzul

    MarAzul LongShip

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    It seems like I am forced to look up words more often all the time.
     
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  11. Jade Falcon

    Jade Falcon Just to piss you off.

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    Thanks for the advice, everyone!

    I just got home. I went to Camas to the Top Burger, and had a $15 meal. It was pretty spendy, but well worth it. From there, I started going to the Silver Star Scenic Area, but decided against it when the 11 mile road leading into the area became snowed in. Which was in pretty short order, once I turned off of the main road. I had to back up a ways, and turn around, but it went okay. Getting stuck out there without chains or 4WD is not my idea of fun, and I didn't want to risk it; especially as I've never been there before, and I didn't know what the roads would be like going further.

    So I found a route to HW-14. The Cadillac was great! On the narrow roads of Washougal heading to HW-14, that thing REALLY coasts very well, with no help on the throttle. If you don't keep your foot near the brake, it can really get away from you. There was a couple of places where I considered shifting into low-gear, but I decided on just using the brake instead. It worked fine. When I was driving on the highway, my fuel range went all the way up to almost 400 miles. This car is going to be GREAT for long trips!

    Once on the highway, I headed East towards Bonneville, and crossed over to the Oregon side through the Bridge Of The Gods. I had no idea how short of time it would take me to get to Bonneville, but it wasn't long at all. I really thought the distances in the gorge between key places was a lot farther. And I've never been on this bridge before, so I wasn't prepared for the $2 toll. But I had the money, so it was no biggie.

    Once on WB I-84, I decided to pull off at a view point until the sun dropped down below the horizon at 6. Then I got back on the highway and headed home.

    The cliffs out there in the gorge are all covered in snow, and it was absolutely beautiful. If it wasn't so windy and cold, I would have stopped and taken some pictures, but I couldn't be fucked with that wind.

    All in all, it was a very good evening. Very relaxing, and a good cruise. If I had to guess, it was probably 80 miles round trip. Hell, next weekend I might head out to Mt. Saint Helens. I haven't been there since I was a kid, and I hear the roads out there are spectacular.

    The Caddy has really given me a lot of freedom that the Kia didn't. The Rio was good for zipping around town, but this is good for traveling and cruising. I daresay a smorgasbord of road trips awaits me.

    That reminds me of a saying I heard once: "Ease your mind and your ass will follow." I believe it's in the opening of the song "Maggot Brain", but don't quote me on that.

    This also reminds me of something: I don't carry concealed right now, and haven't in a few years simply because I let my CWP expire, and never went down to the Sheriff's office to renew it.

    But, when I did carry, I remember my mindset as being a list of priorities, and being mindful to avoid any trouble that came my way, and to avoid stupid things like road rage or getting mad at other drivers.

    For me, carrying a loaded gun was very sobering, and it really puts your life into perspective; especially with how you conduct yourself in public. You don't have the luxury of getting mad at petty things when you carry a gun.
     
  12. barfo

    barfo triggered obsessive commie pinko Staff Member Global Moderator

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    Up to a point. When you have too many of them, keeping track of them adds stress.

    barfo
     
  13. Jade Falcon

    Jade Falcon Just to piss you off.

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    Why don't you release some of the ones in your basement.
     
  14. Lanny

    Lanny Original Season Ticket Holder "Mr. Big Shot"

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    It's not the robe that interests me, big boy.
     
  15. Lanny

    Lanny Original Season Ticket Holder "Mr. Big Shot"

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    When I was a kid, my family and the family of my aunt and uncle used to go camping at Breitenbush every summer. Not the greatest fishing but a beautiful river and even some hotsprings to soak your feet in. Lots of eye popping woods.
    The local general store had a gas pump that had a glass see through container where the gas was pumped out of the underground tank and into the glass container and then into your car's gas tank. That gas pump must have been really old. Of course, that was back in the 50s and the gas pump must have been from out of the 30s.
    My brother and I and our two cousins would get increasingly excited the nearer we got to the campgrounds. There was nothing as wonderful as the sound of a crackling fire at the crack of dawn and the smell of coffee and bacon. My uncle would come back early and we'd all eat some of his trout for breakfast. At night, we'd roast hot dogs and and see by the light of a coleman lantern burning white gas. The lantern made a nostalgic hissing sound.
     
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  16. barfo

    barfo triggered obsessive commie pinko Staff Member Global Moderator

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    Bred in captivity, they don't have the skills to survive in the wild.

    barfo
     
  17. riverman

    riverman Writing Team

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    Girls gone wild...now that's a stress reliever
     
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  18. Lanny

    Lanny Original Season Ticket Holder "Mr. Big Shot"

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    I think that's more of a stress creator.
     
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  19. Jade Falcon

    Jade Falcon Just to piss you off.

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    Hey folks, thought I would give an update....

    So I've been on two trips recently. One was, as I wrote about above, to the gorge for some sight-seeing and whatnot. Total round trip was 207 miles. I didn't take many pictures because it was blowing like mad and pretty cold. But here they are, in no particular order. These were taken on HW-14 Eastbound, I did not take any pictures on my return trip Westbound on I-84.

    These are looking across at the snow-capped mountains on the Oregon side of the gorge. Pictures were taken with a LG K20 V phone:

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    I'm leaving out one or two pictures simply because they were from the same park, except slightly zoomed at different angles.

    All in all, it was an awesome, very relaxing drive. Wish it wasn't so windy, I would have loved to have stayed in this park a while.

    The next post will be just some pictures of my car that I snapped on a beach near Norton, just east of Mossy Rock, just last weekend. There's a story behind this beach and the town of Mossy Rock that makes it a personal place for me.
     
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  20. Jade Falcon

    Jade Falcon Just to piss you off.

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    My baby, all cleaned and polished....this was taken in the parking lot of the Autozone in Washougal on March 17th, one day after cleaning it. You can't tell, bu tthe tires are gleaming with polish. The rims I spent an hour cleaning, but they need major restoration, which you can't tell from these pictures.

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    These pictures are from last Sunday, on a beach of Riffe Lake, just outside of Norton.

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    The lake is absolutely beautiful, and it's changed a bit since I was last there in October of 2004. I didn't take more pictures than that for a few reasons:

    1) I was very much lost in thought (more on that in a minute)

    2) I was a bit annoyed by a fat old woman who picked 20 feet away from me to chill out and fuck around with a stick and some rocks when she had the entire beach to herself, after wandering aimlessly around in my line of sight while I was sitting on a log deep in thought.

    3) The drive up there was chaotic, and not the relaxing drive I wanted to have. I-5 was a packed madhouse for being a Sunday.

    4) I had just come from Mossy Rock, and didn't find closure with what I went there to do.

    And on that note, here's an abridged version of my connection with Riffe Lake, Dog Mountain, and the town of Mossy Rock:

    DSCF0018.JPG

    That's the only surviving picture I have of myself, back when I was a hunky 21 year old guy in October of 2004 (October 12th, I believe); in much better shape than I am now. I was hiking with two friends up to the top of an 800 foot mountain called Dog Mountain to watch some para-gliders fly off the crest of this mountain and down to the beach below.

    I had a Ruger P89DC on my hip in case there was a place that I and my then-friend could safely shoot (he had a Taurus PT-92). There wasn't, so we kept them holstered. Open carry in this area is legal....or was at the time; I don't know if that's changed since then.

    It was absolutely beautiful. Clear, sunny Fall day, and the lake from high-up was gorgeous. If you had told me at the moment this picture was taken that I would be sitting in the back of a police car that evening, I would have called you crazy.

    And speaking of "crazy"....I was with two people, Shawn and Billie Olinger, who were married in a happy relationship. I had gone up there that day after Shawn called me the day-before and invited me to visit. They were both older than I....I want to say late-20s. I met Shawn when I was working in Private Security as a contractor at a BNSF rail yard at Terminal 6 in Portland. We were in charge of security at the Ford and Nissan new car lot. It was an incredibly boring, extremely tedious job, and when I look back at it now I get angry that I wasted so much time at this damn job when I could have done something far far better. I knew people at BNSF at the time, and at two trucking companies that worked out of the Terminal, so I had connections to get a better career, but I didn't take it. That in itself is a topic for another time.....

    Anyways, Shawn and I hit it off because we both enjoyed shooting, and we both had a mutual dislike of our boss. So we became pretty good friends. At the time, I had a lot of personal issues going on, mainly related to my work schedule (I worked graveyard and traveled around to different sites, which took a massive toll on my health) and my awful relationship with my parents (also a lovely topic for another time....), so I was happy to have a friend whom I could relate to, to kill the loneliness and bitterness of everyday life.

    Shawn had told me, during prior visits, about his juvenile criminal history, and the fact that he and Billie lived out of a 5th wheel trailer towed by an old F-150 should have been big red flags for me, that perhaps he wasn't someone I wanted to associate with. Adding to this at the time was the fact that I had just made Civilian Adviser to the Vancouver Police Explorer Post after 6.5 years as an Explorer Scout. I thought, at the time, that I could read people pretty well.

    Boy was I wrong. Shawn was an absolute psycho, and I never even saw it coming.

    Later that night, (I'm skipping ahead a bit here and leaving out details, sorry....this story is difficult for me), Shawn and I were in a shooting with two local teens. Shawn came close to killing them, while I tried to talk him out of it while trying not to faint of fright at the same time. Fucking A, it was terrifying. Far and away the scariest experience of my life.

    I sat in the back of a police car for 2 hours while an investigation was conducted. I was initially charged, but not cuffed, for two counts of Felony Assault, which I did not commit. Thankfully, using the skills I had developed while studying in the Explorer Post, I was able to talk to the officer somewhat on his level, and convinced him that it was actually Shawn who had shot at these teens. He called the teens, and they both agreed with me. But Shawn would have let me take that charge to save his own ass.

    Shawn was arrested and charged with two counts of Felony Assault, and pled guilty in Lewis County Court for a sentence of 10 years in Prison without parole. After 9 months of trial and thanks to a good lawyer, I got a gross-misdemeanor charge of Unlawful Display bargained down to a misdemeanor of Unlawful Discharge. I never did any jail time, was never arrested, and got a $600 court fine and a 1-year Deferred Sentence, since it was my first criminal offense. I kept my record clean, and it was removed from the courts after one year.

    I'm not sure what happened to the two teens. They had been shooting a road sign on the edge of the road with a .22 rifle (they didn't know that their backstop was our campsite on the beach), which according to my lawyer they tried to say they were shooting at skunks with a 20 guage shotgun. I immediately called bullshit on that; I've fired both, and I knew what they were shooting (and what they were actually shooting at....and it wasn't skunks). Neither teen fired a shot at either of us though when we confronted them (Shawn later told me that he saw one of them reaching for a rifle in the bed of his pickup truck when he shot at them). I believe they were 16 and 17, respectively.

    Shawn made me promise, as he was being led away in cuffs, to take care of Billie, who was an emotional wreck by this time. I tried looking after her for a brief time into 2005; she wanted a relationship (because yeah, that would have worked....), but she was absolutely batshit crazy herself, and I just couldn't deal with it and cut her out of my life. I should have done it that night.

    I spoke with Shawn briefly the next day via phone from jail, and he was such an asshole. That fucker would have let me go to jail for something he did. Motherfucker. I was so fooled by his calm demeanor; his friendliness, and his maturity. But the guy was an absolute fucking psycho, and I fell for it.

    I never heard from him again after that, nor have I heard from Billie since I got her out of my life. And that's just the way I want it. I did a brief google search of their names about a year ago, and they've got a Facebook page, but I have ZERO desire to connect with them whatsoever. Nor do I have a Facebook account anyways.

    My life wasn't exactly peachy after this: I was terminated from the Post when I got back into Vancouver, and I briefly considered suicide the day of my termination (I was going to jump off the I-205 bridge). My company investigated me, but since I was never arrested, there was little they could do. Which didn't matter much....my boss found an excuse to fire me anyways and hired her son in my place the very next day. Good ol' office politics and corporate corruption at its finest.....

    I bounced around to other security companies after that, and eventually got trained and hired as an Armed Officer with two companies. In 2007, I left the industry and got help for PTSD related to this incident, and other personal issues.

    Life has gotten much, much better since then. I was in a dark place for a long time, both before and after this incident, and I still occasionally suffer to this day, but I'm much more aware of myself, I live in a much better place than I did then, and I have a much better relationship with my parents today. I'm much, much more mature than I was then, and far more responsible.

    The downside being that after this incident, I became VERY mistrustful of people, and very very weary of whom I made friends with. Thankfully, I've met good people whom I've become good friends with since then.

    So.....I drove up to Mossy Rock last weekend to find a couple of people and thank them for helping me that evening. One of was a Minister who helped Billie and I get Shawn's truck and 5th Wheel off of the Riffe Lake beach, the same one in the photos above. He was kind enough to store it in town at the time; I don't know what eventually happened to it. Billie couldn't drive a stick shift, so I doubt it went with her.

    The other was a woman who let Billie and I stay at her house that evening, and let me use her phone to call home and let my parents know I was okay. She knew Billie and Shawn; to what extent I don't know.

    I doubt the teens would still be around, but I sure would like to apologize to them as well if I ever meet them. I never actually saw them again after they drove off that night.

    The worst part about it is that I don't remember either of these two people who helped me (what can I say....I had other things on my mind at the time...), and Mossy Rock has changed dramatically since then. I think I may know who the Minister is, based on one of the Church's websites, but I don't know if it's the same person, and both churches in town were closed, and so was City Hall, so I couldn't inquire there either.

    So instead I drove to Riffe Lake, to the same place I was at all those years ago, and just sat there in thought for a while. It wasn't as fulfilling as I had hoped, but it did feel good to be there nevertheless. If it hadn't been for that shooting incident, the trip in 2004 would have been very happy and relaxing. The lake and the surrounding beach/mountain is utterly gorgeous.

    So that's my little tale. I'm ready to close that chapter in my life permanently, and I hope I'm able to do it when I find these folks and thank them.

    And yes, I can be a bit crazy on here from time to time. Forgive me.
     
    Last edited: Mar 30, 2019
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