Houston is becoming that city of firsts for me. I am here in Texas for a total of 9 weeks for training with my company. I have been here for 4 weeks already and the time has gone by all together to quickly. The weeks have been a blast with work/training, building friendships with co-workers, trying new things, visiting with old friends, and finding a great church to be a part of even if but for short while.
Two weekends ago I took a couple of co-works to an indoor shooting range here in Houston where we shot a .22 and an AR 15. This was great fun as they have never shot a larger gun like the AR. While there I noticed that this gun shop also had machine guns that you could rent and fire on their gun range. The following day after church I went back there with a friend from college and we rented the P-90. What a fun and powerful little gun! I have never fired a fully auto rifle before, and let’s just say that firing a P-90 is a great first time. We each got 100 rounds or two clips for the gun and let loose. The first clip I shot off in short bursts of fire. There was essentially no kick or recoil. The second clip I let loose in one go. Holding it snug to my shoulder and leaning into the gun it fired off all 50 rounds in less than 4 seconds, and every bullet hit the “kill” zone on the target. The sensation was amazing as all the senses were tuned for the moment. The smell of the gunpowder from the range, the taste in the air, the soft tapping of the gun on my shoulder, the sound of the firing mechanism recycling, vision focused on the target on the other side of the sites, everything in sharp focus. I was wearing a grin for the rest of the afternoon.
This weekend, on Friday evening in an attempt to do something other than going out partying with my co-workers, I organized us to go to an indoor go karting place. I had never raced Go Karts before, but it was certainly a fun time had by all. The Karts were very good and could reach top speeds of 45 mph in the straights if you came out of one of the tight corners right. We all raced 3 races with 14 laps to a race. While not meaning to turn into bumper cars, there were a couple of run ins, and bruises were distributed to all.
Then on Saturday, I fell 8,000 feet and parachuted the remaining 6,000 feet. Skydiving is great fun and well worth the money and to be able to check it off my bucket list. I think the best way to describe my experience is that it was both surreal and sublime. As my feet left the plane and all that I could see was the sun and open sky above me, the clouds and earth far below, the feeling of immense peace and awe was overwhelming. Yes, I know the wind in my ears was loud, but I could not hear it. Perhaps the adrenaline is to be the cause, but my mind was completely clear. The only thoughts were of keeping track of my altitude so I would pull the parachute at the right time and of taking in the absolute grandeur of what was around me as I fell towards the clouds far below and the ground beyond that. There was no fear or nervousness from the moment I suited up to the time of landing. That part of the human response was absent and instead I was excited and confident that I would have a great experience. I don’t think I am afraid of heights anymore.
So those are my adventures of note at this point in the big city of Houston. Who knows what the next couple of weekends hold, but I should mind my budget a little more now. Haha… More posts to come.
