Make Me Dress Up As a Care Bear in Public

My most harrowing experience as a father to date came one night when my son described a drill they had to run at school. He told us that if his teacher said they need to hide because of a “stranger” in the school, they went and all took cover in a certain area of their classroom.

He was describing his first active shooter drill.

The school shooting in Tennessee yesterday was yet another reminder of the horrid reality facing my kids and children around the nation. Its one, quite frankly, they shouldn’t ever have to think of. My oldest got his first “big” injury yesterday while climbing, and falling, out of a tree—one that made him feel like he was “dying” because he never felt anything like it.

That’s the reality my boys should be living in. Not this one.

I bring this up in my “raising money to fight pediatric cancer” newsletter for two reasons, and I promise neither is to purposefully bury the Care Bear headline with this lede.

1. Beyond having a bit of a platform, I know I can’t change it. What I can and have been changing is the fight against pediatric cancer in honor of Aven. I can’t stop that fight because of another horror.
2. The reality that a child can get, fight, and recover fully from cancer only to return to school as a potential target sounds like a horror script in a rejection pile for living too far outside conceivable reality. But this is real and I have no choice but to move forward.

Move forward I shall. This week, as I prepare for Extra Life United, I’m not going to stream my practice sessions nor will I try to get money by doing something incredibly stupid to my liver. Instead, I’m focusing on things that might just bring a smile to people’s faces and provide a chill period of comfort.

Make Me a Care Bear

I learned last year that Extra Life United typically has a movie night. During that movie night, Extra Lifers often come dressed in onesies. I have no idea how that started or why beyond “why not” and, apparently it didn’t happen last year.

We’ve been told it will return. So I went looking for a onesie that would make people laugh if they saw me in. I landed on this:

It’s a Notre Dame/Irish of a Care Bear as I can get. Yes, I know it’s a clover and not a shamrock. Close enough.

The goal is beyond easy: just $100 raised by the end of the week.

Chill Stream Tonight!

I usually don’t have many chill/cozy streams, but tonight I’m making an exception.

I’m bumping the stream day up a day because today is the release of Terra Nil, a game I’ve actually preordered and had my eye on for some time.

The game itself is built to be a soothing and relaxing puzzler. The game presents a map of a complete wasteland to the player. The player must then terraform this lifeless land into a lush, natural biome, full of green and life. After that process completes, the final goal calls for the player to pack everything up and leave no trace behind.

It sounds like a reverse Satisfactory, a game I also hold great affinity for as a soothing mental reset. Come join me tonight on YouTube and unwind from the harsh reality of our world a bit.

To Close, Back on the Soap Box

Remember that mention of having a bit of a platform? Well, time to use it, explicitly.

I’m all for responsible gun ownership. Guns are dangerous, but used safely are a lot of fun. Lesson number one of gun safety is that if you only point it at something you intend to shoot. Even if completely unloaded, the barrel is always pointed down-range and away from people. Failing to respect that simple rule gets you kicked out of any reputable gun range.

Responsible gun owners also release the intent and purpose behind each weapon. That’s why you’ll never see a hunter go on a hunt with an AR-15. The purpose of that weapon is to damn near liquify whatever you are shooting at. In short, you use it to make something super dead and not salvageable for say eating.

It’s the same reason you hunt birds and small game with a shotgun, which shatter shoots small, yet deadly pellets/balls instead of a full-blown rifle which will make bird go boom with a bullet and leave you nothing.

I’ve shot an AR-15. I’ve used high-powered rifles to blow up a trees and other static targets with copious amounts Tannerite. I had a blast (literally) and never felt like I was in danger because I was in a safe group.

I don’t want AR-15s available to just anyone walking into a sports good store. If they are going to be sold, it should be done so with a standard, national background check paired with an age requirement as a bare minimum. The continuous deregulation of safeguards behind weapon purchases is mind-boggling and should scare every gun owner.

The NRA, and their blood-money political bribes, do not care about gun owner rights. They care about profits. The second amendment rhetoric is a façade for their real interest: gun manufacturer profits. They’ve managed to elevate the AR-15 into something of a gun rights status symbol when, in reality, it’s nothing more than advertising for the most profitable weapon on the market.

I dream of the day where a politician receiving a donation from the NRA is as toxic as taking money from Big Tobacco. If we don’t hit that day, this Onion headline will simply continue to repost at a sickening rate.

I encourage everyone reading this to support responsible gun ownership, not the glorification of gun culture as the NRA wishes. Encourage federal background checks, mental health access and expansion, age minimums, weapon licensing and registration, gun buyback programs, and yes, even tighter restrictions and even a potential outright ban on “assault style” weapons like the AR-15 which serve very little functional purpose.

I want to #ChangeKidsHealth, but I can’t do that if the kids are dead. And right now, take a wild guess at what the leading cause of death for children currently is.