What the hell is wrong with us?

Like kids at school, we wait anxiously for, and then relish, blackouts. When night does not come quickly enough, we are content to lock ourselves in a dark closet on a perfectly beautiful day to play with flashlights. We EDC more equipment than most people have in their garage. We pack enough flashlights, radios, tools and other equipment for road trips to supply a small army. I personally pack gear for those I travel with who usually express no interest at all in using it. We have more batteries than the local supermarket. We rarely settle for "consumer grade". With, seemingly, a heightened sense of paranoia, we are considerably more security conscious than most and, often, have a bit of a clandestine streak.

Certainly, professionals need professional equipment. But most of us are neither LEOs, Heros or the like and live quite comfortably with every convenience and, yet, don't even go to the bathroom without loading up....

73
dim

Nothing is. We just like quality.

I saw an Aladdin movie once where his mother gives him the lamp and says "Now we can have light at night like the rich men".

Having light at night has allowed society to have more usable hours in a day. It's power over the night./ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif Power over time!/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif

Or, maybe, it's just a fascination with things that glow! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif

So ...what what were you getting at?? what was the point..
I only carry 4 to 6 lights and mostly just 2 knives and only 2 15 round clips...well sometimes I got a knife or three extra just in case someone needs to use one. Well yes I do keep a couple throwing knives handy but thats just for throwing at targets never folks so what was the point I forgot the question. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/poke2.gif
Topper /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Lol... let me try and sum it up: We're not normal... and if we were the world would be a darker place. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

As for why we need it, all it takes is the courage to act at a moments notice and the proper equipment for a normal person to perform great acts in a time of need (what some would call a hero).

For the most part I think we are overprepared, but in this day and age there may not be such a thing. Perhaps it's the fact that so many people are unprepared that draws us to being overprepared? After all, power outages would be less fun if everyone in a room of 25 had a Surefire (or Arc, etc) with them. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

-Mike

I've liked flashlights since I was a little kid. I accidentally stumbled on this site and found out there are others like me. But yes, we are a strange and idiosyncratic lot. Admit it, and live proudly.

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

double post --- DELETE PLEASE THANKS

We are prepared for most events.

If the proverbial squat hits the fan, we be ready.

I carry at least 2 flashlights, a Leatherman tool, pepper spray, and a cell phone at all times (except at work, where pepper spray wouldn't be appropriate). If it was legal to carry a gun in this state, I'd carry 2 revolvers on me at all times (I value having backups).

Once I move to a gun friendly state, I would get a CCW permit and CCW daily.

I've been in dangerous situations without equipment (lights, tools, etc), and its no fun. I'd rather be prepared and carry extra equipment, than have a slightly lighter belt and not be prepared if the squat hits the fan.

OK I will give you guys that point. Topper is not normal I admit it.
So what was the point?? Wait Let me guess ???,if I was Normal I would have a small handgun in a ankle holster and somehow you heard Topper gets some kind of rash when he has a ankle holster on? Who told you that??? Did you think that they might be pulling your leg??--instead of Topper scratching his?? Nothing wrong with packing extra 123's in a safe manner. OK, it is late for me so I need to go to bed only 2 flashlights 1 knife and a revolver on my side of the bed. Only the Lord knows what is close to the wifes side.
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crackup.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crackup.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crackup.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crackup.gif
Topper

Yeah! I resemble these remarks! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Yeah okay we are not normal but we don't suffer from insanity we enjoy every blacked out minute of it. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Unfortunately there are very few black outs in Denmark.
I think the last one was a couple of years ago and effected the whole of Copenhagen and the east side of Sjælland I was almost overflowing with the excitement of the possibilities but then just at about 6pm before it started getting dark they bloody well fixed it!/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/Christo_pull_hair.gif
The nerve of some people!/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/jpshakehead.gif

Kind a took the bullets out of my gun.

I think we are perfectly normal, It's the rest of the world who have become sheeple. I always get strange eyes when they know I have at least 5 lighs,1 knife, a SAK, fishing line, paracord, spare batteries, a mini sharpening rod, a piece of magnesium block, a whistle among other things, yet they know who to run for help when things go wrong.

AlexGT

Actually I have been thinking about this.
If you are at a dinner party or any social gathering and someone says "what's so and so like" and you hear the reply "oh they're very normal" do you feel like running over and getting to know them better?
God forbid, it's our abnormality that separates us from those people who are just well….. normal.

Hell no I say celebrate your abnormality in fact I feel like ordering another light right now.!/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/nana.gif

We're just on one side of the preparedness bell-curve, that's all.

Balancing us are those who sail through life not worrying about what might happen beyond the next few minutes.

Given those people are still here and breeding after a few zillion years of natural selection, that approach works too.

Enjoy your gear, don't beat yourself up about nor assign yourself some moral superiority for owning it.

Wielding flashlights is one of the big reasons I prefer winter to summer. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Paul

I think it might have something to do with being in control, which is not either a good or bad thing in itself...depends on the circumstances.

Whenever people around me get very confused or actually panic, my mind always steadies and I'm able to act quite rationally...sometimes appreciated, but often not.

Then again, "small bright objects" do appear unusually attractive...common to those with 'obsessive compulsive disorder', so I'm told.

OCD? Yep that would be me at least the wife and my doctor think so, I refuted them with the fact that I only have one Wife no matter how many flashlights knives and guns just one Wife.
Topper /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

I had this discussion recently. Put it this way; CPF attracts a certain kind of people, and I dare say the better kind of people (look at all the folks stepping up to the plate to help others - you know what I mean, each and every day). I'll also take it that the initial post was made in a lighthearted manner, so don't take mine any more seriously than it was meant to be. It's just a reminder that it's better to have, than not to have.

We have a taste for the best and we carry it with us in whatever we do. We see tools as enablers and we place value in them. After all, if we were that capable "out of the box" there would be no need for tools.

I've been working with computers for longer than I can remember and the bitter irony is that it never occured to me to carry a screwdriver. I forget the millions of times I've had to BEG for screwdrivers on location. Again, there have also been millions of times where I could have used a light, instead I worked 'blind' and in fact got good at it. I could place connectors consistently and accurately just by feel. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ohgeez.gif

Today, it's the Leatherman Squirt P4 as EDC and the Wave as backup for the bigger jobs. E1e+KL1 and SF Digital Ultra as main lights. And guess what.. ever since I started carrying, I somehow have never needed them. Murphy has it in for me /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif so yes, I carry them to solve a problem, and I'm quite sure the very day I STOP carrying, I WILL end up needing them all in dire circumstances. Life is like that, yaknow.

We like to take responsibility for ourselves and what we do, which agreed, is not something everybody is prepared to do. Round here, the sheeple would very much prefer to pin 100% responsibility on the authorities, complaining round the clock why the public service is not doing enough to protect them from everything ranging from dripping water to the bogeymen under the bed. Even though I truly respect the work of those who make it their job to protect others (and the sheeple, despite EXPECTING them to do it, don't appreciate it in the slightest) I would rather have the capability to do something about it, if it so happened I was the only person on the scene who could. How many precious minutes must be lost between calling for backup and waiting for it to arrive? Must we wait to be stuck in a toilet with our pants down, in the middle of a blackout with the TP holder empty before we are ready to do something about it? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crackup.gif

Maybe I shouldn't laugh, this situation's happened to someone I know and guess WHO had spare lights.

[ QUOTE ]
Must we wait to be stuck in a toilet with our pants down, in the middle of a blackout with the TP holder empty before we are ready to do something about it?

[/ QUOTE ]

Man, I HATE it when that happens...

I read a quote awhile back that went something like this:

"No form of progress can be attributed to people that are normal. All progress has been performed by the weird, the odd, the strange, the off-beat, the crazies and the fringe of society. Never look down on yourself for being odd, relish the fact that you are part of an elite group the helps solve the world's problems"

I, for one... enjoy being a little odd. The best part of making it obvious that your tune is different is the normal people tend to leave me alone. My friends have to endure my weirdness and that makes them true friends. Scaring away traditional people makes my life simpler and my friends are an inspiration for my advancing oddities. The psychiatrist I dated said it this way: "You portray yourself as a very strange individual to scare people away. It is a very effective way to keep people at arms length. The only giveaway is your quick, biting humor indicates there is a brain behind your odd attitude".

I can't help it that my survival instinct is at a higher point than most peoples. I can't keep my head up my *** because it would be dark...and 2D Mag mods are very painful.