on February 16, 2011 9:09 PM
I'm always unsure if I should post these things. I don't want to give the impression that I'm paranoid or overreact.
So my neighbor emails today asking if I want to go fishing at the neighborhood pond. Sure, why not.
The pond is in the middle of a big field that will eventually be another section of the development here, but right now doesn't see a whole lot of traffic, just the occasional jogger on the sidewalk.
We drive around to the far side where the pond drains when it gets too full because there's a good place to park and sit, and joggers and what not don't go over there, not that it really matters, but we occasionally have an adult beverage while we fish and we don't want to look like drunk rednecks. Nothing will get suburban HOA-nazis fired up like drunk rednecks in public. (We're not drunk, but you can't fish without at least a couple of beers, it's a man law.)
We just get there and start unloading and we weren't there 2 minutes before I hear a bike and look over and see this kid, probably early teens, on a bike. He "appeared out of nowhere." He's maybe 10 feet from me, and hops off his bike. I say "Howdy!" and my buddy looks up then and notices him for the first time. The kid acts like we're not even there, and starts looking into the drainage pipes (I'll call them pipes for lack of a better word). He didn't even look at me and return the salutation though he may have mumbled something, I couldn't really tell.
Pretty weird, and weird things put me into Condition Orange.
He literally jumps back and forth from one pipe to another about 3 times looking into each, and then gets back on his bike and goes. He hangs back a little farther away riding around on his bike, and then he goes down the jogging path, pretty much acting like a normal kid at that point.
Anyway, this isn't really about the kid. Best we can figure is that he had maybe hid something down there he didn't want us to find, or maybe he was looking for frogs to take to science class. Only he knows I guess.
What this really is about is situational awareness and how I completely blew it. People don't appear out of nowhere. I was in Condition White. I was unloading the truck, setting out chairs, etc. completely task oriented. I know better, and I'm a little disappointed in myself.
When I took the Rangemaster/Southnarc Combined Skills class, I remember Mr. Givens saying something like in all his years of being a cop, all victims say the same thing. " He/she/they appeared out of nowhere." He went on to say that of course that was absurd, and I was probably sitting there nodding my head and acting like that couldn't happen to me. I don't know if he was hiding out in the trees, riding his bike through the tall grass in the field, hauled ass down the little alley there after we had pulled in, or Scotty beamed him down to earth, but there was no one there, and then there he was. If you're not paying attention, it doesn't really matter.
I will say that at least some training kicked in. As soon as I saw him, I said "Howdy!" not angrily or anything thing like that, but still firm. Kind of a, hey, I'm more than a sheep. I also looked for pre-fight cues. I never felt threatened due to the fact that there were no cues and he acted like wanted nothing to do with either of us.
So my neighbor emails today asking if I want to go fishing at the neighborhood pond. Sure, why not.
The pond is in the middle of a big field that will eventually be another section of the development here, but right now doesn't see a whole lot of traffic, just the occasional jogger on the sidewalk.
We drive around to the far side where the pond drains when it gets too full because there's a good place to park and sit, and joggers and what not don't go over there, not that it really matters, but we occasionally have an adult beverage while we fish and we don't want to look like drunk rednecks. Nothing will get suburban HOA-nazis fired up like drunk rednecks in public. (We're not drunk, but you can't fish without at least a couple of beers, it's a man law.)
We just get there and start unloading and we weren't there 2 minutes before I hear a bike and look over and see this kid, probably early teens, on a bike. He "appeared out of nowhere." He's maybe 10 feet from me, and hops off his bike. I say "Howdy!" and my buddy looks up then and notices him for the first time. The kid acts like we're not even there, and starts looking into the drainage pipes (I'll call them pipes for lack of a better word). He didn't even look at me and return the salutation though he may have mumbled something, I couldn't really tell.
Pretty weird, and weird things put me into Condition Orange.
He literally jumps back and forth from one pipe to another about 3 times looking into each, and then gets back on his bike and goes. He hangs back a little farther away riding around on his bike, and then he goes down the jogging path, pretty much acting like a normal kid at that point.
Anyway, this isn't really about the kid. Best we can figure is that he had maybe hid something down there he didn't want us to find, or maybe he was looking for frogs to take to science class. Only he knows I guess.
What this really is about is situational awareness and how I completely blew it. People don't appear out of nowhere. I was in Condition White. I was unloading the truck, setting out chairs, etc. completely task oriented. I know better, and I'm a little disappointed in myself.
When I took the Rangemaster/Southnarc Combined Skills class, I remember Mr. Givens saying something like in all his years of being a cop, all victims say the same thing. " He/she/they appeared out of nowhere." He went on to say that of course that was absurd, and I was probably sitting there nodding my head and acting like that couldn't happen to me. I don't know if he was hiding out in the trees, riding his bike through the tall grass in the field, hauled ass down the little alley there after we had pulled in, or Scotty beamed him down to earth, but there was no one there, and then there he was. If you're not paying attention, it doesn't really matter.
I will say that at least some training kicked in. As soon as I saw him, I said "Howdy!" not angrily or anything thing like that, but still firm. Kind of a, hey, I'm more than a sheep. I also looked for pre-fight cues. I never felt threatened due to the fact that there were no cues and he acted like wanted nothing to do with either of us.
