damships

Ugh, my condolences brother! That sucks. Keep staying optimistic! It definitely helped a lot when I'd watch movies or just have conversations with the wife. I hope she recovers safely and quickly!

Thanks man! I'm glad your parents are getting over it! It's not fun to have. I have all my vaccine/boosters and it still hit me hard. No fever today though so I'm thankful for that though! I hope they recover fast Basil!

Thank you so much!!! I'm slowly getting there. It's definitely been a process.

Thanks man! I appreciate you! Oh, wow! That's surprising coming from PayPal. Hopefully it's nothing too drastic! Any word when PayPal is changing it up?

Thank you, sir! It hasn't been fun that's for sure!

Is this just for The Dark Knight? Or are all future GB's going to be conducted this way?

I, unfortunately, have had COVID for the last 2 days. Feeling a bit better today though. But probably not going to feel good again when my wife finds out LOTR is invoicing soon.

@Veum If you think that’s warm, check out my weather for the day. 😂

This is my nerdy office! Still in progress. Have to hang the premium lightsabers up on the wall and get more shelves. I’ll take pics of the other wall with my Nolan autographs later. Also waiting for my new desk! Still in progress, but I’m happy for now. Better than boxes lol. 🤪

Wowwww!!!! Looks incredible!!!

Lmaooo. Has it been that long?! Sorry guys! After the house I ended up getting a new job as well!

A genuine surprise today! Thanks so much MP! And thanks for the swag! Will open this once I have a protector!

Anyone get their Dune yet? Prestige is coming at the end of the month?

I’m excited for Black Adam. I’m just sad we probably won’t see him go head-to-head with Cavill’s Superman. That would be amazing. 😭

Also, through learning about guns and shooting over the last few years, the more and more I found out about how silly some gun control measures are. (Not all, but most). When I bought my shotgun, it came with a plastic little tube where the shells are loaded into. The tube keeps you from loading the full amount of shells the shot gun is built to take. My shotgun allows me to load 5+1 (5 shells, with one in the chamber). The tube is due to California law. In California, they limit the shotgun rounds to 3+1 (I believe). If I wanted to conduct a mass shooting, all I’d have to do is take the plastic tube out. TA-DAAA, I can load 5+1. Magazine limits don’t help. Firstly, you can easily purchase 30 round magazines locally or online. It’s not difficult at all due to mass manufacturing and accessibility. Secondly, if I had no access to higher capacity magazines, all I’d need to do is pre-load several 10 round magazines. Shooters are already doing this with 30 round magazines. It’s ridiculously easy and fast to load a magazine into an AR15. Button release. Slap new one in. Pull handle. Done. 5-7 seconds. It just gets kind of corny and weird with some of the gun control measures. Best gun control reform would be age limits, increasing time between purchase and receiving the firearm, and mandated safety training. Bump Stocks were also really good to ban and I agreed with that. Still torn on the psychological testing portion though. @GuyIncognit0 @Basil

I’m comfortable expanding on it! No worries. I’m torn for two reasons primarily: 1) As much as the public wants to believe that mental health professionals can stop mass shooters, there is only so much we can do. I remember reading an article where a psychiatrist described hospitalizing a patient with homicidal ideations. They were in there for one week. They stabilized and calmed down, but the only thing that it really takes to get out of the hospital is “Oh, I’m not thinking or feeling that anymore”. She (the psychiatrist) could protest to keep him longer (a few days) if she had a clinical assumption about his well-being, but a patient could easily fight that off with an appeal. So, when it comes to screening, it can be difficult. People, unfortunately, are good liars. And as much as we are trained, people can easily lie through an evaluation. Then we are left with liability. All of a sudden, I can be held liable if I okay someone for a firearm and maybe later on they commit murder or a mass shooting. Liability, resources, and low reliability and validity of screening measures would be one of my concerns. Also, what diagnoses are okay to have a firearm? Who gets to decide that? Can someone with Generalized Anxiety Disorder have a gun and a person with Major Depression can’t? Can the OCD client have one? Is it all mental health diagnoses? Wouldn’t that be discrimination? This would be a nightmare to try to circumnavigate. 2) Corruption. If the government were to ever be corrupt all they’d need to say is “Oh, Mr. X has anxiety. He shouldn’t get a weapon.” It could potentially strip people’s rights who really don’t have any significant mental health issues. This is not so much a concern here, but it happens. I brought up Hong Kong for example. I doubt China wants to allow citizens the right to bear arms. Things would be happening a lot differently. It’s a complicated issue overall. And yes, people will always find work around. Look at drugs. They’re illegal, but people get them 24/7. Same with guns. They’re flooded in cities and it’s not difficult buying one if you didn’t want to do it legally. Laws won’t stop someone from getting one if they wanted one. We’ve already passed the point of mass-scale manufacturing and they’re everywhere.

Thank you for the kind words Basil! I agree with mostly everything you’re saying. I totally get it! I’m hoping everyone can find a way around this. As for assault rifles, I think a lot of the general public is misinformed about them. Lots of people think AR stands for “assault rifle” and it doesn’t (it stands for ArmaLite Rifle). AR15 is a “style” of rifle or platform. It isn’t a select type of rifle that one can just ban outright. There are so many variants on the AR platform that banning it is a legislative nightmare. They’re semi-automatic (each shot taken means one pull of the trigger, they aren’t automatic where you can hold the trigger and just spray shots). Automatic AR15s are illegal here. Outside of AR15s, there are SEVERAL other semi-automatic rifles one can utilize with the same functionality (Reugers, Scars, etc). It’s just that the AR15 is just “popular”. If it were somehow banned, people would turn to the plethora of other semi-automatic rifles that could do the same amount of damage. But we can’t ban ALL semi-automatic rifles. Some are the ones used for hunting, etc. As for why would someone need an AR15? For me, it’s mainly just home defense and recreational shooting. It’s fun shooting long distance targets, changing scopes on it, and it’s highly accurate for home defense. But if it were banned, just know there’s tons of other weapons people could turn to unfortunately. I do hope we figure something out soon. 🙏 Because my heart breaks every time this happens. This senseless violence needs to stop.

This is a tough one, Basil. I used to be completely pro-gun control prior to COVID. But things have changed so much and now I’m more of a centrist with it. I totally see both sides. I’m currently a gun owner (since COVID started, I’ve purchased a pistol, shotgun, and an AR15). I am a responsible gun owner and use them strictly for home defense and recreational shooting. I am definitely not opposed to some form of gun reform though. Perhaps having only people that are 21 years or older purchase guns would be a good one. Another form of gun reform I’d like to see is maybe passing some form of safety training before being allowed to take the gun home. I’m torn on psychological testing. I’m so torn with this issue (which is why I consider myself a centrist with it). Im definitely no gun-nut, but see arguments from both sides. On one side, the US has WAY too many guns. Gun control isn’t possible and it’s stupid to try with SOME approaches. If someone wants to end their life and conduct a mass shooting, they can easily find a gun illegally (online sales, on the street). Gun control measures aren’t going to stop them. Moreover, I do think some people at schools need to be armed. My wife is a teacher, and at this point, I want her armed, but I understand people’s hesitancy with it. My friend is a gun enthusiast, but does NOT want teacher’s armed because he has children, which I completely understand. At this point, in my opinion, It’s a deterrent we unfortunately need (because there already millions of guns flooding the country). A mass shooter will less likely make an attempt if they knew some staff were armed. Also, when I see countries like Russia and China…I’m grateful for being armed. China would not be able to do what they’re doing in Hong Kong and Beijing if the citizens were armed. It would be a completely different scenario. On the other hand, some gun control can definitely help. Increasing the age could have stopped this individual. Forcing training and testing would have further stopped him or delayed it to where someone could intervene. I’m also in support of delaying the time between background check and gun being taken home. Maybe they should have someone wait 30 days before being able to take a gun home. I don’t see a clear answer. I’m so sick of this happening. It breaks my heart. But I honestly think there are just way too many guns in this country to where gun control is impossible. If someone wants to do it, they’re gonna do it because they can easily get a gun illegally. I’ve had TONS of clients in the past who illegally gotten weapons. If you ban an “AR15”, there is no clear definition of what that is from a legislative perspective. Someone can easily change parts of an AR15 (barrel, stock, magazine, receiver) and all of a sudden it’s “legal”. Someone can also “make” an AR15 on their own, which technically isn’t “illegal”. It’s almost like the drug “spice”. It’s illegal, but people have thrown different chemicals into it to where some versions of “spice” aren’t illegal. It’s all a mess. But, unfortunately, at this point the answer is just arming people and teaching them how to defend themselves. Otherwise, this will keep happening and people will find and get guns regardless of the law. There was a recent attempted mass shooting in Virginia. He was stopped and killed by an armed citizen. I can see that happening elsewhere.

Hope everyone is doing well! Was anyone else upset with Boston on Sunday? 😂

Hope everyone is doing well! I’m patiently waiting for Dune. Saw some in-hand videos yesterday and the DL looks awesome 🤤

Boston, what happened?

Lmao. That would be more fun. Still a therapist just working for Uncle Sam now. 😂

Obi Wan Kenobi was sooooooo good. Loved it! Can’t wait for Part III.

Hey man! It’s going! I’m officially moved out of my other spot and now I’m here…with lots of boxes everywhere and still unpacking 😂 I’ve been busy with work and I got hired by the state for a new position! So it’s been hectic. But I should be done with mostly everything by Monday. I do need to buy a new bookcase or shelves for my movies. 🤪 Thanks for asking 🙏 miss being on here with you guys!