Toward the sound of gunfire, and the smell of chalkboard dust.

Yes, I've slowed up, as of late. Sorry about that-- I've got finals this week, and am working doubles this weekend, going through training days and working evenings. It's a little tiring-- I just got up after 4.5 hours' sleep. But it's doing work that I like, and the training promises to be interesting. It's called "ALERRT" training, and is a crash course in how to intelligently and quickly react, as the first responder to an active shooter or a terrorist event.

Interestingly enough, it's being held in the building where I attended elementary school. The old school building has been abandoned this year, as they've moved into a new elementary school in the small town that I grew up in. So I guess it's "decommissioned" as a school,now. But the spaces will still be the same. Think about the verbal and emotional sniping that occured when you were a kid. Think about the dirty looks that the teachers gave you, deservedly or not. Think about the humiliation that every child endures occasionally, hopefully to grow up and out of. Now put yourself back in those same walls, with a team of three others, moving carefully toward the sound of gunfire before someone shoots you with a Simunition. Failure. And it stings. Did you forget your homework?