This book, however, was recommended by a Masonic Brother. He said he couldn’t explain the book, I would have to read it myself and draw my own conclusions.

The book, The Harbinger, draws some chilling parallels between ancient Israel and today’s United States.

The story itself is probably fictional, but what they talk about in the pages of the book are the exact opposite. The facts are clear, verifiable, and speak loudly to how we got to where we at this moment, and where we are likely to head if we as a nation don’t change our ways.

Up until September 11th, we had a divine hedge of protection protecting our country from those who would do us harm. That protection is there no more, as a warning for us to turn not to our own devices, but to turn back to God.

I don’t want to give up too much of the book, but the major events of the past few years have occurred in such a timing that it can’t be an accident. There are too many coincidences for it to be a coincidence, do you understand?

What really hit me between the eyes like a hammer was the fact that September 11th’s Ground Zero is the exact same ground Ground Zero where our country was initially dedicated to God, and when that hedge of protection came to be around us. Cryptic? Not really, not to anyone who has studied history.

This book will drive you to your knees. Not in any physical sense, but after reading it, you will feel the urge to get straight with God. Not only for yourself and family, but for our country as a whole. Things have to change substantially for us to get back onto the path God wants us to be on. It will take a maximum effort from all of us to turn this Ship of State. I don’t know if it’s too late for anything, if we can stave off Judgement for the short term, or we can avert it totally.

The signs are there, loud and clear, if you know what to look for. After reading this book, you will know what to look for.

So far, the only change I have noticed is I am getting less sleep. I didn’t go to sleep until almost 1am Sunday night/Monday morning, and I was up until almost as late last night, and both mornings I was up at 5:30.

I’m not hyper to the point where I am spinning my wheels and unable to accomplish anything, in fact outside of the reduced sleep, I don’t see any change in my energy level. I’m happy, but not overly happy, you know what I mean? I am happy because I am grateful for what I have.

I will keep you abreast of any changes. I would appreciate y’all keeping me in your thoughts and prayers, so I don’t end up inpatient.

Thanks.

Did you pay attention to the numbers? After taking most, if not all of the capital of this country, we paid for one years worth of Federal operations. And we wrecked any chance we had to do it the following year by doing just what Liberals wanted, eating the rich.

Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.

I am loathe to make a direct link between these two parts of my life. I do not wish for political dimensions to spill over into that domain. Let’s just say that I wasn’t very imaginative in the new domain name.

I hope to see you over there!

DO NOT DO THIS!

Now that I’ve said that, I am stepping out on dangerous ground. I am stopping my medications.

I did NOT wake up one day and said “I’m not taking my medications any more.” I have reached this decision only after I have done a lot of research, a lot of thinking, and consulting with my Psychiatrist. I also realize that if I stop these medications, and I end up back in the hospital, I may not be able to go back on this cocktail and expect them to work the same way again. I might have to restart those 4 hellish years of almost constant hospitalizations and trying medication after medication until a new cocktail is found.

I have been stable on this “cocktail” of medications since my last hospitalization in November of 2002. This mix back then was literally the difference between life and death. It never totally eliminated my symptoms, but it did help me tackle what was wrong with me.

About two months ago, I started coming off one medication. I titrated (taking progressively smaller doses) over a month. My family, my friends and myself were carefully monitoring my personality and mood while doing this. I had another medication on standby that I could start taking if I needed it. That phase was successful.

Last month I started on the second medication. Again, I gradually reduced the dosage until I took my last dose for that medication last night. Everyone in my circle of support is still keeping an eye on me.

In a week or two, I will start titrating off my last medication. This will take 6-8 weeks. I feel this will be the most critical stage. My coping skills may be put to their greatest test.

Again, let me stress that every person is unique. Just because I may successfully make it off medications does not mean that another person can have similar results. I have made lifestyle changes and developed coping skills to counteract my symptoms.

Please, please, please, consult with your Psychologist BEFORE doing anything like stopping your medications. I have Bipolar disorder, I can use my coping skills to smooth out my highs and lows. If you have a mental illness with psychotic disorders, especially if you have Schizophrenia, I DO NOT recommend that you do this.

Remember, just because I managed to navigate this minefield, does not mean you can impulsively do a cannonball into the deep end of the pool.

If, after long deliberation with your multitude of counselors you decide to follow me, I wish you success.

So, I am thinking about making this a more wargaming (specifically Battletech) oriented blog. I will retain this domain, and it will continue to direct here and the archives, but I may get a new domain to reflect the change in this direction. That name will be announced when I get to that point.

Due to cybersquatters, I don’t want to search until I have 2-3 possible names, and I have to research how to point two domains to the same IP address. Or something like that. When I know more, I will let you know.

My son and I hit the road at 4:50am Thursday morning. Getting up at 3:30 in the morning after falling asleep at 10pm the night before because you are too keyed up makes it one hard moment to crawl out of bed. We got out, got underway and headed North to Chicago.

We traveled a total of 557 miles, and it took us 8:39:55 to get to a stop in Lombard, IL. But who was counting?

We checked-in, and we marveled at the wonderful view our room afforded us:

Going down to the main lobby, we found out that people had been waiting in line since noon for a 5:00pm registration start. Why? Because the first 500 people to get their badges got one of these:

These bags use the Games Workshop foam, which is its’ own size. Not compatible with Army Transport, or even Battlefoams own trays.

We got into line about 2:30pm, and this was the line ahead of us. The line to the right was “Very Important Gamers” who paid extra to get front of the line privileges.

It didn’t take too long for the line to grow quickly behind us:

After it went around the corner, it continued to grow, wrapping itself around the interior of the main ballroom:

Once the “VIG’s” were processed, the main line moved forward. We got our badges, bags and swag about 6:40pm. The first event was supposed to have started at 6.

We did get to the first event, which was a Battletech Grinder. This is where you start out in a light Mech, and you kill until you are killed. Once you are killed, you move up the line to a medium Mech and kill until killed, then heavy and finally an assault Mech if there is enough time. My brightest moment was when I did a Death From Above (where one Mech jumps on top of another Mech) on another light Mech. The interesting point was that I knocked him off a level three hill. The Mech fell back three levels, hit the ground and touched off the ammo, destroying it. I killed another light Mech before succumbing to an ammo explosion myself. At this point, it was late enough that the Grinder was called. I came out on top, with two kills in a light Mech.

Friday dawned, and we started in on the Battletech Mosh Pit. Using the Quick Strike rules, we had four players (2 Inner Sphere, 2 Clan) each with a Company/Binary of Mechs. We each started in our own corners advancing toward the player diametrically opposed to us. While we got a point for killing any Mech, we received two points if we killed a Mech from the player who was diagonal to us. Being the more aggressive IS player, I was the first to be killed to a man. My son was the other IS player and he died soon after. While the IS forces were destroyed, it was a Pyrrhic Victory for the clan. They knew they were in a fight.

After a break, we got into the Battletech Open Tournament.

Again, we only had four players, so everybody got to play everybody. This was not your standard tournament, where you bring your own highly customized and optimized forces. Here, you were given your choice of a pair of Mechs. The first round was light Mechs. My opponent and I sat down and I quickly dominated, killing both of his Mechs in under an hour, earning a point bonus.

The second round was fast, jump capable Mechs. My second opponent and I got into a chess match. Jumping around each other, neither one of us could land a killing blow. While I earned 120 points in the first round, I only got 14 points this round, to my opponents 20 points.

The third round was Clan assault Mechs. Because my second match took the while 2 1/2 hours, I was last to pick my forces, and all of the good choices were already taken. My third opponent was my son, who had picked a Daishi and a Rifleman IIC. The Rifleman has four Clan Large Pulse Lasers. Long range, good damage and -2 to hit on 2D6 because of pulse. It was like charging a machine gun nest. I really didn’t stand a chance. I was the one totally destroyed this time around.

When the points were totaled, my son won 1st place, and I took 3rd. We finally got to bed after Midnight.

Saturday morning came, and we went back down for the third and final Battletech event, Counterattack on Kessel. This was the Lyran Commonwealth attempting to retake the planet Kessel from the Draconis Combine. Instead of one big battle involving everybody, we had small forces for each player, two lances each to represent small actions across the planet. On my table, I had to prevent my opponent from getting his forces off my edge of the board. He was attempting to provide reinforcements to another battle. This battle was long and bloody. Because my opponent thought he had to destroy me on top of getting his forces off the board, only three of his eight Mechs managed to get off the board by the time was called.

The second battle involved my eight assault and heavy Mechs ambushing eight light and medium Mechs, with a heavy. Half way through the battle, the repaired forces that escaped the first battle showed up. Here is a close-up of one part of the battle:

After getting hit with an artillery strike, see if you can notice the difference between the above and below pictures:

If you notice, the red Mech in the bottom right corner of that group disappeared. That’s because when the artillery strike hit, that Atlas got a critical hit on the Left Torso, which touched off the AC/20 ammo. Boom. Gone. My other Mech that had an AC/20 also lost his to enemy fire. Despite this drastic reduction of my firepower, I was able to hold the line. I lost two Mechs and killed four. The Lyran Commonwealth was able to retake Kessel!

Sunday: Last day. We have been living off Bawls since Thursday night. We went to Day two of the Blood Bowl tournament. I had my Undead team, my son had my Amazons. Undead teams score by killing the players on the other team until they can’t stop my team. A nice strategy, it didn’t work out so well. The first game was against Wood Elves, who were able to dance around me and I wasn’t able to kill more than one of his players.

The second game was against a ringer, due to one of the players dropping out. She also had an Undead team, but a different mix of players. I caused three casualties, including one of her mummies (requiring two consecutive 10+ rolls on 2D6). She was still able to outscore me and I was 0-2. At this point, I dropped out to avoid earning the “wooden spoon” (i.e. you got spanked) award like I got last year in the Battlefleet Gothic tournament.

Monday morning, we went to Games-Plus just north of the Con, and we spent the balance of our purchasing budget on Battletech stuff. 10 hours and 580 miles later, we made it home safe.

I’m spending today and tomorrow to rest and recover from the trip. It’s back to work on Thursday!

36 Mechs, some of which “transferred” over from Kirstin’s Krushers. Some are assembled, and the rest are in baggies or blisters.

I have to strip the painted Mechs, and assemble the ones in the baggies and blisters. Base the ones that need it and once everybody is ready, then I can start the painting. Using the Army Painter system, the final steps should not take that long. Base coat, paint trim, cockpits, weapons and edges, then dip, paint the bases and seal them. Sounds simple, right? Not so much.

As I progress forward, I will provide periodic updates to let you know what is going on with the battalion. I hope to have this done within the next 90 days. Let’s see how closely I can hit that mark.

I picked Group W because I used to listen to Alice’s Restaurant, which had a “Group W” bench where Arlo got sent because he has a misdemeanor conviction for littering, and he needed a waiver to be able to be drafted into the Army. Irony can be pretty ironic.

Anyway, I will be taking lots of pictures of the process through assembly, painting and detailing them. Just because I have copious amounts of free time on my hands. Just as soon as I get back from Adepticon.

Which I will also be taking a lot of pictures while we are up there. It will probably be next Wednesday before you hear anything from me, as I will not have the chance to liveblog while in Chicago. We will be living on Bawls as it is, I will need all of the sleep I can get. It will be Battletech until I drop, then get back up and do it some more until I drop again.

See you on the 25th!