Really? Tuesday?

So, I decided to take the plunge two Saturdays ago and order my first legit airsoft gun. I picked up an assortment of other things as well. I decided to order a Double Eagle M89 SMG-45 (better known as the UMP) from Airsoft Megastore. I had seen it before in movies and such but I became enamored with the UMP back during the Battlefield 3 beta and I realized how nice looking of a gun model it is. It's design is what really caught my eye.

Mind you at the time I ordered mine it was on sale for $100 at the time and that window of opportunity was what really made me actually order it. Mind you at the time I was considering a handful of other candidates at the time. First was the Lancer Tactical M4 series. I was intrigued by the fact that they were so strong and accurate but the thing was they had been catching flack because of the fact that the bodies are made of some sort of plastic. Mind you, specialty retailers have done various forms of stress tests that revealed it only suffered superficial external damage. The functionality was not impacted from the damage that it endured. I was really tempted by that series (and may still get one) but what made me cautious about it was the fact that they shot in the neighborhood of 400 feet per second. The muzzle velocity could be brought down by using heavier BBs, which also means a slightly shorter range but your shots are more accurate at longer ranges. The other thing that left some minor apprehension about getting it was because of the fact that they are SO common. You would be hard pressed to find an airsoft field and where no one there is running an M4. However the other edge of that sword is the fact that gun is so common, means it's going to be really easy to have a teammate toss you a magazine because you are both running the same weapon. It's got it's pros and cons. I was just looking for my first airsoft gun to stand out from the others. I'm really interested in CQB (close quarters battle) and for most sanctioned fields, you have to be using a gun that fires under 350 feet per second. If I find myself playing in more open spaced fields or wooded fields, then I may have to give the Lancer Tacticals a shot.

Another contender was the Galaxy G5M from Air Rattle, essentially an MP5 with an integrated RIS (rail interface system). This was small, compact, had a decent capacity of slinging plastic with a pretty powerfullyat a decent rate of fire accurately. It states that it shoots up to 360 which would be "too hot" for some CQB establishments, but once the spring has settled in from usage, the FPS supposedly nuzzles into the 340-350 FPS range. Honestly I was torn about this gun. I was mainly debating over this one and the JG Sig 552 from Airsplat. I really enjoy the look of the 552 and it supposedly performs pretty well from the videos that I've spotted. It falls in right below the CQB limit, so that was also a bonus. The only thing I had to consider was the fact it was pricier ($120 at the time I was originally looking at it, then it went up to $130) and it had 220 round high-cap magazines. When there are other guns running mags with 600 round capacity, that seems like it would create a little Capacity Envy.

So Airsoft Megastore revamped their website and I happened to notice the UMG (the name it also gets called to avoid having to pay for the Trademarks). I did some research and saw the key things that I wanted. It was compact, CQB legal FPS, full metal gearbox, and a magazine with a decent capacity (300 rounds). I jumped on the opportunity because it WAS previously $120 (which it went back up to a few days after I placed my order). I ordered on a Saturday so I had to wait until Monday for Airsoft Megastore to get my order and process it...

Monday comes, Airsoft Megastore processes my order. They hand it to UPS (Ground delivery).

Tuesday comes, I check the tracking on my order and UPS has shipped my package out. It tells me that I should expect delivery on Friday. I'm thinking "AWESOME!".

Wednesday rolls around, I'm excited I check the tracking and it has changed. I should expect my delivery on Tuesday, Sept. 4th. I'm thinking, "Not so awesome! Does it really take that long to get here?" (Remember, I'm excited to get my package.)

Thursday was uneventful pertaining this topic.

Friday comes along and I tell myself, "Maybe it COULD get here early?" To no avail. That brown truck came by, but for someone a couple houses up the street. Curse you... Later on that evening, I decided to check the tracking on the package again just to see where in the world it is.

The tracking was updated and it stated that at 12:45am Friday morning, my package arrived in the Earth City delivery center (which is a stones throw away from me). So let me get this right...

I am given an estimated delivery date of Friday. It is adjusted to Tuesday (I guess because of weather or distance). The package gets to the nearby delivery center BEFORE they start their deliveries for the day. They let it sit there, they go home for the weekend since UPS doesn't deliver on weekends. Then I realize, this is Labor Day weekend. UPS observes Labor Day so, "3 DAY WEEKEND! lolz". So I get to sit here for this whole weekend wishing while they could possibly be out airsofting themselves! Not likely but theoretically, it's possible.

I'm not mad at UPS, just annoyed by the inconvenience of this scenario. I just felt like posting that. I did say I'd post about my learning experiences in airsoft.

Rule #1: "Don't buy anything on the weekend." I already had a similar rule in general. I don't buy anything on Saturdays because, if you buy something on Saturday it will go on sale Sunday, or worse get dropped in price on Monday.

Rule #2: "The US Postal Service works '7 days a week'". While the USPS does observe certain holidays, they still deliver your stuff on weekends should that be when it would arrive.

Well, I will post a review of all the stuff I got after I've had a chance to test it out. Stay tuned for more. Until then...

I'm Red! Cover me...,
Kash

And now for something completely different!

So I know that I've been rather quiet for a while but I have been caught up with many of the wonderful things  that life throws at you, like work, video games, role-playing game design... a sudden and overwhelming obsession with Airsoft. I will be also posting about the things that I've been learning as I explore this hobby as well as just including posts about just general life observations.

I would also like to say thanks to Aurelas from Books, Bowties, and Balls of Yarn for mentioning the CoI FTW comic strip on her blog! She's a good friend and a kinsmen in our Lord of the Rings Online kinship (guild), Children of Iluvatar on the Vilya server. Her and her hubby Doldin even appeared in the first CoI FTW. As her blog titles implies, it covers crafts, good reads, and amusing observations about things in general. So please, stop by there hang out a bit.

-Kash

New Art Style for future CoI F.T.W.'s

This was a concept sketch for the new art style I planned on using with the CoI F.T.W. strips following the one that I'm currently working on. My intention is to simplify every aspect from the writing, to humor, to style. I'm hoping that doing so will ultimately result in a faster turnaround time from concept to posting. I will no longer for the time being use the traditional comic page layout in lieu of a faster 2-4 panel comic strip.

Daggerborn is the leader of the Children of Iluvatar, and Adanailo is his second in command. By Lord of the Rings Online terminology Daggerborn is a Guardian and Adanailo is a Minstrel. They share a bizarre symbiosis in that Adanailo keeps Daggerborn's spirits up in combat when he should be overwhelmed by the odds he faces, and Daggerborn keeps enemies from turning their attention to Adanailo. There is two sides to Adanailo's personality. There is the upbeat, classical/folk music playing healer-mode (usually indicated by his plumed hat) and the heavy-metal (or Middle-Earth equivalent) shredding, guttural growling, damage-dealing, Warspeech mode (usually indicated by the long black hair hanging down over his face). They have had their beefs with each other but in the end they are there to keep the other going for the sake of their kinship.

Until next post,
-Darrick