I mentioned in my last post that I was going out of town for a bit. The short version is that my dad and I went to Russia to hunt bears. We were successful in that regard, shooting some very large bears.
We also wound up staying in Russia for 12 extra days, with 2 days of questioning by the police and 10 days spent in jail. Our hunting outfitter didn't have all of the paperwork in order, so we were found guilty of an Administrative Violation and the judge threw the book at us, so instead of a $50-$100 fine we got 10 days in jail. It wasn't too bad outside of the boredom. All of the police and guards we interacted with were polite and professional.
Here we are celebrating our freedom after our flight out of Moscow landed in Istanbul. It was a pretty crazy adventure, not one I'm likely to replicate in the near future.
I got a handful of cards in the mail while I was gone, mostly Pokémon I purchased for my Pokémon GO project, where I am trying to get one card for each type of Pokémon I catch in the mobile game. I am well behind the curve on that project, and it will likely take me several years to catch up, if I ever in fact do catch up.
As is typical for me, I've been struggling with whether or not to continue my card collecting, and if so, what form that collecting should take. I find that when I'm into it heavily, I spend more money than I can really afford. When I'm not into it, I have a lot of negative feelings about not being able to dabble in everything that I'm interested in.
All of that waffling has led me into a bit of a slump. I've stopped several ongoing projects, and find myself passing over cards at my usual venues. I did stand in Walmart the other day and mull over buying some Heritage baseball and some WWE Chronicles, but ultimately walked away without buying anything. This year's Heritage set is arguably one of the coolest ones to be released, but I just can't bring myself to get into it halfway, and I don't feel like I can afford to get into it all the way.
1) Glad you bagged some bear. 2) Sucks about being jailed (I myself would totally avoid a trip into Russia as they'd probably arrest me for being a spy....lol), 3) glad you and your dad made it back home safe and sound.
ReplyDeleteIt was a fun trip until we got to the jail part of it. I'm also glad we got some big bears and made it home safely.
DeleteGlad you and your dad made it home safely. Spending 10 days in a Russian jail sounds scary, but I bet it was one helluva bonding experience... and a great story you guys will be sharing for many years.
ReplyDeleteI suppose not a lot of folks spend ten days in a foreign jail cell with their dad. We certainly have a story now that's tough to one-up.
DeleteGiven the current state of relations between our country and theirs, I'm a bit surprised that you guys would've risked such a trip in the first place. As much as this had to suck, you're very fortunate that nothing worse happened. Maybe next time you could just go to Alaska or Montana for bears. Supposedly they have a lot of them.
ReplyDeleteIt was a calculated risk on our part. I can't afford an Alaskan bear hunt. I traded 10 days of my life for a much cheaper bear, or that's at least what I tell myself to rationalize the thing. I feel like sometimes you have to take a risk to lead a full life.
DeleteWow, a big risk indeed! Glad you two got home safely and that the prison experience wasn't horrible. Sometimes I wonder why I spend money on cards knowing I'll never complete the set, but I just rationalize it as sampling and it seems to work out.
ReplyDeleteHi Raz, I can tell you that Bear hunting in Michigan is a pretty good place for it though it takes several years for an out of state hunter to draw a tag here. But if you want to start that groundwork I can pass along some thoughts. I meet a lot of Bear hunters when I am working and they are generally my favorite people in the outdoors. Eastern West Virginia also looks to me to be very good.
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