A humor-journal????
‘Tis true..someone ( http://www.livejournal.com/users/highexecutive/190108.html ) thinks that this particular LJ is here for laughs.

Hate to burst their bubble, but Commander Zero is as serious as a heart attack and twice as life-altering.

I mean, geez, if this LJ was here for laughs it would be alot more exciting…Day 192: Finished the escape tunnel to the abandoned missle silo. My sources have assured me that the stolen C-130 of MRE’s will be landing on the old highway at midnight. Me and the other troops will be there with a couple stolen forklifts to get the pallets onto the trucks. Meanwhile, our radio expert has finished piggybacking our signal onto the military sattelites..”

Sorry kids…its allllllllll real. Commander Zero is a real person, with a real plan, a real pile of gear, and a real distaste for people who think this isnt a real accounting of things.

It occurs to me that the writings of Commander Zero may very accurately be referred to as “Zerotica”. Im mildly amused by this.

Its a stereotype that us ‘survivalist’/'preparedness’ types are heavy into guns. Fairly accurate sterotype, sure… But about a year ago I decided that I was prety much where I wanted to be in regards to my personal weapons and since that part of my plans was about 90% done, I could focus on other things, which is what Ive been doing. Oh sure, there are still a few gun-related things I want to get (more ammo mostly) but I’m satisfied that my primary and secondary collections of thundertoys would be enough to get me through pretty much everything.

So wheres the focus these days? Food. More food. And still more food. Its a priority thing. Food is a pain to deal with because, unlike guns and tools, theres a shelf-life and a need for rotation…just when you think youre done stocking up, you have to start all over again because of expiration dates. Rotating food out isnt that big a deal…its just an annoyance. Most of the really long term stuff (the #10 cans of freeze-dried) are good for upwards of over twenty years…so Ive at least another ten on them before I even have to worry. The grains store well enough that I dont really have to give them any thoughts either.

Theres still other stuff that needs to be ‘beefed up’. Radio communications, fuel storage, electricity production, transportation and that sort of thing, but Im working on that as best I can. However, at my current level of preparedness, Im pretty sure I could easily weather anything lasting several weeks to a month or two. Needless to say, a two day blackout or something of that ilk would barely disrupt things at home.

But, my personal ‘worst case scenario’ isnt some sort of blackout, earthquake or other event…rather its a creeping Depression-like economic calamity. Remember the 80′s when the Soviet Union was in its glory? Citizens lined up for toilet paper, grocery stores were almost always empty, fuel availability was spotty, every winter people were huddled around tiny stoves trying to keep warm, that sort of thing…naturally, if some sort of economic collapse doesnt occur (and Id be quite happy if it didnt) I’d still be prepared for all the lesser events (blizzards, power failures, etc).

Of course, everyone has their own reasons for preparing…some do it out of compulsions (the need to ‘control’ their surroundings), some out of religious reasons (Mormons, for example), some out of political beliefs (a large amount of Libertarians, etc)…my personal reason is probably the a little of the first and alot of the third. I dont like being dependent on others for my safety and well being..and the idea of some government flunky with a clipboard handing me a wad of food stamps, a bus pass and a housing allowance just strikes me as nightmarish. Plus, I take a dim view of people whose attitude is that the ‘government will provide’. Gov’s job isnt to feed, house and clothe you…govs job is to protect your rights to earn your own food, housing and clothing.

Ah, the life of Zero…as far as LJ goes, its days of being one person and then thirty minutes of being Commander Zero for the sake of posting.

Real life, such as it is, isn’t like that. Being Commander Zero is a lifestyle.

It’s waking up every morning and before doing *anything* checking the news outlets to make sure Something Important hasn’t occurred.

It’s going to Costco and being annoyed that the quantities things are packaged in arent big enough

It’s being excited about single-serving pouches and mylar/foil packaging

It’s knowing you have a gun at Point A and one at Point B but carrying one for those times youre travelling between A & B

It’s seeing 1970′s era Bronco’s and Land Cruisers with ‘For Sale’ signs on them and thinking ‘someday..someday…’

Its guesstimating what a years supply of toilet paper, rice, band aids, cooking oil, kerosene, socks and sewing thread is

It’s wondering how many friends think youre nuts, how many think youre overprepared and how many think youre underprepared

It’s driving around doing daily tasks and subconsciously noting ‘choke points’ like bridges

It’s looking at your DVD library and seeing Red Dawn and The Omega Man are always on the top of the stack

And all of this takes place while trying to look, sound and behave like Joe Average. Of course, the nice part of all of this is that when Something Important *does* happen I am so far ahead of the sheeple and only slightly behind the .fedgov in terms of preparedness that I can usually ride it out in comfort.

Lately I’ve been slacking a bit in terms of preps…money is tight these days. But theres still alot of things to be done that dont cost a dime – reading and learning, mostly. Hunting the internet for useful files, calculators, blueprints, plans, recipes, treatments, instructions and the like.
———————
Today is shameless self-promotion day…. if youre reading this and you dont appear on my Friends list or Friends Of list, howabout leaving a comment and saying how you got here and a little about yourself?

I was on a jet the other day and the pilot came on the intercom and said that we were going to circle for an indefinite amount of time and ground control would not tell him why.

Huh?

Being me, my first thought was Something Big was going on. But I had no way of knowing. No cell phone and the plane had no airphone on board. So, I got to thinking, what I need is a pager that can transmit text messages and have service nationwide…this way, I can sign up with various LMI websites or organizations that send pager alerts in case anything goes on. I could be at 36,000 feet wondering whats going on, or I could have a pager message that says “EAST COAST BLACKED OUT. CAUSE UNKNOWN. NO WORD FROM FEDS…..”

So, now I need to find nationwide-service paging……….ideas?