Halloween, Read Dead 2, and the little things in Life

 

Halloween was a total bust. At around 3 PM it started raining, hard. Windy too.

We only got one group of brave trick or treaters and we didn’t get to go out ourselves. We kept waiting for the storm to calm a bit but all it did was get worse throughout the evening and into the night. We got to watch a couple scary movies, we had fun with the decorations and spooky looking food. My 10 year old had enjoyed the day in school with everyone wearing their costumes and doing Halloween stuff.

It hit me yet again how life has changed for us since we left Argentina. Over there walking around trick or treating and opening your door to strangers just isn’t going to happen. Maybe in some well-secured gated community or similar setting with lots of private security, but not for the average people. Most people take these sort of things for granted. We don’t. I have noticed that we are getting used to it and eventually I bet my wife and I, and my oldest son as well, will forget what life was like back in Argentina. You still miss your country no matter how bad the situation there may be, but all you have to do is watch the local news there where they discuss current events and you quickly remember why you left:

Even worse crime than before. 50% inflation this year. A president that is trying to do the right thing but fighting against the peronist/socialist/corrupt machine that has been looting the country for nearly a century. You just can’t live that way. You did what we did, you survive day by day, incapable of planning for anything more, let alone live and enjoy your life. So we still take pleasure in these little things that most people take for granted. For us, to be able to safely walk around town, in any direction, pretty much across the entire continent if we chose to do so, that’s priceless.

Meanwhile back home people have to rush to stock up, fill their gas tanks because prices may go up 10% or 20% in a matter of days. I also got to play some Red Dead Redemption 2. If you haven’t bought it already, do yourself a favour and get it. (yea, that’s my Amazon affiliated link, I do appreciate the support). The game is fantastic. I loved the first Red Dead but now you get to actually walk into an 1890 general store, pick stuff up and look at it like you would in real life. The shootings, the wild west gunstores, robbing trains and stagecoaches and the hunting! Just fantastic. I would even buy the PS4 + game combo just to play it if you don’t have a console.

My oldest son liked the game and was glad to see a lever action gun, similar to his Winchester XTR 22LR although he noticed that my 357 magnum Trapper would be a better fit. My 10 year old is enjoying the game as well. He mentioned some old guy whittling wood in the game and I told him he could do that for real with the Swiss Army knife he got for his birthday (Victorinox Hiker). Funny how a video game triggered something to do in the real world. So we went outside and I taught him how to safely use the tools in his new knife. The knife, the saw and reamer.



Believe it or not, even 1 billion USD profit Red Dead Redemption 2 can’t beat a good pocket knife and a piece of wood. He forgot about the video game and spent all afternoon outside carving a small wooden sword, as happy as only a boy with his pocket knife can be. As I was saying, it’s the little things.
FerFAL
Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre is the author of “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” and “Bugging Out and Relocating: When Staying is not an Option”