Maren Learns A New Skill

You will never guess in a million years where I went on Tuesday.

Never.

First, a story: The bank called last week and said they needed to verify some unusual activity on my account. Blair called the bank before he left and told them he would be out of the country, so I was a little concerned.

Manager at Bank: Can you verify some of these charges? They were made in London.
Me: Blair is there, he already told you this.
M at B: There is a note on the account, we just want to make sure it’s him.
Me: Well, does it look like he’s having fun?
M at B: It does look like tourist stuff.
Me: Does it look like he bought me a present? Because, he is, in LONDON without me.
M at B: There are a few shop names…this one looks like jewelry…
Me : Yahoo! Good for him!
M at B: There is one more charge here…looks like it’s closer to home….says….’Guns & Ammo’?
Me: That was me…. I need a hobby! My husband is practically on a world trip without me! Shooting relieves stress!
M at B: (laughing) I agree, have fun!

Well. There you have it. I took a class and learned to shoot. It was a ton of fun. And I’m not too bad at it either! And I have three holey pieces of paper to prove it!

Shooting was fabulous! I shot 4 different guns; 2 revolvers and 2 semi-automatics. I really liked the revolvers, especially the big one, but I was better at the smaller semi. The instructor was helpful and so not patronizing. He did warn me about ‘hot brass’. I guess, when you’re shooting a semi-automatic, the shells pop out everywhere and go flying and they are very hot. If you are a girl, and are wearing anything with a low neck, there is the possibility of one these hot little buggers going down your shirt!

Yikes!

He told me a story about how a young lady had been brought to the range on by her date and how the brass went down her very low cut blouse and how she freaked out and was screaming and dancing all about and then how she SHOT her date in the leg (on accident) during the incident!

*shudder*

That’s a deal breaker, in my opinion.

I was calm and not too bad at the shooting, if I do say do myself. The instructor said it too, so it must be so. Plus, as I mentioned, I have the murdered papers as evidence. The range was very warm, and although initially I was doing quite well, my performance flagged as we approached the one hour mark. The instructor, named Kelly, by the way, attributed my decreasing accuracy to fatigue.

Oh contraire, mon frere.

I was defeated in the end by a very girly thing.

Sloshy shoes.

I had worn very cute, leopard print ballet flats with no socks, and my feet were sweating in the oh-so-warm range. I could feel puddles forming and I can tell you I was grossed out. I seriously felt like I was standing in two sweaty puddles and then I was worried about ruining my shoes.

Listen, a girl can shoot, AND be worried about her shoes.

Anyway.

As I was leaving, one of the salesmen asked me how it went. I held my papers high and said:

Girl in Pink Dress shoots the @#!*% out of three pieces of paper.

Nice:)

(ok, yes I was wearing a pink skirt. It was hot and I’d had it on all day and I didn’t have time to go find any Ranger clothes, and can’t a girl look cute to shoot? On the other hand, due to the unforeseen shoe malfunction, I can see socks in my target shooting future)