Wednesday, September 24, 2008

bullet on!

so I went shooting. That's right, with a gun and bullets. please allow me to explain.

I was on a date with my new beau and whole night is a surprise. We go to a really nice dinner at Terroni in LA, very solid Italian restaurant. Weird thing is, he says, don't get dressed up and defnitly no heels. Well, where the f*ck are we going?! Will i be dressed for dinner? Nope. I wasn't. But no worries, a lot of people at the place were pretty casual so i didn't feel bad. And after experiencing their delicately fried zucchini flowers stuffed with ricotta cheese and delectable burratta cheese, I was in heaven. Have i ever told you how much i love me some fromage? i do!

so after dinner, we get into the car and drive to downtown LA. What, you ask? dining in LA then driving into downtown? Were they just giving gas away? i was thinking the same thing friends. We drive into one the darkest, dankest places i have ever laid my eyes on. There are a couple long-beds parked up against a freight door and a few cars parked in front of two glass doors. i look at him and say, where are we? i assume he's taken me here to kill me, yeah, that's the kinda guy i date. :) As we park the car, I ask, 'should i have brought my gun?' and as we get out and i read the large unlit sign on the side of the building reading 'Los Angeles Indoor Shooting Range' I realize, 'yeah, i shoulda brought my gun!'

This was wild! i have only shot one other time in my life, when i was working for MTV Overdrive and doing a segment on BLACK, the FPS. I was in Vegas and remember picking up a Glock 9mm, not being able to load the magazine, nor undo the safety to shoot at the target. There were a bunch of other dude journalists who were all jonsing for their chance to pick up a pistol. yours truly was trying to figure out how to unlock it! And i wasn't able to....being the only girl covering this game, the Las Vegas shooting range had the foresight to stick one of their hired dudes with me at all times. They know i am a touch clumsy. So, he puts the magazine in the gun, unlocks it, and there i go, pulling on the trigger and launching a bullet into the target some 15 feet away. As soon as I kick a bullet out of the gun, the blood drains from my face and put the gun safely down on the table and i walk out. I took my earmuffs, my glasses and I walked the hell outta that noisy room! That bullet rocked my world. Then i started laughing hysterically at the fact that I just shot a gun, and how much power that thing had. So, being the dumb ass I am, I head back in, determined to conquer the fear of shooting weapons. Luckily the guy watching over me found this immensely entertaining and coaxed me back into the room to shoot the rest of the rounds. As I tried out that gun, moved up to a 22mm, then on to small rifle, then an AK-47 then a SAW, the guy realized that I was an all right shot, and i stopped being so freaked out by guns.

Then came the date. As we walk into the shooting area, i see at least 5 groups of people, from two to groups of 6. they are all at their 'booths' all aiming and shooting. the noise from each bullet leaving the chamber makes me jump as I enter our booth. What was that sound, i ask. my date says, that's the noise of the same pistol we have, the Beretta 9mm, that the guy next to us is shooting. Great! At the sound of each shot, I jump, because it is soooo loud! As you can see , I'm still a little freaked. Well no worries. He loads up the magazine full of bullets, teaches me all about gun safety, we put the target in, a outline of a guy with an orange center (I'm wearing orange on the date and want to coordinate). We send the target back a good 3/4 of the way and i take my first shot. Wow! The backlash from the pistol's power was CRAZY! and the force, speed and all that craziness of the gun made me go white in the face! But I turned back to that target and took another shot, and another shot.

I finally got comfortable with it and really started hitting the target. Then we reloaded the gun and i shot one bullet, aimed it for the center, and bull's eye! I hit it hard! that is the picture you see. After shooting a couple more times, many times putting a bullet into the same hole as the last, i decide to switch it up and shoot for the head area. Boom. And as i look over to the neighbors that scared me before, I say to my date, 'I think i am shooting better than they are.' and since we have protective sound gear over our ears, I'm screaming this at the top of my lungs and he just looks at me and laughs. it is a nervous laughter, one that shows he hopes they don't come over and whoop both our asses for my comment. but then again, I am a good shot, and they, as i can see from their target, aren't, so i am confident that I can take 'em. :)

Long story short, guns aren't toys. That i know. I learned to shoot one safely and know that if anything happened and needed to use it, I could, and would be all right. I also learned that if something intimidates me as much as guns did and do, it is good to face that fear head on to understand it and move forward. But the most important things I learned being the only girl at the gun range were that I am a better shot than the two guys to the right of me and my date's two friends that he's gone to the range with. And isn't that all we can ask for? that and world peace.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

So many things have passed...

Hello all! So sorry I have been MIA for a few weeks. Here is the skinny.

2 weeks ago I left my lovely, warm home in LA to venture to Hershey, PA, one of the sweetest places on earth...that turned into one of the coolest places on earth...because it is home to the biggest RV show on the planet. Yes, that is what I said - on the TV special I filmed called, 'RV 2009' for HGTV. That's right. This is RV show #3 for the big Chi-Lan, and lemme tell you, Hershey was not nice this time around. Being on the east coast during the summer/almost fall puts you in the face of crazy weather. Not only that, with Hurricane Ike coming up, it inspired crazy weather swells all along the east coast. So in short, as much as I love RVs, and i really do as I love camping but having my own bathroom is a must, being in rainy weather that leaves me in wet shoes and socks for a 12 hour period is a toughie to swallow. But the show will be fun to watch i am sure. It airs sometime in March 2009.

Then I came home for all of a day before leaving for my grandmother's 91st birthday!!! It was awesome! She lives in Denver so it is only a short 2 hour flight from LA. The weather is beautiful, the food magnificent, and the company was a blast! Let this be known, I come from an incredibly chinese family who believe that the female's role is to serve her partner/husband. i rolled into my grandmother's house with one of my best friends, Matt. The entire family cooks us delicious noodles and some shell-on shrimp. As I chat with my grandmother at the dinner table, she asks 'you gonna peel that shrimp for Matt?' Wha, wha, whaaaa? Doesn't Matt have two paws of his own, able to de-shell a shrimp like the rest of us? My grandmother continues, 'well, your cousin peels all of her husband's shrimp.' You can take this two ways, 1. peel his shrimp and you may get married too! 2. my cousin's husband is lazy.

So all week long, the joke was...you peeling my shrimp WOMAN?! :) Seriously the party for grandma was one of the best, I laughed all night long and saw my grandmother so happy and healthy that it left me really missing the days where I spent three or four days a week hanging with my grandmother at my mom's house. But she is happy with her numerous great-grandkids. And that is important.

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

My sister...

This is my sister, Ying, wearing the green top and looking good as she kicks some ass on the new game show, TRIVIAL PURSUIT! It is VERY exciting!!! We are a silly game-loving family. :)