Tuesday, December 02, 2008
Mushroom ragu
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Neo, the singer, not Keanu Reeves
Atlanta is a different town folks, smaller town feel and I feel like I can get away with more here, like never wearing anything but 2 shirts and jeans during an entire week. And I'm tempted to buy a fedora. Gawd this town is weird. :)
Sent via Chi-Lan's gold nuggetBerry
Friday, October 03, 2008
King of Kong
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.
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.
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