Gunsmoke

I've been trying to stay occupied lately to keep my mind off of my current life catastrophe. And I also have cool friends, so when they invite me to do things, I try to go.

Which is how I found myself in a gun shop in San Bruno yesterday afternoon, forking over a surprising amount of money to learn how to shoot a .22. But my friend decided her 40th birthday just wouldn't be complete without a manicure and a shooting lesson, so there we were. Six women and one lone guy, all with fresh manicures, displaying IDs and signing waivers that indicated we knew handling guns was, well, risky.

I've never taken target practice before. In fact, aside from water guns and the day I picked up my brother's boxed pellet gun and moved it out of my way, I've never handled a gun before at all. It was good they gave us a half hour safety lesson and demonstration before letting us loose in the range.

You can't see the target in this photo, but I'm a surprisingly good shot, given that I can't even draw in a straight line. Most of my shots hit close to the center of the target. Please note my nicely manicured thumbs. My eggplant-colored polish held up really well during all of the gun handling. Please also note my new hair color. It's taken three months to make it look nice, and the lighting in the range, though pretty bad, definitely shows off the red. Kind of like Annie Oakley.