DB Suggestions Thread

[hoosjim]

Good points, Steve. Its really all about being comfortable in your own skin and confident in who YOU are... not in some blustery persona or some macho "ideal." That kind of thing projects.

Now for my macho, lunkhead moment, on the subject of "guns" and gun ranges:

Guns for me are no big deal. I grew up in the country, and we owned guns, simple as that. Everyone i know owned at least one long gun. Out where I live, you were really close to nature, and, even if you didn't hunt recreationally, sometimes nature has a way of getting uncomfortably close. Ever been approached by a rabid raccoon? Alot easier,, safer, and less disturbing to dispatch it with .22 or shotgun than it is to, say, beat it to death with a shovel (something one of my friend's dads had to do-- they had just moved up from the city). And I wont even tell you about the time a couple of obvious mobsters(from Jersey, complete with suits, ties, and wiseguy accents) showed up back on our farm near our pond "just sightseeing". Sometimes it just makes you feel better having that scattergun handy. So, we owned them then, my grandfather owned them on his farm, and my Great grandfather came over from Ireland just after the Civil war with two things in his pocket: Less than a dollar in loose change, and the family flintlock pistol (which my Dad still has). So I am comfortable with guns as a tool that are only "As good or as bad as the man that weilds them". But I digress. Guns and gun ranges as a recreational GAL activity: This is pure gold, IMO, and here is where I am going to sound like a lunkhead: The ladies eat this up! I mean, I am sure there are girls who are politically charged up about this or who would otherwise be turned off, but literally every single woman i have talked to who has done this either as a date or as a girls night or otherwise socially...has absolutely loved it (and quite often ended up "absolutely loving" the man they went with if it was a date deal-- my W and I included and she is a HUGE anti-NRA person.) Its come a long long way from the dingy, dirty, sleazy shooting ranges in the bad sections of town-- alot of these places now are high tech, spotless, with good looking young instructors in jumpsuits and membership cards and slick welcome programs and date nights etc etc. Alot of the younger generation are doing it as well. I almost got in trouble last week at a bar with a large group of people, including my W, when i got talking to young 20-something girl about it-- she had been for her first time and we started talking about and she was really into it... really into it, and she started getting a bit too familiar/friendly and then my W swooped in and laid one on me just as i was about to excuse myself "You looked like you could use some help" she told me shortly thereafter, lol. But anyhoo... As long as you are a) reasonably responsible and b) not someone who is going to get hung up on "eek, it's a gun", its a really fun outing/GAL/date opportunity. And, like i said, the ladies love it.