thrill seeker

I feel like Philadelphia has given me so many new experiences. There are the obvious things, like the beginning of my career, my first time more living further than fifteen miles from my parents, paying bills and rent, and so on.

Then there are the little things. I tend to be a bit of a thrill seeker, nothing too dangerous but just in an effort to get a lot of experiences and satisfy that itch. My dear friend, Tony, tends to be my enabler here in Philly. He is the one who "knows a guy" at the tattoo shop off of South Street. He drives a motorcycle. He also has the relaxed, "let's do it!" attitude that you sometimes need in life. So we keep him around.

Yesterday we are all at jazz and he turns to Theresa and I. "So you guys wanna go shoot guns?" Of course, we both said sure.

I have wanted to shoot a gun mostly because I never have. Neither of us came from hunting families, but a lot of my friends back home definitely did, and, well, guns are scary and I like being a little bit daring.

So we went to this shooting range that Tony goes to, and I was way, way too scared. Theresa did it first and was awesome, but when it came time for me I was too afraid to shoot it. I held the gun and then just couldn't pull the trigger; I kept picturing myself panicking at the way the gun kicks back and shooting myself or a friend or dropping the gun, or something horrible. So I hesitated and hesitated and then finally.... shot the target right in the middle of its face.

Moral of the story: I am much more afraid of guns than I thought. This did NOT make me want to use one recreationally. However, the thrill was definitely a nice stress reliever and I did feel super tough. Thanks Tony!




You should have seen my shaky hand.


The shot in the red was my first shot.



Don't worry, we wore helmets. And didn't drive. And didn't go on the highway.