But wait, there's more...
May. 5th, 2008 09:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
threadwalkerThe start of the grand weekend leading up to the tri:
1. Ironman Friday night totally rocked. I'm glad Robert Downey Jr got time-outs from jail to be in this. (Or maybe he was between DUIs) He was excellent.
2. The gun show in San Francisco on Saturday... was a total giggle fest for me.
I walked in and said, "Wow! Look honey! Stereo-Types everywhere! Where's the jewelry stand? They had one at the comic book convention, so there's gotta be one here, too."
Which got me the look along with, "If you don't behave or if you embarrass me, I will tell people you haven't taken your meds today."
Every single stereo-type was there. The mullet-wearing, unkept, skinny red-necks; the air-soft crowd; military fanatics who never served a single day; geeky-looking gamers trying for "coolness"; survivalists; suspiscious looking skulkers who were eyeing everyone; polite (older) cowboy selling holsters. Even kids (12 yrs old) showing dad the new skinning knife he'd like to get. And yes, I found the jewelry stand AND a new-age crystal seller. They got very excited when they saw me, flocking to me - I sort of nodded and hurried past.. no thanks, don't need junk jewelry or crystals.
I was more or less restrained on the outside, but I was laughing the whole time on the inside. It was totally worth the price of admission for the people watching. The restraining force on my humor was not the presence of the artillery, it was all those knives that were within reach. Don't go poking the bear when it's not in its cave.
Also funny, I think I got hit on. It reminded me of when I used to go to gaming conventions and there might have been a dozen women. I was amused, but polite; there were all those knives afterall. When asked if I wanted some beef jerky, I commented that I didn't plan on fighting over the last morsel of jerky with the cock-roaches, which made the military guy at the next booth down (fund raising for families of injured troops) laugh. Turns out military guy was one of the best conversations I had. For my donation, I got a support our troops decal to put in my back window.
For my part, I got excited with the personal protective equipment; they have pockets and zippers and flaps and attachable bits... totally fascinating. If I could have figured out a legitimate use for one, I'd have been trying them on. And the containers! I need another satchel or zip box or insulated satchel cooler like I need a hole in the head, but I had to check them all out and visualize how I'd use them. I actually made a purchase; 2 books on military history translated from German. I fondled the US military guide on snow survival (which had directions on how to ski, snow bivoc, etc) just because it was so novel, but it wasn't needful and the book cases at home are full-ish, so I put it back.
And the smell took me back to when I was a kid. My dad, the hunter and wanna-be survivalist, loaded his own bullets. All those smells were present and since that was a good period in my life, I was having happy nostalgia and kind of thinking I wanted to go take a gun-safety course and maybe go shooting. We have all that gear in storage. (Yeah, I just need another hobby! But sooner or later I'll have to give up triathlons, so maybe this will be my fall back).
All in all, a very enjoyable little jaunt to the COW Palace. From there we headed up to the beautiful countryside of Lake Berryessa.
1. Ironman Friday night totally rocked. I'm glad Robert Downey Jr got time-outs from jail to be in this. (Or maybe he was between DUIs) He was excellent.
2. The gun show in San Francisco on Saturday... was a total giggle fest for me.
I walked in and said, "Wow! Look honey! Stereo-Types everywhere! Where's the jewelry stand? They had one at the comic book convention, so there's gotta be one here, too."
Which got me the look along with, "If you don't behave or if you embarrass me, I will tell people you haven't taken your meds today."
Every single stereo-type was there. The mullet-wearing, unkept, skinny red-necks; the air-soft crowd; military fanatics who never served a single day; geeky-looking gamers trying for "coolness"; survivalists; suspiscious looking skulkers who were eyeing everyone; polite (older) cowboy selling holsters. Even kids (12 yrs old) showing dad the new skinning knife he'd like to get. And yes, I found the jewelry stand AND a new-age crystal seller. They got very excited when they saw me, flocking to me - I sort of nodded and hurried past.. no thanks, don't need junk jewelry or crystals.
I was more or less restrained on the outside, but I was laughing the whole time on the inside. It was totally worth the price of admission for the people watching. The restraining force on my humor was not the presence of the artillery, it was all those knives that were within reach. Don't go poking the bear when it's not in its cave.
Also funny, I think I got hit on. It reminded me of when I used to go to gaming conventions and there might have been a dozen women. I was amused, but polite; there were all those knives afterall. When asked if I wanted some beef jerky, I commented that I didn't plan on fighting over the last morsel of jerky with the cock-roaches, which made the military guy at the next booth down (fund raising for families of injured troops) laugh. Turns out military guy was one of the best conversations I had. For my donation, I got a support our troops decal to put in my back window.
For my part, I got excited with the personal protective equipment; they have pockets and zippers and flaps and attachable bits... totally fascinating. If I could have figured out a legitimate use for one, I'd have been trying them on. And the containers! I need another satchel or zip box or insulated satchel cooler like I need a hole in the head, but I had to check them all out and visualize how I'd use them. I actually made a purchase; 2 books on military history translated from German. I fondled the US military guide on snow survival (which had directions on how to ski, snow bivoc, etc) just because it was so novel, but it wasn't needful and the book cases at home are full-ish, so I put it back.
And the smell took me back to when I was a kid. My dad, the hunter and wanna-be survivalist, loaded his own bullets. All those smells were present and since that was a good period in my life, I was having happy nostalgia and kind of thinking I wanted to go take a gun-safety course and maybe go shooting. We have all that gear in storage. (Yeah, I just need another hobby! But sooner or later I'll have to give up triathlons, so maybe this will be my fall back).
All in all, a very enjoyable little jaunt to the COW Palace. From there we headed up to the beautiful countryside of Lake Berryessa.
