Can't wait for my bathing suits to get here on Tuesday. I went crazy and ordered two from Land's End because they were 50% off. I hope they fit!

On a totally different subject, I went shooting with my brother yesterday. We do a trade off where he buys the bullets and I help him clean all of his guns. It's a good trade off because I can now disassemble. clean, grease and put back together an M4 carbine with very little assistance (those pins can be tricky to get out). I don't know many other girls, besides my sister, that can say that.

I really enjoy seeing how much I have improved in my shooting. I pretty much hit the target every time now and even though I don't hit the exact center, if I take my time when I shoot, I can come pretty damn close. Although my aim has definitely gotten better, I have a long way to go before I can even come close to my brother's level. He hit the bullseye of the target six times in a row. There was literally nothing left of the bullseye when he was done with it.

My brother is the biggest wealth of knowledge about guns and I am slowly absorbing it. He doesn't just teach me how to shoot and clean, he also teaches me how to shoot with one hand, how to transition from shooting a rifle to a pistol, how to reload a magazine quickly and without looking and how to defend myself. He is trying to get me to the point where if I felt threatened and feared for my life, I would be able to react without hesitation. I think that is the hardest part because you have to be willing to take someone's life to save your own. I remember reading a story a few years ago where a woman who was a black belt was kidnapped and murdered while hiking. She was a friggin BLACK BELT and she was killed which just goes to show it doesn't matter what you know, if you don't react, you could wind up dead.

Many times, women are victims because they are afraid to act or they are in shock since they don't think it will ever happen to them. Not that I walk around afraid all the time, but I am cautious of my surroundings, especially if I am hiking alone, in a parking lot at night or in any situation that might put me at a higher risk of being attacked. I might look kind of silly walking around my car before getting in, or checking behind me when I am alone in a parking lot but I'd rather look a little odd then get kidnapped or raped or killed.