I only like one of those things, but anyone tracking my phone today would think I am a heavy user of all three. Late last week I purchased a 1911. It was the old school government specs with no frills. I dropped off the registration at the precinct. Today I bought a leather holster, hopping to carry it appendix. The holster was far too tough even though it was of good quality (Galco) for that, however, so I went back out to get another. For the heck of it I went Downriver to the range I heard so much about from LE. It was quite the nice place. It catered to archery and firearms. I bought a cheaper Galco after searching on their website for which holsters were actually appendix, and picked it up for $26. I asked if they had mags for the 1911, but they only had Wilson Combat 8-rounders. I said Happy New Year and kept going. A magazine larger than the standard 7 for a government issue 1911 can cause feed problems. The spring is stronger to account for more rounds; this also can cause the later rounds to nosedive on the lip of the chamber because of the added pressure.
I decided to go to the Meijer around back so that I could get cash back for something. So that then I could buy a Zippo without using my card. I ended up getting a case of ginger ale from Meijer. I didn’t know they sold ginger ale. And it was only $3.99! So much cheaper than Plum Market! At the self checkout, a woman Meijer employee just pressed the Pay button for me while I was using my chip card. I didn’t see her at first and especially not that she was an employee. So my default glance was incredulous at this person suddenly close to me. Were they trying to rob me? “You would have been standing there forever waiting for that.” I muttered “sorry” in response. “What’s with you giving me that mean look” I didn’t respond and quickly pressed the cash back option for $20, took it, and walked off with my case of ginger ale. After five steps I realized I didn’t get my receipt. I could check my account balance online. Wow, I just wanted to get out of there on an unconscious level. I had a “mean look”? That’s just my face. I wasn’t angry about anything. Is that “resting bitch face”? I can’t help how my face looks… I tried to smile a little bit walking to the other end door of Meijer then thought that might be odd. Now I didn’t want to look people in the face because then they might think I am trying to initiate conversation with them passing by. I have been told people do that because my face is attractive. Being introverted and attractive is truly a curse.
Next I looked for a smoke shop. I wanted a Zippo lighter like a post I saw on reddit the other day. It was a desktop photo of a Colt 1911, a bronzed faded Zippo, a switchblade, Coors alcohol, a ridiculously old-fashioned camera (the kind with an accordion lense), and a worn Timex leather strap watch. First I went into the mall, since that was closest. Apple maps said there was a “Smoke Everywhere” shop in the mall but I couldn’t find it. I also noticed a tiny sign with a silhouette of a gun canceled out on the entry door. I pretended to ignore it, but had that constant nagging feeling in the back of my mind that I was committing a crime every moment I was in there. My appearance of wandering, looking for something didn’t help. I tried smiling a little. I hoped no one approached me, especially not police officers. I gave up and just wanted to get out of there.
Two smoke shops were down the street. The first was an independent one, and the next was Wild Bill’s Tobacco. I passed the independent and went to Wild Bill’s. The idea was that Zippo might send more lighter designs to a chain instead of a small independent. I was mistaken. Twenty minutes later I was parked by the independent down the street. Getting out of my car I realized I parked in front of a gun shop. It was closed even though the posted hours said it was open. No lights were on inside. I guess these small mom & pop stores like to take New Years Eve off like the rest of us. I then wondered if city ordinance restrictions for gun shops and smoke shops were the same. The place I bought the leather Galco holster earlier was next to a smoke shop. Maybe ordinance restrictions are the reason they are next to each other so often.
I walked into the independent smoke shop and was greeted by the sole shopkeep. He had three full displays of Zippo lighters! I took ten minutes looking over them and then took the most plain one with a metal brush look. It was also the cheapest one. So many of the designs were western pornographic, drug paraphernalia, or boomer/sportsball tier designs like flaming skulls, or old 90s toxic masculinity “You shoot like a girl!”. The simple one I picked was at the bottom. H 18 was the stamp. Neat, a 2018 zippo I found at the end of 2019! I bought it. It came to 19.03 but the clerk said 19. I handed him a twenty and he handed me a single. Awesome, he ate the 3 cents. I guess that’s a perk of small independent shops.
With that my extremely rare, maybe once-per-year self-indulgent shopping was done. I disabled the gps on my phone once I knew where the interstate was and headed home.