I do like that in LA I get much less hassles from strange men than I did in Detroit. Or maybe it's a function of age.

I'm not as cautious as the average woman, and I should be. My idea of taking care on an Internet date is making sure I have a knife close to hand.

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For those keeping count, she is the THIRD PERSON to buy me this shirt - all of whom shattered my delusions that I am Elphaba through and through by telling me, "Oh honey, no. You're Glinda."

Whereas I've received two Defying Gravity/Elphaba shirts as gifts.

So that leaves us at you're Florence, I'm Svetlana; you're Glinda, I'm Elphaba.

You get the showstopper song in Chess, I get it in Wicked.

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Maybe I'm nobody's side.

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I honestly think I'd trade you, given the opportunity, except I'm SO not a Glinda in any way, shape, or form.

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Ooooh!!!! OOOH! Defying Gravity/Nobody's Side mash-up!!!

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I'm not as cautious as the average woman, and I should be.

I sometimes worry that I'm not cautious enough when out and about after dark. You only have to be under-vigiliant once too many times.

On the other hand, right now I have my head quite full enough worrying about disability hate crime, for which the stats in this country are getting high enough that there are a number of places I will no longer go to, ever, and a lot of situations that I dread enough to avoid.

In short, leaving the house: it's not as fun as it used to be.

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This conversation is making me wonder if Im oblivious to danger around me. I do get my keys out but that's about it. Actually it occurs to me now that Joe is very careful when he is out. It's a by-product of his intel/counter-intel training. So maybe Im more conscious of safety than I thought but I rarely think of it in gender terms.

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I have caught up. Yesterday was SUPER looooong. 10am - 1:30am, no dinner break, 4 locations all over Dallas. Wheeee! Tonight is black tie affair at the new Opera House.

My friend C. designed the Save the Dates and will be designing the invites in the same style. Aren't they awesome? We're doing an art deco theme for the party (I'm very tempted to get an awesome art deco cake).

C is AWESOME, and the save-the-date cards are super sweet! It's not an art deco cake, but it's cute! (link from cake links WAAAAYY up thread yesterday: [link]

So working super late, one would think I would SLEEEP super late. Nooooo. Maybe an hour more. And with a headache.

There was more. But sleep deprived/headachey head forgets.

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Oh. So that's why the big adrenaline rush when neighbor-I've-never-met yelled at me while I was walking the dog. Right.

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I think about safety, but I feel pretty confident about it. Strangely enough, the thing that makes me feel the most confident is having been mugged and almost raped.

The way I fought back at once got me (a) beaten up and (b) got me out of being raped and/or murdered. So it makes me feel better that I've been in a situation that was violent and I walked away from it. I'm aware, but not freaked; I don't feel like I am a victim. And I don't feel like because I'm a girl, I'm in more danger (although statistically, I suppose I am.)

I just feel like the world is as it is, it sucks, we should change it, but until that happens, don't fuck with me because I will try my damnedest to FUCK YOU UP.

And I know I will. So that makes me all mellow., conversely.

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