Fingers crossed!!

I love Josh and Leo.

Yay! I'll keep sending the job~ma.

I'm a huggy hugger. I've hugged employees, vendors, and customers. I'm pretty sure I know which ones are good with that. There are a number of kiss on the cheek and kiss on both cheeks types among my business acquaintances too. I just follow their lead as I am ok with all of it.

I would also be more than twice as old as the previous coop/intern.

Hon, if you're reading this? PLEASE DO NOT SCHEDULE MY PAP SMEAR. KTHXBYE.

I suppose one might be grateful that they said "schedule" and not "perform".

Oh lord, was I traumatized when I got hugged by the CEO at the end of her holiday party last year.

I get traumatised just watching coworkers hug each other.

Yeah, hugging at work is not on. A world of no.

Big!Boss and Wife hug us once a year, at the end of the holiday party. I'm fairly uncomfortable with that.

You hug-a-phobes have got all kinds of personal space issues.

Oh hells yes. It is a constant joke in my department how I involuntarily back away in my chair until I hit a wall. In my own office. It's maybe 10X10. Can't handle anyone beyond half of that before I hit a wall. My bubble, she is huge.

I think I've posted this before, but I'ma post it again since it's an ongoing conundrum for me.

In the kinky community, there's actually a "rule" of Don't Touch People Without Permission. And in the various books/websites that address this, they often say things like, "Even hugging someone."

Theoretically, most kinky people should know that.

In practice, kinky people are touchy-feely as HELL, and while someone might not run up and try to participate in a spanking/whatever, that same someone has no problem in a less-beaty, more-social situation of coming up behind women and rubbing their shoulders, or petting clothes that look fuzzy (like velvet; the problem being that the clothes are ON A HUMAN who might not want to be petted unannounced [or at all]).

I solve that problem by stepping away, out of reach.

An even stickier problem is all the goddamn hugs. I have boundary issues, and I'm just not comfortable hugging every damn person at a dinner/party/whatever. And choosing to not hug should be my goddamn prerogative. I shouldn't be forced to step back to evade a hug.

(I know this sounds ungracious; it's not that I don't like the people themselves, because I'm generally happy to see [most of] them. I just don't want to hug them.)

The problem is people who insist on a hug, who physically follow my stepping back in order to hug me, and/or people who are miffed -- MIFFED, I SAY -- that I wouldn't hug them. And then there's the issue that there are a few people I'm happy to hug, but the Ruthless Huggers seem to think that if I hug one person, I must be fair game to hug everyone, which is simply not true.

I feel like I should print cards and hand them out explaining that my boundaries are just that -- MINE -- and while I'm happy to see them, part of my boundaries is choosing who I hug, damn it.

But I shouldn't HAVE to explain it at all.

Pearl and Coco decided to start playing in the middle of the bed at 4:30 this morning. Usually, their play is unbearably cute (Pearl stalks and "attacks" Coco, Coco then "fights" back). But not when you're trying to sleep.

But I shouldn't HAVE to explain it at all.

You know, this is kind of like the earlier conversation about people being shocked! and appalled! by people who don't drink: Different people are different, and how hard is it to take a second and realize that other people's choices may not be yours, but are perfectly legitimate? I mean, seriously.

Different people are different, and how hard is it to take a second and realize that other people's choices may not be yours, but are perfectly legitimate? I mean, seriously.

Jesse, why do you hate America?

I should just get a tattoo that says DIFFERENT PEOPLE ARE DIFFERENT.

I should just get a tattoo that says DIFFERENT PEOPLE ARE DIFFERENT.

I'd like to get one that says "CAN'T YOU SEE THAT YOU HAVE INSULTED THE FREAKS?"