Omni, too many openings in your countersuggestion for someone developing new self-defense skills. If you tell them the answer is no unless you have some time to think, and stick to it, 90% of the time they will choose giving time to think over an instant no. You don't want to argue against a skilled predator, especially if you don't have strong skills in that area.

And Bonnie. You described yourself as "naive". That is incorrect. You had boundaries violated by one of the two persons who was supposed to teach how to defend those boundaries. You have to pick up skills in social self-defense on your own. Not surprising that you learned only bare-bones survival self-defense against extreme immediate offense, and not how to defend yourself against people who violate your boundaries slowly, and with limited objectives.

You are awesome for having developed the self-defense skills you already have, especially in being able to cut people off once you realize you need to. Now you are ready to improve those self-defense skills, but no reason to beat yourself up for not having upped them sooner. Again, it is amazing that developed as many social self-defense skill as you have.

And I'm great at giving other people advice. I wish my skills when interacting with other people were at the same level as my advice.

Asking for help when you back is not against the wall.

This is so, so important. One thing I've found is that when my back is against the wall, gathering the wits, time, and energy to hand things off to other people is almost insurmountable.

On another notes, Teppy, I don't know if you've seen this, but I recall that it might be of interest to you.

On another notes, Teppy, I don't know if you've seen this, but I recall that it might be of interest to you.

I haven't, and that is awesome!

I'm really tired. I'm not used to standing up so long and I haven't been sleeping well.

I'm...struggling a bit with some aspects of the new job. And there's one guy who he's okay but he is so very very very wrong about something and I know I'm right. We had a dept metting and then I talked to my supervisor, I'm not getting into a fight over it but I know I'm right.

The issue is this - Best Buy will price match Amazon.com's prices as long as the price isn't from a third party seller. My co worker believes that we can't price match anything with Prime next to it because it has a discount on the price, not because it's eligible for Prime. Plus the prime membership doesn't give you a discount on the price. It just doesn't.

And then I realized he reminds me of my brohter a little bit. I like him, but the way he talks about things, sounds like my brother and how it triggers stuff. So I'm kind of staying out of his way.

I enjoyed the mild geekiness of Barbara Ehrenreich's comment on today being her 72nd birthday. "Hey, thanks for all the birthday wishes! It's a big adjustment, turning 72. 71 was a prime number. 72 is 2 to the third power times 3 to the second power. All these factors take some getting used to."

You are awesome for having developed the self-defense skills you already have, especially in being able to cut people off once you realize you need to. Now you are ready to improve those self-defense skills, but no reason to beat yourself up for not having upped them sooner. Again, it is amazing that developed as many social self-defense skill as you have.

Worth restating.

Worth restating.

Mwah.

I've been thinking about this so much, my brain hurts.

A college friend spontaneously sent me a lovely box of art supplies, totally out of the blue.

It was, I think, in response to a random gift I sent her not too long ago. She's an incredibly talented quilter and I found this charming fairytale about a selfish king who learns a valuable life lesson from a old woman quilter.

In any case, it was perfectly timed.

I think I'll curl up with the amazing coloring book and unwind.

askye, I hope you get some good sleep soon.

Think about times when someone you care about asked for help only after being backed up against the wall. When that happens, do you kinda wish that person had let you know there was something you could help with before it got so tough for them? Do you ever wish to help others prevent themselves from getting backed up against the wall?