Diana's Writing Blog

This amuses me more than it probably should (NSFW):

This amuses me more than it probably should (NSFW):

So, my brakes were getting crappy and I figured I’d better take them in before it got any worse (I live in a hilly area, you know). I knew I probably needed new rotors and pads, so I figured about $300. Plus, I had a power steering leak and a suspicious clunk. So I figured about $500 total. Which is a lot, but an acceptable dent in my emergency fund.

I got the call today. The brakes are $275 to fix. So far, so good. The clunk is actually going to take a while to fix, so $130ish. Still okay. The power steering leak? $600!!! So total? Over $1000. Maybe as much as $1100. That’s my whole emergency fund and then some! And I can’t get it back till Monday night. Which means not only did I have to puff my way up the giant hill to work today, I have to do it again Monday. >< I need an inhaler, people. I am not even kidding. My lungs were half filled with liquid by the time I made it to the top. I’m still coughing.

So that’s always fun. The one bright spot in my week was that my dad happened to be up my way last night, so he chauffeured me around and bought me food. I saved part of my dinner for lunch today (and Dad saved some of his). And when I went to pull it out this morning, the Styrofoam gave and dumped all but one fish patty on the floor. I was like :-C … :’-( But I salvaged a lot of it and washed it off in the sink. It still tasted good, but that was a big bummer.

So, my brakes were getting crappy and I figured I’d better take them in before it got any worse (I live in a hilly area, you know). I knew I probably needed new rotors and pads, so I figured about $300. Plus, I had a power steering leak and a suspiciou…

I got this book,Gift of Fear, from Paperbackswap and read it in like two days. It’s really good and mostly geared toward women, who–let’s face it–have to be more alert in general for danger. The author put it this way when explaining why you shouldn’…

I got this book,Gift of Fear, from Paperbackswap and read it in like two days. It’s really good and mostly geared toward women, who–let’s face it–have to be more alert in general for danger. The author put it this way when explaining why you shouldn’t feel bad telling strange men to get lost even if they seem friendly: 1 in 6 women are sexually assaulted in their lifetime, so we have to be responsible for assessing credible threats. Anywho, it’s all about watching for manipulative ways that seemingly nice people use to win your trust before it’s earned and get you into dangerous situations.

So today I was out walking the dog and this guy was cutting across our parking lot and my dog barked at him.  Anyway, we got to talking about his dog and various stuff and it all seemed fairly harmless. Oh, and he was old, like inappropriately old to ask if I had a boyfriend (which he did). But whatever I had just said it was nice to finally meet someone who lived nearby and I guess that could kinda lead into the question. And then he asked if I wanted to come up to his house for dinner that night, and I was like, "Uh….sorry. I’m busy. All this week, actually. I’m buying a house, so lots of paperwork and packing and stuff."

And then he was like, "Come on, Diana…." Which is like three different risk indicators from the book, (false teaming, not hearing ‘no’….okay, so two). So I was like, "Uh….I gotta go. Nice meeting you." And then he kissed my hand instead of shaking it. Yikes….

I mean, he could just be overly friendly, but still…..that’s not appropriate. But also I’m too nice. I really am. Not in the, gosh, I’m so great way. In the I worry too much about offending people I’ll probably (hopefully) never see again. What I should have said to the dinner invitation is, "Sorry, I don’t accept dinner invitations from people I just met." Or something to that effect. Like the book says, a nice guy would understand that sort of caution (or wouldn’t make an inappropriate offer in the first place).

And in a related piece of depressing news, what men see as women flirting is just us being friendly. So apparently I can’t show any sort of friendly interest in a man without them thinking I want to doink them, regardless of age or appearance. Is that how men’s minds work? A woman’s either doable or invisible, never just an interesting human being? 

Never mind. I don’t think I really want the answer to that question.