Poor Foci!!!
A lesson in going with your gut:
Last night, I came home from the gym somewhat late, and as I pulled onto my street it appeared that all the parking spots were taken. So, I thought I would just turn around and park on the cross-street, which is almost always near-empty. But, as I reached the end of the street, I saw one spot. So I parked Foci.
I got out of the car, and there was an unsavory fellow walking down the sidewalk on the other side of the street. As I got out of the car and started down the sidewalk on my side of the street, he crossed the street and was walking behind me. Altogether a creepy feeling, but I remembered my self-defense class and just kept walking quickly and purposefully, keeping an eye on my shadow to see if another one appeared. I also did a quick survey of what I had that could be used as a weapon, and decided the almost-full Nalgene bottle in my gym bag, if I swung it with enough force directly into his head, would buy me enough time to get into my building. He stayed far enough behind though, and I got into my building without any problem, but was left with a general unease about the whole situation. For some reason, I feared that the guy would do something to my car. I guess a little bit of fear can result in strange logic: Unsavory-looking fellow could be rapist of mugger. If unsuccessful at raping or mugging me, he may damage my car out of spite. That makes some sense, right? It does when you're my size, being followed by a tall, shady guy and you have nothing but a nalgene bottle and your car keys to defend yourself. :-( Ick.
Lo and behold, this morning Ryan called me from work to tell me that he had seen my side mirror dangling by a wire when he passed my car on his way out. I didn't actually think that it was the unsavory-looking fellow, but it crossed my mind.
Nope, it was definitely a hit-and-run, probably a drunk driver. It took off my mirror and shattered it, left rubber on the driver's side door, and scraped up my fender. It also scraped up the bumper of the car parked in front of me. Blah!!!
Anyway, I hope whoever did it got a DWI last night. Or that it's someone who lives around here so I might find the car whose front bumper matches the damage to my car. Cause I tell you what, I just bought new hiking boots and can't afford this nonsense!!
Anyway, all's well generally, but Foci suffered because I didn't trust my original instinct to turn around and park on the cross-street (which is better lit than where I did park him). Which would also have avoided my near-encounter with the unsavory-looking fellow. Sometimes you just gotta ignore logic and probabilities and do something because you feel like it.
In other news, last night I read up on the calorie content of the food I feed Merry and Pippin. And guess what? Collectively, they consume AS MANY CALORIES AS I DO on a daily basis (well, as many as I estimate that I net, after you account for the gym). However, their collective weight is only 22.68% of my weight. And they sleep for 20 hours a day! Must be nice to be a cat. Eat all you want, sleep all day, and still be healthy. Blah again!
Last night, I came home from the gym somewhat late, and as I pulled onto my street it appeared that all the parking spots were taken. So, I thought I would just turn around and park on the cross-street, which is almost always near-empty. But, as I reached the end of the street, I saw one spot. So I parked Foci.
I got out of the car, and there was an unsavory fellow walking down the sidewalk on the other side of the street. As I got out of the car and started down the sidewalk on my side of the street, he crossed the street and was walking behind me. Altogether a creepy feeling, but I remembered my self-defense class and just kept walking quickly and purposefully, keeping an eye on my shadow to see if another one appeared. I also did a quick survey of what I had that could be used as a weapon, and decided the almost-full Nalgene bottle in my gym bag, if I swung it with enough force directly into his head, would buy me enough time to get into my building. He stayed far enough behind though, and I got into my building without any problem, but was left with a general unease about the whole situation. For some reason, I feared that the guy would do something to my car. I guess a little bit of fear can result in strange logic: Unsavory-looking fellow could be rapist of mugger. If unsuccessful at raping or mugging me, he may damage my car out of spite. That makes some sense, right? It does when you're my size, being followed by a tall, shady guy and you have nothing but a nalgene bottle and your car keys to defend yourself. :-( Ick.
Lo and behold, this morning Ryan called me from work to tell me that he had seen my side mirror dangling by a wire when he passed my car on his way out. I didn't actually think that it was the unsavory-looking fellow, but it crossed my mind.
Nope, it was definitely a hit-and-run, probably a drunk driver. It took off my mirror and shattered it, left rubber on the driver's side door, and scraped up my fender. It also scraped up the bumper of the car parked in front of me. Blah!!!
Anyway, I hope whoever did it got a DWI last night. Or that it's someone who lives around here so I might find the car whose front bumper matches the damage to my car. Cause I tell you what, I just bought new hiking boots and can't afford this nonsense!!
Anyway, all's well generally, but Foci suffered because I didn't trust my original instinct to turn around and park on the cross-street (which is better lit than where I did park him). Which would also have avoided my near-encounter with the unsavory-looking fellow. Sometimes you just gotta ignore logic and probabilities and do something because you feel like it.
In other news, last night I read up on the calorie content of the food I feed Merry and Pippin. And guess what? Collectively, they consume AS MANY CALORIES AS I DO on a daily basis (well, as many as I estimate that I net, after you account for the gym). However, their collective weight is only 22.68% of my weight. And they sleep for 20 hours a day! Must be nice to be a cat. Eat all you want, sleep all day, and still be healthy. Blah again!