HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!
I won't be around later today so I'm doing this now. In any case, life's been pretty good. Mostly consisting of the following:
Cleaning the house (GOOD GOD X__X)
Teeth finally being tamed!!! (Hopefully within 6 months - 1year, these braces are coming off!)
Registering for next round of jewelry making classes. Starts in Dec.
Neighbors building more crap next door, being generally annoying and producing unwanted noise.
Cousins have been coming over a lot lately, wearing me out. =P
The second half of this post will be cut for the incoming nearly epic length story that I'm going to tell due to a post that youkanfever made a little while back. If anything, it will give you something to be thankful for...the fact that your neighborhood is not becoming increasingly full of CREEPERS. =I
So over the past 2 months, I've had quite a few local men flirt with me and try to chat me up, which is not a big deal...but I've run into real creepers 2 times. Mind you, by "real" I mean obviously ready to try to pick me up/snatch me and run. I've noticed that mostly I seem to attract men that are clearly 6-10+ years older than me, and strangely enough they only seem to approach me when I go out with a bandanna on. (Usually a dark pink, no gang colors cause that's just asking for trouble.) I believe that has to do with the mostly Black/West Indian/Carribean population around here, but I digress.
The first one was less creepy but definitely the more dangerous. While out on a costume supply run, I was going into a dollar store in the middle of the block when this seemingly nice man out front asked me if we could talk for a minute. Naturally, I said politely said no thanks and tried to go in, and that's when it started. He wouldn't take the hint, just kept on trying. At this point, I went in to find the management who thankfully like to stand by the doorway to keep a watch for thieves. They ask me if he's bothering me, to which the answer is "Yeah, don't call the cops yet just make him leave." Of course, once they try to get him out by mentioning the police, he gets really belligerent and starts shouting and scaring everyone else in the store. This is the break point for me, so I dart over to a confused lady by the door and ask her quietly to quickly walk me out while they keep the guy in the store. Thankfully, this worked and we were able to get out without him following. With profuse amounts of thanks for her help, I got my things a block down and booked it home fast.
This next one though was the icing on the "AHH GOD WHY" cake. As I've said before we've been cleaning out all the old junk from the house, and I'd decided to trade in my Gamecube since the Wii plays all those games, and I could make a quick buck. So I packed up all the games I wanted to take along with the GC and went over to the Gamestop. At this point, things are going well. The staff are testing my stuff to make sure it's trade worthy, the store is busy and all's right with the world....and here, it starts to break down. While I'm waiting and talking with the staff, this weird looking guy in a hawaiian shirt and a hoodie comes up trying to buy something, notices I'm trading things in and comments that if I want to sell or trade anything, he'd be more than happy to oblige me since he frequents the store. THE WARNING BELLS ARE RINGING LIKE WHOA HERE. I just say "Nah, I'm pretty set." and leave it at that, and that seems to be the end as he goes off to look at other games while waiting. Now while this is going on, the clerk asks me for my store card and PERSONAL INFO which I have to say pretty audibly with creepy guy still there, and that pissed me off because they should already have me on file rendering that unnecessary. Then they tell me they can't accept the GC because I didn't have any controllers to go with it. (I had wanted to keep both of mine.) So knowing I needed to get rid of this thing, I said I'd come back with one from home in 15 min and exited the store. As I'm leaving...here comes creepy dude.
He made the game comment again, although it was perfectly obvious that he was talking about other favors. Already upset that I had to go back home to pick up the controller while it was getting dark and cold, I immediately told this guy the deal. I lied and said I was taken, and that people have tried to pick me up before resulting in police action so he should just forget it. At first he didn't seem to believe it, but after a while he got the hint and gave up. Being cautious, I went a block or two out of the way before turning back to go home just in case this guy tried to follow, but he was gone. So take two, I go back and trade the GC and controller, get my credit and informed them of the situation so they can keep tabs on him if he ever starts some crap in the store. I asked if they had any info on him, name, picture, anything...but they couldn't help me out. Oh well. Thinking the whole thing was over, I went to the drug store across the street to finish shopping, and GUESS WHO'S THERE? CREEPY GUY! He was leaving as I came in, and he said maybe he'd see me around sometime as he went out.
Now, I strongly advise against this unless you've got good reason, but I decided I was going to secretly get a pic of him with my phone so I had something useful for the cops if he ever showed up near my house. I tailed him out and luck was on my side, as he stopped to hang out with one of the guys that works in the wig store right down the block. I faked like I wanted to go in and get something and made small talk like "Oh, you know him? Yeah, he's a cool guy, knows a lot about the wigs..." while I pretended to check my phone for messages. Success! My phone makes no noise when taking pics, so I got what I wanted. I was even lucky enough to get his name thanks to wig man! Triumphant, I went home, groceries in hand, to find my cousins and aunt were visiting. So I played Wii with them for a couple of hours, and told mom the whole story. She wants to get me a tazer, but those are illegal in NY so we may invest in some pepper spray which is perfectly fine. In any case, so ends my epic tale of creepers, and how I have come out unscathed. Take notes, stay in well lit crowds, and think quickly, and you should be A-OK!
Cleaning the house (GOOD GOD X__X)
Teeth finally being tamed!!! (Hopefully within 6 months - 1year, these braces are coming off!)
Registering for next round of jewelry making classes. Starts in Dec.
Neighbors building more crap next door, being generally annoying and producing unwanted noise.
Cousins have been coming over a lot lately, wearing me out. =P
The second half of this post will be cut for the incoming nearly epic length story that I'm going to tell due to a post that youkanfever made a little while back. If anything, it will give you something to be thankful for...the fact that your neighborhood is not becoming increasingly full of CREEPERS. =I
So over the past 2 months, I've had quite a few local men flirt with me and try to chat me up, which is not a big deal...but I've run into real creepers 2 times. Mind you, by "real" I mean obviously ready to try to pick me up/snatch me and run. I've noticed that mostly I seem to attract men that are clearly 6-10+ years older than me, and strangely enough they only seem to approach me when I go out with a bandanna on. (Usually a dark pink, no gang colors cause that's just asking for trouble.) I believe that has to do with the mostly Black/West Indian/Carribean population around here, but I digress.
The first one was less creepy but definitely the more dangerous. While out on a costume supply run, I was going into a dollar store in the middle of the block when this seemingly nice man out front asked me if we could talk for a minute. Naturally, I said politely said no thanks and tried to go in, and that's when it started. He wouldn't take the hint, just kept on trying. At this point, I went in to find the management who thankfully like to stand by the doorway to keep a watch for thieves. They ask me if he's bothering me, to which the answer is "Yeah, don't call the cops yet just make him leave." Of course, once they try to get him out by mentioning the police, he gets really belligerent and starts shouting and scaring everyone else in the store. This is the break point for me, so I dart over to a confused lady by the door and ask her quietly to quickly walk me out while they keep the guy in the store. Thankfully, this worked and we were able to get out without him following. With profuse amounts of thanks for her help, I got my things a block down and booked it home fast.
This next one though was the icing on the "AHH GOD WHY" cake. As I've said before we've been cleaning out all the old junk from the house, and I'd decided to trade in my Gamecube since the Wii plays all those games, and I could make a quick buck. So I packed up all the games I wanted to take along with the GC and went over to the Gamestop. At this point, things are going well. The staff are testing my stuff to make sure it's trade worthy, the store is busy and all's right with the world....and here, it starts to break down. While I'm waiting and talking with the staff, this weird looking guy in a hawaiian shirt and a hoodie comes up trying to buy something, notices I'm trading things in and comments that if I want to sell or trade anything, he'd be more than happy to oblige me since he frequents the store. THE WARNING BELLS ARE RINGING LIKE WHOA HERE. I just say "Nah, I'm pretty set." and leave it at that, and that seems to be the end as he goes off to look at other games while waiting. Now while this is going on, the clerk asks me for my store card and PERSONAL INFO which I have to say pretty audibly with creepy guy still there, and that pissed me off because they should already have me on file rendering that unnecessary. Then they tell me they can't accept the GC because I didn't have any controllers to go with it. (I had wanted to keep both of mine.) So knowing I needed to get rid of this thing, I said I'd come back with one from home in 15 min and exited the store. As I'm leaving...here comes creepy dude.
He made the game comment again, although it was perfectly obvious that he was talking about other favors. Already upset that I had to go back home to pick up the controller while it was getting dark and cold, I immediately told this guy the deal. I lied and said I was taken, and that people have tried to pick me up before resulting in police action so he should just forget it. At first he didn't seem to believe it, but after a while he got the hint and gave up. Being cautious, I went a block or two out of the way before turning back to go home just in case this guy tried to follow, but he was gone. So take two, I go back and trade the GC and controller, get my credit and informed them of the situation so they can keep tabs on him if he ever starts some crap in the store. I asked if they had any info on him, name, picture, anything...but they couldn't help me out. Oh well. Thinking the whole thing was over, I went to the drug store across the street to finish shopping, and GUESS WHO'S THERE? CREEPY GUY! He was leaving as I came in, and he said maybe he'd see me around sometime as he went out.
Now, I strongly advise against this unless you've got good reason, but I decided I was going to secretly get a pic of him with my phone so I had something useful for the cops if he ever showed up near my house. I tailed him out and luck was on my side, as he stopped to hang out with one of the guys that works in the wig store right down the block. I faked like I wanted to go in and get something and made small talk like "Oh, you know him? Yeah, he's a cool guy, knows a lot about the wigs..." while I pretended to check my phone for messages. Success! My phone makes no noise when taking pics, so I got what I wanted. I was even lucky enough to get his name thanks to wig man! Triumphant, I went home, groceries in hand, to find my cousins and aunt were visiting. So I played Wii with them for a couple of hours, and told mom the whole story. She wants to get me a tazer, but those are illegal in NY so we may invest in some pepper spray which is perfectly fine. In any case, so ends my epic tale of creepers, and how I have come out unscathed. Take notes, stay in well lit crowds, and think quickly, and you should be A-OK!