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2 ruminations / augmentations
15.01.03 | 06:09
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so i'm livin' the night life right now. never a morning person, now i don't even crack an eyelid until dusk (which happens much earlier these days). i was driving around L.A. the other night, mostly burning gas. see, a little drawback of being a night owl is, no one else you know is awake, which makes it for a rather solitary experience, although i think i need the headspace so that could be a good thing. but in any case, it was saturday night and i was feeling fidgety so the decision to go to this club was sort of spur of the moment. which, of course, meant i didn't even think to ask anyone else to come with (but then, like anyone would have been available at the 11th hour--literally). i figure, i have about a quarter tank left to go and the trip there and back should take care of that nicely. i love driving at night. what a great way to clear your head. or, if you choose to look at it a different way, escape what's in your head. there was this amazing thick fog lying over everything and where the light from the street lights was split by the branches of the trees, it illuminated the heavy moisture hanging in the air. everything else was in darkness, looking oh so mysterious and magickal. it was good. the streets were no less deserted in L.A. until i got where i was going. ground zero was packed with cars and people wandered everywhere. i parked. i glanced around, admiring the unique seediness of the alley i found myself in. something i love about big cities is their gritty reality. my family and some of my friends would all look at me like i was a loon if i voiced that opinion aloud. afterall, only a crazy person would want to live in the big city with all the other crazies and the poor people and the crime rates.
so i wound my way to the club. its called Bar Sinister. the cover charge is $10, in case anyone is interested in checking it out. its in Hollywood, off of Hollywood.
at the first corner, this man wearing a wide-brimmed hat trimmed with a feather, and some other gaudy clothing, checks me out. he compliments my legs and i smile politely. he says he likes my face and asks if i need company tonight, but i'm already moving on and pretend not to hear. i walked down the block and cross the street. the club is pretty cool. there are cute goth-girls shaking what their mammas gave them in pleather bootie-cutters, wearing the heavy eye-makeup everyone seemed to be wearing, regardless of gender (okay i was too). i checked out the place, then i wandered further along the street, seeing what there was to see. i think i see the pimp-meister pacing me across the street so i stop at a pay-phone and pretend to make a call to make sure. i turn down a side street hoping to avoid a further encounter with him.
half-way down the street i glance across it and notice there's a narrow alley there. i also notice mr. pimp-meister has crossed the street and is coming in my direction.
i had a brief heart-flutter as i noticed the street was deserted except for a homeless person lying on the curb i'd passed. and then i saw the group of teens in a tiny parking lot off to one side all talking and arguing with each other. i was saved. or at least i had a respite to figure out what to do. i don't do that, but i do think about all the advice i was ever given about being careful and staying safe. oh well. if nothing, i can claw his eyes out if he tries anything. maybe i should take self-defense courses? learn some sort of martial arts? practice firing with a weapon? ya think verbal self-defense would work?
okay forgive my little tangent. i hid out among the students until they had their situation sorted out, making sure the coast was clear. then i took a slightly circuitous route back to my car. the whole thing was rather irritating. if i'd been a guy and it was a girl following me, i would not have felt a sliver of trepidation. maybe even if the situation had been a guy following a guy it wouldn't have been as big a deal. but cause i'm a girl---a short, defenseless girl (okay i probably could've still knee'd him pretty hard)---it has a much darker potential.
dammit. i need to learn how to kick ass.
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