Codes

Okay, so here I was, wondering how ANYBODY could BELIEVABLY claim they did not "understand" that playing footsie in men's room toilet stalsl was a gay message (per [ex] Sen. Larry Craig of Idaho), when, tonight, I was out strolling around downtown Anchorage--as downtown as Anchorage gets, anyway...I was not bundled up to my eyebrows, but my coat was not zipped up. (For those of you who don't know, I am female, by the way.) It's about 1am. I am strolling because I genuinely enjoy SEASONS, and it is, indeed, autumn here (right now, it is about 45 fahrenheit, which we, in my bit of Northern California, we don't get except in the dead of winter--but, yes, I am originally from the eastern part of the continent.)

Yes, I AM getting to the point.

Slowly, but I am getting there...(Oh yeah, and I heard a statistic today that I don't know if it's true, but it sounds good...if Manhattan Island had the same population density as Alaska, there would be three people living in Manhattan.)

Some guy on the street just now asked me a question I didn't exactly hear all of at first, but thought it sounded like "Are you looking for John?" I wasn't sure I had heard, and didn't think he was asking for money, and he looked as young as my son, so I stopped, as I was walking, with my LL Bean winter coat unzipped over a tunic top, and my hands in the pockets of my loosely fitting black jeans, and said, "I'm sorry?" The question came back, very definitely as, "Are you looking for John?"

I got very puzzled, said something brilliant along the lines of, "Um, no." "Oh, I thought you were."

Did someone just think I was a hooker, and I missed it? Could I have earned some extra pocket money if I'd been thinking? Could Sen. Craig really just have a wide stance when he sets down on the throne?

WHY would I think the anonymous foot tap is an obvious code for sex, but wonder--MUCH later--if someone asking me if I'm looking for John might not also be a code????

Or was it maybe some Boy Scout trying to earn a badge for being kind to old folks?

 

Back in California now...And got dumped out of my WiFi connection so could not either read replies or sign out all weekend...
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(hyo silver @ Sep 29 2007, 08:33 AM) [snapback]519017[/snapback]</div>

a) NOT boy scout, I guess I pretty much figured...
b ) Maybe not, but I sure FELT that way, and c) Do you KNOW how expensive Alaska is??? <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(efusco @ Sep 29 2007, 08:37 AM) [snapback]519020[/snapback]</div>

Well, I may or may not be THAT old, Evan, but I'll still be willing to bet I'm lots CUTER than you are! (Oops--that's sexist--I'm sure you are VERY cute--but I'm 5' tall.) What I was doing up there was one of the (very) few things I do when I am not obsessing about Prii--I was at a convention with my mother. This one was unusual because my younger sister was also there--we were trying to pack the ballot box for the (quite prestigious) Anthony awards, for one of which my mother's website was nominated, in the Special Services category (and NO, it was not THAT kind of "SPECIAL" services. (And, sadly, Mom did not win.) Nor, for that matter, was it THAT kind of convention (for those of you who do not care to follow the links). Mom and I were there for another, similar, convention in 2001, and now we are all planning on going back in the February of 2010, just after my 50th b'day in Dec. 2009, for the Anchorage Fur Rendezvous and the start of the Iditarod (we missed the Iditarod start in '01--when they had to truck in snow...<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(galaxee @ Sep 29 2007, 10:57 AM) [snapback]519102[/snapback]</div>

Galaxee, THAT reply would have required me to have figured out what the hell was going on WAAAAYYYY before I did... <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(AOV @ Sep 29 2007, 01:52 PM) [snapback]519165[/snapback]</div>

What was I doing? I was strolling, and enjoying the weather I don't get in California (but grew up with in New York and Montreal). If I was male, would you ask that? And, I guess if I'd gotten raped, it was because I was asking for it by having my parka unzipped. No, I don't think I'm taking this the wrong way, but...oh no never mind--I was out strolling BECAUSE I was out looking for abuse.

AOV--I am a New Yorker (CITY) by origin. If you think it is ok for a woman to have to worry the way you seem to believe, then I do not want to live in your world. I was out strolling to enjoy the WEATHER. You think it's ok to have to even think about this because I don't have a penis? It was 1am and I felt like going for a walk in a downtown area where the main crimes are basically drunks falling down on the sidewalk in front of you, who you might trip over.

Oh dang.

I'm a girl.

I shouldn't go outside.

If you restrict YOUR activities stictly on the basis of your being female, well, YOU are wrong. I take into consideration WHERE I am, and if it is generally otherwise safe.

I have to say, don't take this the wrong way, but I can't understand, or accept, living as scared--or judgementa(ly)--as you do.

It was a beautiful night. I couldn't sleep.

Were you on OJ's jury? Or Mike Tyson's?

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(fshagan @ Sep 30 2007, 10:02 AM) [snapback]519460[/snapback]</div>

One of my fellow conference attendees set me...umm...straight...about this encounter of mine--HE was asking ME if I wanted to pay HIM. Or he wanted some toilet paper.

Oh yeah--and I saw all of about about four Prii while I was there. But that was ok, as I didn't see a SINGLE hummer...

And I didn't give any, either.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(AOV @ Oct 1 2007, 07:01 AM) [snapback]519787[/snapback]</div>

I apologize to you for my tone. No, overall, it is not a "safe" world, sadly. However, I, too, do plan my travels wisely. And, having lived in NYC, DC, London and Boston, among other places, and walking within a two-block radius of the Anchorage Hilton, where there were 700 other out-of-towners (many of whom are mystery writers), never mind the doormen who knew me by then, and knowing that falling-down-drunks in Anchorage were not a concern, since they seem to only do harm to themselves or others in their parties, no, I did not worry. Sorry if I assumed your comments were based on gender. I still believe that there was no physical threat to me. I STILL find the, um, encounter, amusing. The drunks were only interested in one another. And no one threatened me in any way. Most of Florida is much less safe, per capita, than virtually any city in Alaska. Yes, there were/are/have been rapes/murders in and around Anchorage. Virtually all have been not of "Outsiders."

And SPE...I don't THINK the Alaskan Bush Company exists any more. I could be wrong about that, as well.