A reluctant damsel
February 15th, 2007I hate being rescued. So much so that I will postpone calling someone to rescue me until pretty much frostbite is imminent (or something approximate to that). Um, yeah, I’m just like that. So it was good that my company called Ed, who called me and then came to retrieve me yesterday morning. He was totally my knight in shining armor in that moment.
Well, the other end of this was that he dropped me off at the bus stop, but there was a State of Emergency declared and the busses weren’t running. (It took me over a half hour to find this out!) When he dropped me, he explicitly told me that if there was no bus service I had to call him. Which I really didn’t want to do, having already been rescued once.
Honestly, my inclination was to hitchhike home. I tend to have pretty good karma with such things and, frankly, being a white woman, professionally(ish) dressed, I think I stand a pretty good change of some good samaritan picking me up and getting me home, but I was under strict instructions, so I called. (Also, I knew that if I did hitchhike home, it would turn into a huge thing and people would yell at me for doing something that stupid and dangerous - meh - and I don’t like it when people yell at me.)
"Help! Help! I’m trapped in a tower and I’ve cut off all my hair." I figure I’m best off chuckling through the most difficult, stressful, traumatic, frustrating situations. If I can disarm myself or the others around me, I’m less apt to dwell on the negative. And, dammit, if I’m going to wind up acting the part of a female in a fairy tale, then I’m going to run with the reference.
I make a bad damsel, though. Distress is not really my thing and I wind up pissy and ressentful at having to put myself into the debt of others (whether they see it that way or not). I also loathe the possibility of being thought of as less-capable than I am in reality.
It’s not like I even did anything stupid to get myself into those situations - this time. I suppose the worst thing that I did was go to work that morning (and, considering I was, literally, the ONLY person in my building, maybe it was a little stupid). There’s no actual blame here, which is obnoxious. I can’t blame myself, really, nor can I blame any other person. It’s all the fault of the snow.
So I got rescued and made it home safe and adventured. The day was quite memorable, further cementing that, yes, I already do know what "Be careful what you wish for" means, and I didn’t ask for it, I was merely making mention. Maybe I should just *always* knock on wood, just in case.
I know exactly where you’re coming from except I couldn’t do the hitch hiking thing.. I would trudge my way home.
Damn pride ::grr::
Comment by Marlee � February 15, 2007 @ 16:15 pm
Yeah, in many cases I would trudge, but you have to take into account 1) There was already nearly 2 feet of snow, 2) it was coming down 3″/hour, 3) I was at least 10 miles from home, 4) wicked winds.
There is no way I could walk all the way home. I would have been a Fyresicle (yes, I recognize the oxymoron there). Seriously, it was actually dangerous outside. Without exaggeration, even if I was walking fast, it would take me over 3 hours to get home and I would have gotten frostbite.
I may be stubborn and independent, but I am neither stupid nor suicidal. The hitchhiking idea we’ll just blame on having been raised by hippie parents
Comment by FyreGoddess � February 15, 2007 @ 16:33 pm
Ouch definitely a taxi call. Fyresicle sounds actually pretty cool.
Comment by Marlee � February 15, 2007 @ 17:02 pm
Hee! Now you’re getting it. Had they not pulled all the cabs off the road, I wouldn’t have even *thought* about calling Ed.
I am no stranger to cabs, but all the taxis that day were imaginary.
Comment by FyreGoddess � February 15, 2007 @ 17:16 pm
Hmm, imaginary taxis can get pretty expensive, I bet. Eww, stay home all cozied up during bad icky weather! I think I would!
Comment by lavender (dawn marie) � February 16, 2007 @ 0:36 am
I would assume that you can pay an imaginary taxi with pretend money, so that’s pretty cool. It’s the whole hallucinatory ride home… and the later realization that you’re still stuck 10 miles from where you need to be.
Heh.
Comment by FyreGoddess � February 16, 2007 @ 9:25 am