Weekend observations

I accepted K's invitation to spend last weekend with her and her closest friends at a house in south Lake Tahoe that belongs to the family of one of the friends. It was K's best girlfriend's birthday.

One of K's friends has a ~2 year old daughter I'll call Minuet. She's adorable, bright, curious, playful. And absolutely terrified of me. She adores K. Loves to play with K. Wanted to come see K all the time. And then would draw back and reconsider when she saw that, to be with K, she'd have to be near me. If she chose to go through with it, she'd walk a wide, wide circle around me. Anytime I was in the room, she kept her eyes on me at all times. If I came near, she wanted mommy or daddy.

Usually little kids love me. They realize I'm very good for "pick me up and toss me around" style rides, and Minuet was a big fan of those. But in this case, I never got the chance.

I checked myself.

Is there something about me she's picking up on that creeps her out? Am I broadcasting negative energy?

I tried to get down on her level, to make myself not seem so large.

Nope. Still terrified.

Seems she's just shy with strangers.

K and I got the short straw for sleep space which meant the Murphy bed on the landing upstairs. We were essentially sleeping in the hall. Not exactly private space.

Not that it stopped us. We just had to wait till everyone was asleep.

In the morning folks woke up and came by. K's best girlfriend came to plop on the bed and ask K if she wanted to go swim in the lake. At the time K was nude and lying on top of the sheets. It was pretty clear I wasn't wearing anything either.

And this fazed no one.

Which is cool.

I grew up in such a sex negative environment. Nudity wasn't so bad, but sex sure was. It's refreshing to be ienvironmentsts where it's no big deal.

K's friends are cool. I like them.

On the drive back down I found myself feeling some emergency caffeination would help me feel focused on the drive. And it seems I may have picked up a slight caffeine addiction, having added chocolate to my daily routine at work. Now I get these mild headaches in the afternoons.

Although they also could be caused by being perennially low-cal, since I'm training so much these days. I could have permanent hunger headaches.

K and I had arrived separately (I needed to be at practice in Marin on Saturday morning) and had conferred upon our gas situation before leaving Tahoe and agreed to stop in Sacramento.

By the time we got there, the caffeine had done its job and shut down my ADH and filled up my bladder.

We pulled into the gas station, and I pulled up to a pump.

I got out, and in that moment it became clear to me that I would not be able to wait to fill my tank before emptying my bladder. So I parked and entered the Kwiki mart.

And found the men's room occupied.

Deep breath, I can wait.

Other dudes materialized.

"Are you waiting?"

"Yeah"

The door opened.

And out burst a fat chick who giggled "The other one was full!" Smile smile, giggle giggle. Run, run. Aren't I cute? I used the boy's room!

"And this one says 'men'" I snapped.

Now I admit, if there are two genders with two different bathroom throughput times, making both bathrooms unisex would certainly help the gender with the higher average throughput time receive a better level of service.

But I was pissed that some chick kept me from peeing when I had to.

I was also struck by how it's another instance of female social privilege. As a woman, she can use the men's room and pass it off as if she's starring in her own personal Mentos commercial. "Look, I'm sassy and cute and iconoclastic and stuff."

But if I walk into the ladies' room, I'm a deviant perv sexual predator who should be beaten and shamed. Girl's room full: She has options. Men's room full: I wait.

And then I wonder, if she was cute, would I have let it slide?

No.

I had to pee bad.