![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Make the Dirt Stick
Sep. 14th, 2014 11:15 amHere's a thing that happened, and it has to have happened before, but I've never noticed it until now.
Tuesday night, some of my classmates and I got together after class for a couple of hours to tag-team some homework. We wrapped up around 8:30, a half-hour or so after sundown. One of our group mentioned where she parked, said she didn't want to have to ride the shuttle (she was parked in the huge lot at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium). I offered to give her a lift, as I was parked much closer - surface lot instead of the garage I prefer, but still closer. She accepted.
I'm a good-sized guy. A "person of size," if I want to make one of my professors laugh, a "big fat dude" when I'm making fun of myself. Just under six feet tall, and, well, big. Leila, my classmate is about 5'4", maybe 110, and straight-up just as cute as a button.
We chatted on the walk to the parking lot, just idle conversation to pass the time. And I noticed that no matter how wide or narrow the sidewalk, she never got closer than four feet or so to me, and she had her keys in hand the whole time. When we got to my car, I opened the passenger door for her, but she didn't move to get in until I stepped away and started to walk around to my side; she kept her backpack in her lap and keys in hand until we got to her car. My car autolocks the doors; I took care to unlock the doors with my right hand and kept my left on the steering wheel when we approached her car. I put a parking space between the vehicles when we stopped - seemed appropriate - and when she opened up the door, she leaned over and gave me a quick peck on the cheek, then bolted out.
The last thing, I'll chalk up to impulse, but the other behavior was pretty deliberate, and it took me a couple of minutes to realize that it was basic defense stuff. And it makes sense - I'm a classmate, but not really someone she knows. I don't think I put out any kind of threatening vibe, but to someone the better part of a foot shorter than me and half my weight, I guess I can represent a potential threat. No matter how abhorrent the idea of physically (or worse) assaulting someone is to me, Leila didn't know that, and while she did trust me enough to walk/ride with me, she kept her defenses up, and it was plenty reasonable.
And she sent me a short e-mail an hour or so after I dropped her off, making sure that I wasn't somehow offended by how she acted. More proof that I'm not to old to learn things.
In other matters, still lots of classwork. Debate in 440 and presentation in 430 next week. For the first time, ever, I'm feeling the need to do the end-of-chapter exercises in most of my courses. I have to make myself work with minimal distractions - can't work with the TV on, for example, and usually, I'm studying in my bedroom if I'm at home. Tonight, I figure I'll be at Highland Coffee Company, or on campus if I'm going really late.
UofL lost to Virginia yesterday on a late field goal. Good game, though.
Broke in my copy of Last Night on Earth last night - three games, zombies won all of them. Played Legendary Encounters, too, using the Alien 3 setup. We got slaughtered in the first game, but did pretty well in the second. We used the agenda option for that one, and the traitor got his comeuppance late in the game. Our synthetic did him in and held off the xenomorphs for several turns, but we ultimately lost on deck depletion. Terrific evening of gaming, and I needed to get away from homework for a while.
Came home to what under most circumstances would have been a delightful surprise, but my headspace didn't let me appreciate it. Stayed up pretty darn late with homework, slept well enough but not long enough, and went back to homework when I got up a few hours ago.
Time to get back at it. Onward.
Tuesday night, some of my classmates and I got together after class for a couple of hours to tag-team some homework. We wrapped up around 8:30, a half-hour or so after sundown. One of our group mentioned where she parked, said she didn't want to have to ride the shuttle (she was parked in the huge lot at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium). I offered to give her a lift, as I was parked much closer - surface lot instead of the garage I prefer, but still closer. She accepted.
I'm a good-sized guy. A "person of size," if I want to make one of my professors laugh, a "big fat dude" when I'm making fun of myself. Just under six feet tall, and, well, big. Leila, my classmate is about 5'4", maybe 110, and straight-up just as cute as a button.
We chatted on the walk to the parking lot, just idle conversation to pass the time. And I noticed that no matter how wide or narrow the sidewalk, she never got closer than four feet or so to me, and she had her keys in hand the whole time. When we got to my car, I opened the passenger door for her, but she didn't move to get in until I stepped away and started to walk around to my side; she kept her backpack in her lap and keys in hand until we got to her car. My car autolocks the doors; I took care to unlock the doors with my right hand and kept my left on the steering wheel when we approached her car. I put a parking space between the vehicles when we stopped - seemed appropriate - and when she opened up the door, she leaned over and gave me a quick peck on the cheek, then bolted out.
The last thing, I'll chalk up to impulse, but the other behavior was pretty deliberate, and it took me a couple of minutes to realize that it was basic defense stuff. And it makes sense - I'm a classmate, but not really someone she knows. I don't think I put out any kind of threatening vibe, but to someone the better part of a foot shorter than me and half my weight, I guess I can represent a potential threat. No matter how abhorrent the idea of physically (or worse) assaulting someone is to me, Leila didn't know that, and while she did trust me enough to walk/ride with me, she kept her defenses up, and it was plenty reasonable.
And she sent me a short e-mail an hour or so after I dropped her off, making sure that I wasn't somehow offended by how she acted. More proof that I'm not to old to learn things.
In other matters, still lots of classwork. Debate in 440 and presentation in 430 next week. For the first time, ever, I'm feeling the need to do the end-of-chapter exercises in most of my courses. I have to make myself work with minimal distractions - can't work with the TV on, for example, and usually, I'm studying in my bedroom if I'm at home. Tonight, I figure I'll be at Highland Coffee Company, or on campus if I'm going really late.
UofL lost to Virginia yesterday on a late field goal. Good game, though.
Broke in my copy of Last Night on Earth last night - three games, zombies won all of them. Played Legendary Encounters, too, using the Alien 3 setup. We got slaughtered in the first game, but did pretty well in the second. We used the agenda option for that one, and the traitor got his comeuppance late in the game. Our synthetic did him in and held off the xenomorphs for several turns, but we ultimately lost on deck depletion. Terrific evening of gaming, and I needed to get away from homework for a while.
Came home to what under most circumstances would have been a delightful surprise, but my headspace didn't let me appreciate it. Stayed up pretty darn late with homework, slept well enough but not long enough, and went back to homework when I got up a few hours ago.
Time to get back at it. Onward.
