Day in the Life of an Idiot

So I spent much of today running around replacing cards and ID and such lost when my wallet was stolen over the weekend. I feel incredibly stupid about it, because the whole thing could have been avoided if I'd just bought a lock for the locker at the community pool where Mason and I were for a friend's birthday party.

The problem is I'm just far too trusting.

This is true generally (see earlier post re: scams), and it's made worse by the fact that I don't WANT to have be cautious. I actively resist living in a society where it's expected that I lock my doors and bar my windows and all that security crap. It's funny because I think this ends up being reflected in my writing. seanmmurphy and I were talking about how Tate's character Garnet has a reputation with the Wyrdsmiths for being stupid, to which I countered that I tend to look at a situation that she might encounter and ask myself, "What would I do?" and then I write that. Sean said something to the effect that he could think of at least one time when Garnet walked into a dark alley alone and that was clearly a plot coupon rather than something any sane person would do... because nobody is so dumb as to walk into an alley alone at night.

Except I would.

I'm neither afraid of the dark nor of my fellow human beings, and I resist the idea that I need to be.... even though I know better.

So my wallet got stolen.

I don't feel terribly righteous right now, I can tell you that. :-)

I've been locking my car door again, and I'll probably stay away from darkened alleys... for at least a week.

But in other news, Mason and I had a great time at the party. We discovered that beyong the kiddie pool, there's also a bigger pool that he can go in with my supervision to practice swimming. This is awesome, because until it's warm enough out to go to the beach, we've been kind of looking for a place like that.

Then on Sunday, my folks came up from LaCrosse with a car load (literally) of clothes from the "ropa." This year they bought a trailer down in far southern Texas (not far from Brownsville) and have begun the Midwestern tradition of "snow birding." Apparently, across the boarder you can buy literally POUNDS of clothes for pennies. These are "gently used" and/or remaindered clothes that are tossed into huge piles for a final sorting before becoming high quality paper or other recycled bits. The point is, thanks to the fact my folks get our clothes there, our budget for clothes is zero. I can't remember the last time I bought a piece of clothing at the store -- with the exception of shoes, socks, and underwear. I was really grateful to see the huge bag they brought of jeans because I'm happy to report that, thanks to all my time at the gym, I'm actually down a jean size.

Plus, they're always on the look out for fun/ny t-shirts/sweaters. I'm currently wearing one that says: "It's all fun and games until the flying monkeys take your eye." I just smile every time I catch sight of it.

Yes, I'm weird. (See above.)

Anyway, I should probably try to salvage some writing time out of the day. *sigh*

Here's hoping your Monday sucks less!