Another Long Walk
Feb. 7th, 2026 11:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
disappointed_lesbianToday I didn't go out of town for shopping until late in the day, I missed the last bus home, and had to walk back into town with my groceries again. Some guy a block from the beginning of the trail was sitting near the intersection with a crutch. He asked me to help him get up. I said 'no.' Suspicious as hell. I should have just ignored him. I made sure to get a weapon before I stepped on the trail. I looked back after crossing the street and saw that the guy had gotten up on his own.
Some guy sitting on a bench said 'hello' as I walked past on the part of the trail that goes past the last few houses at the edge of town. I didn't even look at him. It's best not to speak to men in these situations because one's voice gives one away as female, which can provoke an attack. Of course, wearing clothing that's marketed to womyn and having long hair don't help either. I wish more womyn would consider that these things serve as signs that help men target females for abuse and assault. Being cute, pretty, or stylish aren't important; survival is.
I walked most of the way on our inter-city trail, but the last mile or mile and a half of the trail is further from the parallel highway and flanked by dense foliage, so I decided that walking along the side of the highway would be safer. The headlights weren't as bothersome as I feared they would be, probably because I didn't have a migraine this time I made the trip. The discount grocery store had coconut water by the gallon, so I stayed hydrated enough to avoid a migraine.
I'm hoping the iron, the magnesium, and the hydration will improve my sleep. It probably won't; almost nothing ever does, but hope lives on.
I thought I had gotten out of today's predicament with only hours lost (I left at four pm and didn't get home until nine pm—stopped at the health food store for more groceries once I got back into town because it was about to close, so that took more time). Then I discovered that a bottle of sauce had broken during the trek and wet a bunch of things I was hauling. Then when I got home I discovered that one of those things is a library book that I'd thrown in my shopping bag at the last minute, just before I left my apartment. I'm going to have to pay to replace it.
I didn't get to read much on the bus ride out of town because another asshole was playing a cell phone out loud. I could hear it even with my ear defenders on. And what I did get to read was more interesting than that library book: My research into Singapore uncovered a lack of free speech and a law journal paper on the topic. I spent most of the afternoon trying to figure out how to print this paper; that's part of the reason why I didn't go out shopping until late. The library has disabled printing from usb, and I couldn't get its remote printing website to load until the fourth web browser I tried.
I'm super interested in this paper because it goes into the cultural reasons behind the less-than-free speech in Singapore and Malaysia as well as the less-than-ideal manifestation of free speech in the United States. The latter is a particularly timely topic for me because I've recently been considering how people in this country abuse their rights by, for example, putting out fake news and promoting AI-generated content as real. Freedom of speech should not include the freedom to promulgate lies and hoaxes, and people shouldn't have to sue the liers and hoaxers to get them to stop or pay for their misbehavior. As the article says, the individualist free-for-all of our culture ends up impeding freedom: freedom from crime and the fear and stress of crime, freedom from libel and slander, freedom from loud, lewd, disrespectful public behavior.
Speaking of which, I couldn't even read my article on the city bus ride to the trail because some nutjob was talking to herself for the whole ride. I am so goddamned tired of mentally disturbed people. The sheer number of them is outrageous, another flashing beacon signalling that this society is broken.
I had a late dinner of brown rice ramen, which I got for only two bucks per box at the discount grocery story. I scooped some of the spilled Korean sweet and spicy sauce out of my shopping bag into the broth I made. Delicious meal! I should have bought more ramen, but I may end up going back anyhow since I broke the bottle f sauce. I didn't even think about shards of glass possibly being hidden in the sauce I used. I can't be arsed to deal with the mess tonight, so the bag and sauce and broken bottle are just sitting in the kitchen sink.
Some guy sitting on a bench said 'hello' as I walked past on the part of the trail that goes past the last few houses at the edge of town. I didn't even look at him. It's best not to speak to men in these situations because one's voice gives one away as female, which can provoke an attack. Of course, wearing clothing that's marketed to womyn and having long hair don't help either. I wish more womyn would consider that these things serve as signs that help men target females for abuse and assault. Being cute, pretty, or stylish aren't important; survival is.
I walked most of the way on our inter-city trail, but the last mile or mile and a half of the trail is further from the parallel highway and flanked by dense foliage, so I decided that walking along the side of the highway would be safer. The headlights weren't as bothersome as I feared they would be, probably because I didn't have a migraine this time I made the trip. The discount grocery store had coconut water by the gallon, so I stayed hydrated enough to avoid a migraine.
I'm hoping the iron, the magnesium, and the hydration will improve my sleep. It probably won't; almost nothing ever does, but hope lives on.
I thought I had gotten out of today's predicament with only hours lost (I left at four pm and didn't get home until nine pm—stopped at the health food store for more groceries once I got back into town because it was about to close, so that took more time). Then I discovered that a bottle of sauce had broken during the trek and wet a bunch of things I was hauling. Then when I got home I discovered that one of those things is a library book that I'd thrown in my shopping bag at the last minute, just before I left my apartment. I'm going to have to pay to replace it.
I didn't get to read much on the bus ride out of town because another asshole was playing a cell phone out loud. I could hear it even with my ear defenders on. And what I did get to read was more interesting than that library book: My research into Singapore uncovered a lack of free speech and a law journal paper on the topic. I spent most of the afternoon trying to figure out how to print this paper; that's part of the reason why I didn't go out shopping until late. The library has disabled printing from usb, and I couldn't get its remote printing website to load until the fourth web browser I tried.
I'm super interested in this paper because it goes into the cultural reasons behind the less-than-free speech in Singapore and Malaysia as well as the less-than-ideal manifestation of free speech in the United States. The latter is a particularly timely topic for me because I've recently been considering how people in this country abuse their rights by, for example, putting out fake news and promoting AI-generated content as real. Freedom of speech should not include the freedom to promulgate lies and hoaxes, and people shouldn't have to sue the liers and hoaxers to get them to stop or pay for their misbehavior. As the article says, the individualist free-for-all of our culture ends up impeding freedom: freedom from crime and the fear and stress of crime, freedom from libel and slander, freedom from loud, lewd, disrespectful public behavior.
Speaking of which, I couldn't even read my article on the city bus ride to the trail because some nutjob was talking to herself for the whole ride. I am so goddamned tired of mentally disturbed people. The sheer number of them is outrageous, another flashing beacon signalling that this society is broken.
I had a late dinner of brown rice ramen, which I got for only two bucks per box at the discount grocery story. I scooped some of the spilled Korean sweet and spicy sauce out of my shopping bag into the broth I made. Delicious meal! I should have bought more ramen, but I may end up going back anyhow since I broke the bottle f sauce. I didn't even think about shards of glass possibly being hidden in the sauce I used. I can't be arsed to deal with the mess tonight, so the bag and sauce and broken bottle are just sitting in the kitchen sink.
