it wasn’t graceful it wasn’t pretty, but i did it.  when my friend asked me to feed his snake.

when i first met dude, i had no clue.  because frankly, nobody buries a girl in the backyard on a first date.

unless, of course, you are mina el houari who traveled to morocco to meet a dude she had corresponded with on the internet. apparently, the date went well until she suddenly collapsed into a diabetic coma. dude panicked, thought she was dead, and buried her in the backyard where she died of suffocation.  which pretty much ruined any chance of a second date.

what started as a tender, sleek hug became a sharp tooth trap.  and i realized i no longer did anything because i wanted to, because it was the right thing to do, because it was good for me.  and i didn’t do anything because i loved him, needed him, respected him, admired him.  nope, at some point, pretty much everything i did because i was scared of him.  and there was no aspect of my life that was under my control. i was living in the snake’s cage.  and i knew it wasn’t going to end well for miss mouse.

but one morning in january, i called a locksmith.  he had done this sort of thing before.  it took twenty minutes.  dude was locked out. i have never regretted doing it, but i have been scared of him.

changing the locks on a boyfriend is pretty crazy, but sometimes crazy is the only thing that works.  this gal looks like she’s a little more fight while i’m generally more of a flight chick.

he’s not done with me. but i don’t have to make it easy for him to hurt me.  i sold my house, i’ve put my stuff in storage, i cleared out of the community i have lived in for the past quarter century.   i have no fixed address and i don’t intend on having one anytime soon.

i really have discovered that i don’t need a lot of stuff. this is everything going into storage.

not that i’m all minimalist.  nosirree, i love my car.  i also love my boxing coach reygie puangco.  see if you can spot him in this video:

so we gotta ask. . . .

me, pongo, mister tibbs, and william clark are on the road.

a few years ago, me and the toys hit the road to visit with facebook friends.  i videoed, posted blogs nearly every day.  i’ll be doing some of that now. . .