Do people really...

[KazeRin]

Well, Aoi, it's more like a bad muscle cramp. Just, rather than lasting a minute or so, it lasts hours and comes and goes in intensity over the course of a few days.

But back on topic - I work evenings downtown, and often walk past sketchy alleyways or parks, some known for drug usage (needles, not pot).
I try to catch up to other people and walk perhaps awkwardly close behind them, but when they turn around and see a little girl they go back to their conversations.

My boyfriend has been semi-joking about arming me. People do get attacked in this city at night. Sometimes random stabbings, probably a large number of rapes, but mostly that's creeps following a drunk girl out of a club and catching her while she's alone and inebriated.
I don't dress pretty when working so I like to think that helps prevent me from being chosen as a target.

We're close to ground level and you can just walk up our fire escape, so we have little poles that we stick into the frame so you can't open the window when we're gone. But when we're home we leave the windows open. If someone decided to break the screen and try to get in I'd start throwing s**t at them. =/

Sounds like a paranoid roommate...  

[Aoi the Crossdresser]

That's weird. Then how can females with periods still go to work or school? I never see them act weird in stuff when they are on their periods.

And it's scary and dangerous like that in Canada? I thought Canada was like not much crime. Japan has very low crime rate as well since the public aren't allowed to own guns...only government and law enforcement personnel.

And another reason why I'm glad I'm not a girl, cuz when they are alone they get conflicted more by creepy scary guys, like that example you said. They wouldn't follow a drunk guy (me) out of the bar. And women have to worry about rape, not men. biggrin  

[CaptainTeaTime]

Aoi the Crossdresser

That's weird. Then how can females with periods still go to work or school? I never see them act weird in stuff when they are on their periods.

And it's scary and dangerous like that in Canada? I thought Canada was like not much crime. Japan has very low crime rate as well since the public aren't allowed to own guns...only government and law enforcement personnel.

And another reason why I'm glad I'm not a girl, cuz when they are alone they get conflicted more by creepy scary guys, like that example you said. They wouldn't follow a drunk guy (me) out of the bar. And women have to worry about rape, not men. biggrin

Men can still be raped. It isn't seen as frequent because it's not often reported and when it is, most people don't take it seriously.

And women don't act strangely when on their periods because they've been taught to deal with the extreme pain and just get over it or take some pills. If you complain, people basically just judge you and it's not nice because they will say you need to get over it and continue working. Which is complete bullshit because if a guy had that much pain, he'd probably get sent home or at least be told he has a right to b***h a bit. Girls have to suffer in silence.

Now for the the main point, girls are overly paranoid a lot of the time but they have also been trained to be paranoid. Girls, especially though some boys, are taught that at any time they can be attacked and that if they are attacked it's probably their own fault for not being able to do something about it. So the paranoia has reason. Though, to be in your own house with all the windows and doors locked and a pepper spray bottle seems a bit extreme. Especially because you're in the kitchen. With the knives. I think you'll be fine.

I've found that most people don't bother me. But that's just me... Maybe she's paranoid for a reason...?

Also, I want a can of pepper spray... No real reason, I just want one.  

[KazeRin]

Once in a while for me the pain is so bad that I get weak, break out in a cold sweat, and eventually pass out. Then I wake up and am okay.
But.. yeah...


Most of Canada's pretty decent. But cities are cities. We get stabbings, occasional shootings, used to have a lot of trouble from the Hell's Angels, but they were broken up in the early 2000's.
Most of the violence is between gangs or people attacking people they know.
But we do get rapes and muggings, and I'm often walking alone downtown at midnight.

Funnily enough the only times I've had trouble is in broad daylight in residential areas. Never was hurt. Just creeps threatening me or hitting on me.  

[cool4]

last semester there was a guy attacking people who were walking alone on the trails.

Though overall the crime rate is pretty low. Car theft is almost zero, but that's because the only way to get away is to hop onto a ferry which would probably get you caught pretty quickly.  

[Syx Nyn]

Wow.  

[Aoi the Crossdresser]

KazeRin

Once in a while for me the pain is so bad that I get weak, break out in a cold sweat, and eventually pass out. Then I wake up and am okay.
But.. yeah...


Most of Canada's pretty decent. But cities are cities. We get stabbings, occasional shootings, used to have a lot of trouble from the Hell's Angels, but they were broken up in the early 2000's.
Most of the violence is between gangs or people attacking people they know.
But we do get rapes and muggings, and I'm often walking alone downtown at midnight.

Funnily enough the only times I've had trouble is in broad daylight in residential areas. Never was hurt. Just creeps threatening me or hitting on me.

That's cuz your a weird girl. You don't drive? If you had a car, then you'd never have to walk around downtown at midnight. That's scary anywhere, especially in the bigger cities around here like Cruces and El Paso, creepy mexican men may hit on you. OR WORSE, kidnap you and take you to Jaurez and kill you and you'd wouldn't be discovered until months later.  

[KazeRin]

Aoi the Crossdresser

That's cuz your a weird girl. You don't drive? If you had a car, then you'd never have to walk around downtown at midnight. That's scary anywhere, especially in the bigger cities around here like Cruces and El Paso, creepy mexican men may hit on you. OR WORSE, kidnap you and take you to Jaurez and kill you and you'd wouldn't be discovered until months later.

If I had a car, I'd have to walk FARTHER downtown late at night, because parking options are limited downtown, and now they have rental-bikes taking up 2-3 parking spaces every second block. Or even if I wasn't walking farther, I'd be walking on less-populated streets, because it's always the side-streets that have parking available. Less people to witness = easier crime.
It'd also cost way more than my bus/metro pass. You have to pay for parking downtown. Plus gas which is about $5.20/gallon here.
So if I used more than 15 gallons in a month, I'd be losing money just on that, before parking, insurance, registration, etc etc.  

[Aoi the Crossdresser]

That's why big cities suck. New Mexico is mostly rural. We have plenty of parking here, and EVERYONe here relies on cars for like everything. Like EVERYONE here uses cars....no public transit. It's like non existant here. It still exists in like bigger cities, but no one really uses it.

And 5.20$ per gallon of gas? ******** THAT!!!!!!! That's stupid. it's 3.40$ a gallon here. Crazy!!!!! I thought Canada was a better place to live, not with prices like that. I also heard everything is way more expensive there than here. Like a book would cost like 9.99$ here, and it would be like 14.95$ in Canada. Retarded!!!!!!!!!!!!  

[KazeRin]

Aoi the Crossdresser

That's why big cities suck. New Mexico is mostly rural. We have plenty of parking here, and EVERYONe here relies on cars for like everything. Like EVERYONE here uses cars....no public transit. It's like non existant here. It still exists in like bigger cities, but no one really uses it.

And 5.20$ per gallon of gas? ******** THAT!!!!!!! That's stupid. it's 3.40$ a gallon here. Crazy!!!!! I thought Canada was a better place to live, not with prices like that. I also heard everything is way more expensive there than here. Like a book would cost like 9.99$ here, and it would be like 14.95$ in Canada. Retarded!!!!!!!!!!!!

I like living in a big city, and being able to read or text while I travel, rather than having to pay attention to the road and getting stuck in traffic.
Tons of people here use public transit because it can get you pretty much anywhere, and the metro system is quicker than driving - no traffic, no red lights, no detours.

Pretty much everything is more expensive here. And books costing more is completely ridiculous seeing as we supply the wood that ends up making the paper for the books. In theory it's because of shipping costs, and because of the difference in the dollar, but it's not like 67cents to 1 USD like it was in the late 90s. Now it's so often 1:1 that price disparity is getting a lot of attention.  

[Aoi the Crossdresser]

So? And we have messages that say that "YOU TEXT, YOU DRIVE, YOU DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!" It's a very big issue in our area. And if you drive in El Paso, You will MOST LIKELY ALWAYS BE droven in traffic. It's bad there.

And yeah, we get food stamps which cool4 stated is non existant in Canada. That's pretty harsh. If you make less than 1500$ a month before taxes at your job, and in your household, you can get up to 200$ a month in foodstamps which is money you can use to buy food....and only food. Grocery stores would list certain things as Food which foodstamps will cover in stuff and like that. MANY POOR PEOPLE and stuff take advantage of this system. I AM EVEN ON IT!!!!!!!!!!!! Canada not having that is like OH GOD!!!!! that sucks. America is probably higher in the HDI cuz of the food stamps system that poor people use and (most likely abuse). I know my friend Doug's horribly dysfunctional family abuse the stupid food stamps and anything related to the social security system. (Ex. Like Food stamps, Cash Assistance, TANF, SSI, Disability...etc...)

If you wanna look up what poverty in the US looks like, the Donaldson Family would be there. They are the most dysfunctional family we know to the core. All they wanna do is be lazy and live on welfare and assistance for the rest of their lives, while living on drugs, like weed, cigarettes, and alcohol. Last time we dropped our friend Doug off, they were living in a freaken MOTEL (which is usually what happens when they get evicted from their hoem/apartment).  

[KazeRin]

I don't think we have food stamps. Instead we have food banks. Flat-out free food.
I knew a family like the one you describe. But to the point where they'd get under the table jobs, keep collecting welfare, keep getting boxes and boxes of free food, and would of course spend their money on drugs or TVs and not pay rent till evicted or someone bailed them out.

-_-  

[Aoi the Crossdresser]

KazeRin

I don't think we have food stamps. Instead we have food banks. Flat-out free food.
I knew a family like the one you describe. But to the point where they'd get under the table jobs, keep collecting welfare, keep getting boxes and boxes of free food, and would of course spend their money on drugs or TVs and not pay rent till evicted or someone bailed them out.

-_-

Oh no you don't even know what the Donaldson family goes through. My mom even contacted Doug a few days ago and he's all like "It's really crappy in stuff, but I feel it is getting better."

I honestly doubt that. Doug doesn't even have a HS diploma. We have been trying to get him a GED but he says he is too depressed in s**t to get and continue it in stuff, so now he is back at his parents in LC. Twice we tried to get him to get his stupid GED to get a better job and now he doesn't even have one.

It's soo bad, that one of their son is even under foster care, cuz he is horrible and juvenile delinquiet to the core cuz he is stupid and evil, and he is only like 14 or 15 years old. Soo horrible.

And if you wanna know the race of them, they are totally WHITE to the core. They aren't like typical mexican horrible poor family like many of you would think would happen in this area. They are white to the core. and horrible and poor and dysfunctional.

My grandma even thinks that their brother Brandon(the one who got fostered) would not be able to survive in a hispanic school since he is being fostered and has to go to a school at "Gadsden High School" in Anthony, NM which is weird. It's where my brother Blaine teaches but resigned from cuz it was soo horrible.