Monday, March 20, 2006

Can you say "Money well spent"?

How much is a good old fashioned ego boost worth to you? I’m not just talking about a generic compliment in passing evoking, at best, an “Aww, isn’t that sweet of you.” I’m talking about a bonified “Holy ish, maybe I’m NOT the hideous heffer I thought I was.” Apparently, to me, it’s worth about 25K and it comes in the form of a little Mellow Yellow ray of sunshine called a 2005 Beetle Convertible. This thing is a veritable dude magnet.

It all started yesterday when Portland experienced a rare phenomenon called sunshine. Having grabbed life by the gonads last summer and finally getting the car I’d wanted for years…you know I couldn’t resist. I put my cute on, put the top down, and headed downtown. It was HEAVEN. I love that car. Downtown has never looked better than when tooling around in a convertible. You just can’t appreciate the buildings when the view is hindered by the roof of your car. You’re only option is to stick your head out the window, but then you get the urge to stick you’re tongue out and start barking at people.

The first ego boost came at a stop light. I was going straight and the culprit was turning left. I had glanced at the car when I came to a stop and then another car pulled in-between so I couldn’t see. As the light changed I was looking in their direction but not AT them until one of them caught my eye. I looked over and he was waiving at me. I smiled and went on my way as there was no chance of more unless I got Jason Bourne on his ass and started blazing through the streets as if chased by secret agents.

Then, as I was driving around NE Portland seeing what houses were for sale I was completely and utterly awestruck as I was officially macked on. For a once shy girl this was quite a surreal experience. I mean, yes, I’ve been subject to drive by flirting before, but nothing ever came of it. Anyone that may have approached me before was shot down as I assumed their advances WERE just because they wanted to know how I was. They couldn’t POSSIBLY be attempting to strike up a conversation with me. So I was going by a house that had a bunch of people outside. I looked over as I went by and heard a few people yell at me. Not yell at me in a threatening manner but in a “Hey, you’re hot” sort of way. I hit the stop sign about 4 houses down and looked in my rear view mirror because there was still yelling and someone was coming up the street. He told me to back up. I did, a little, and he came up and talked to me for about 10 minutes.

I, for once, did well at keeping the conversation going even though it’s just in my nature to assume that the poor boy was highly disappointed when he actually got to the car and got a better look. Once the conversation lasted longer than 2 minutes I determined he must be interested, but wasn’t completely sure until he asked for my phone number and he gave me his. About 10 minutes after I pulled away he called to make sure I had given him the right phone number.

It was insane. Was it the car? Was I hella cute yesterday? Was it both? More than likely it was just the simple fact that Oregonians get down right giddy when the sunshine starts coming out. In any case, considering I’ve been boycotting men for a good year and a half, this was exactly what I needed and making those car payments just got a lot easier.

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