No Filter

A few months ago, an ex-boyfriend, who had been pursuing me, got through to me somehow. I think the vulnerability that he was able to exploit was my acute sense of loss and loneliness that I was still in the midst of experiencing, post breakup this past year. He could smell it, because desperation smells. Fact. I finally wrote him back: "Sure, let's get together and catch up." I figured we would go to a diner (something we had been fond of in the past) or get coffee, or, at most, go to a real, grown-up dinner. Now, I know that this is a blog titled "No Filter". But I have remote fears that he may read this one day (very remote) and I don't think it's necessary to completely shame this person, so I'll keep the details of what came next between the two of us, only. I can say though, that what he proposed was none of the above, but something entirely different with a few added bells and whistles of inappropriateness. I can't say that I was shock...

It started abruptly on Nov. 9th, at about 4:00 a.m. PST.  I had fallen asleep in front of my laptop, streaming MSNBC, anxiously watching the returns coming in for each state and at some point, I guess when things started looking a little grim, my body gave in to exhaustion.  But like I said: 4:00 a.m., I woke with a start, my laptop still STREAMING/SCREAMING at me, announcing in no uncertain terms, that Donald J. Trump, reality star, professional self-promoter and carnival barker and above all else, world renowned con artist, was elected to be the 45th president of the United States. My mouth formed into an upside down 'U' and I suddenly became the living embodiment of that one emoji you would use to convey shock and dismay.  I stumbled into work later that morning and perhaps a bit childishly, couldn't shake my disbelief that our company didn't have the compassion (for ME) to shut down the office for the day! I mean, we were in the midst of a national trag...