Because I'm Better Than You, That's Why

Sometimes, sometimes I don't wash my hands in public restrooms. Now you know. Don't hate me though. Keep reading. I have my reasons and alternative solutions. I feel a little bit funny about it when I don't, but then I think it's probably OK because typically I don't have to touch my lady junk directly, so to speak, and I don't pee on my hands when I'm using a public toilet (or anywhere else for that matter, at least not on purpose - I felt I must clarify for those of you smarty pant-ses out there) and since it's not physically (it's really a mental block) possible* for me to poop in a public restroom the difficulties that might sometimes arise in cleaning up after that simply don't come up.

Now that I've gotten that important announcement out of the way I'd like to say that what I worry about more than sometimes leaving the ladies room without washing my hands is that sometimes other public women's room patrons (see bullet points of previous post below mentioning my friend Dan's extensive, habitual use of women's restrooms - we don't want to be politically incorrect and assume that all women's room patrons are necessarily women now do we?) seem to notice that I haven't washed my hands and when they do they give me the hairy eyeball, or at least I perceive that they do and this post is my way of giving an explanation. You see most times I do wash my hands in public restrooms provided that the circumstances are such that:

A. There is an option for warm water to be dispensed from the tap. When you live in colder climes having the water blast from the tap at minus ice balls degrees is both a blessing and a curse. A blessing when you'd like a nice cold glass of water to drink and a curse when you would like to wash your hands after using a public toilet and discover the water is not only coming out of the tap freezing cold enough to stop your fucking heart, but also that there is really no option to warm that shit up. Oh sure the tap has an "H" on it indicating that hot water might be available if only you wait long enough, but some middle management penny pinching asshole has turned the hot water off and you are only kidding yourself that it will ever warm up. Not to make a pun, but hell will freeze over first before that water heats up. The hot water is a ruse. I'm not washing my hands here.

B. There is a paper towel option for drying my hands. Those air dryers are for suckers. It takes a year and a day to make any progress and I've got places to go and people to do. The air dryer fritters away my life and I haven't got time for that shit. Half the time when I do consent to using the air dryer the air blowing out is just as freezing cold as the tap water and/or I end up frustrated and drying my hands on my pants or desperately going back into a stall and dabbing at my hands with toilet tissue to dry them. Either way it ends in tears.

C. Please don't even get me started on the cloth diaper towel dispenser type of hand dryer that just spins and spins in filthy, germy circles. I have never in all my travels encountered one of those contraptions that wasn't brownish-yellow and dripping wet with ladies room cooties. No thank you. Even if I had whizzed all over myself why would I wash up and then dry off with that gross spinny diaper towel.

D. The absence of miscellaneous other minor gross outs and inconveniences including but not necessarily limited to:

No soap. No towels. Broken hand dryer. Bathroom filthy in general. Sink clogged with tissues or paper towels. Puddles of water (I hope it's water) on the counter and no place to lean without touching it. Not enough sinks and/or towel dispensers thus causing me to have to wait in line to wash my hands or stand dripping waiting to dry them afterwards. Unable to make the appropriate Ninja moves or otherwise psychically connect with the automatic laser tap/laser soap/laser towel in such a way that causes the laser dispenser to hook me up with the necessary hand washing supplies to make it happen (I'm performing freaking Tai-Chi in a mirror front of ten strangers who are waiting to use the facilities after me and nothing is happening).

So in closing the main reason I don't wash my hands in public restrooms is because I'm a germophobe. Would you like another helping of crazy?

If it makes you feel any better or at least less inclined to hit me with the stink eye, rest assured I usually carry disinfectant wipes in my purse that I employ just in case of such emergencies as not being fully satisfied with the cleanliness of the facilities at hand. I'm not going to pee, leave the rest room without washing my hands and then run off and make you or anyone else a sandwich. It's cool, don't worry about it.

*For those of you that may have been reading my blog for a long time you might remember** that I have previously mentioned being able to poop anywhere. That used to be true but is not anymore. At one point when I was living my life on the road (anyone seen the movie Up In the Air yet?) I adapted my body so that I could poop or sleep anywhere*** and under any conditions.

**It's kinda creepy that you remembered that Dude.

***Anywhere indoors. I have always and probably will always**** be unable to sleep or poop out of doors.

****OK. Like maybe if end of days came and everything was destroyed and I was left here with no running water (how will I make my tea?) and only pine needles for a bed, because I can guaran-fucking-tee you that I will not be called up to Jesus when the rapture comes. When that happens, that's when I'll poop outside.

I Didn't Know I Was Too Stupid to Live

Knowing that I haven't worked for nearly a month now and am recovering from what was either the flu or a bad cold you would be right to assume that I've gotten very intimate with our television lately. Intimate enough to know that there is never anything on during the day so I try to avoid the TV altogether before I am reduced to just spinning around the channel guide like a hamster on a wheel until my thumb cramps up and I get disgusted and leave the room to find more productive ways to waste my time elsewhere.

All that channel spinning is how I came across a show called "I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant". It's a show I've never seen (even though I'm going to rip on it for most of the rest of this post) and was never compelled until recently to find out more about. In the channel guide the title is cut off so all you can see is "I Didn't Know I Was...". You can't see the rest so I assumed it was a series in which people find themselves caught unawares in various situations for example:

I didn't know I was my own uncle

I didn't know I was sitting on an ant hill

I didn't know I was riddled with herpes

You get the gist. Whatever. I understand that there could be any number of situations, diseases and medical conditions you might have contracted without your knowledge, and yet it never occurred to me that being pregnant was one of them.

It was difficult, but somehow I was able to open my mind to the possibility that someone could be so unselfconscious and unaware of their own body that they live in every day and unknowingly be pregnant, carry an infant to full term and then be completely caught off guard when they cough 9 months later and poop out a baby.* It happens. Yet still I assumed that it was pretty rare and that Pregnant, was just one episode in the series called "I Didn't Know I Was".

I have since discovered that this is incorrect and apparently not being aware of your own pregnancy happens all the time or at least often enough that the topic merits it's own complete series and not just one episode. All of this in my mind begs the question - just how stupid are these people? I suppose I should break down and actually watch the show to find the answer.

Anyhoo... this is all coming from a woman who is hyper aware of every little gas bubble and goosebump on her own body. I contemplate the state of my own physical existence almost constantly. So I guess for me the show would be called - One Time When My Period Was Extra Late I Bought a Home Pregnancy Test Even Though I Was On the Pill and Hadn't Had Sex for Nearly a Year.**

So who am I to judge stupid?

* Remember, I haven't actually seen the show so I'm making assumptions about how one goes about delivering the baby of an unknown pregnancy. I realize that babies and poop are not extracted from the same location, but the word "poop" is funny.

** It was a long time ago.