Dichroic Reflections

taken advantage of

I'm beginning to suspect Rudder and I are being trained. Ever since the cat-shavingepisode it's been apparent just how thin our older cat had gotten. In the last couple of weeks, he's really seemed to be failing - a lot more litter-box near-misses (fortunately, the litter box is in a spare bathtub), one episode that resulted in our having to wash a down comforter and duvet, and a general lack of energy. He hasn't seemed to be upset or in pain, though, so we're guessing it's just age. We share a birthday, at least approximately, and he'll be 17 this week. He comes downstairs a lot less and just in general moves a lot less. The litter box is upstairs, but we've always kept the food and water in the kitchen. We added an upstairs water dish some time ago, but we've been so worried about how skinny he's getting that we've been bringing bits of tuna and canned food up to him. (Both cats have been getting dry Science Diet their whole lives.) He seems to be perking up a bit - the other cat is probably stealing the goodies, but at least we've seen the older one eating some of it. However, now he's feeling better, he just waits for us to deliver tidbits to him, and now we have sneaking feeling that he's wondering, "Hell, why didn't I figure this out years ago?" Nothing like being taken advantage of by a cat.

Actually, if you have a cat to begin with, there's also nothing UNlike being taken advantage of. Furry leeches.

Someone actually rendered me speechless earlier today. I was at a meeting in a conference room I hadn't been to before, trying to hook up to the projector mounted in there. Someone went out and got a local admin to help; it turned out to be a matter of selecting the approrpiate input via the projector's remote. In other words, something I should have figured out myself, and I said as much.

She said, "Oh, Paula, just be a girl. let someone else figure it out."

That was when my jaw dropped (literally, I think). Once I regained the ability to speak, I told her that if being girly meant dressing up in a skirt and makeup I was fine with it, but I didn't see any reason it should make me stupider around techniology - and that the relevant point was not that I'm a girl but that I'm an engineer.

People like that are one reason why the rest of us have to deal with stereotypes and glass ceilings. (The other reason, of course, is the people who believe the stereotypes and who build the glass ceilings.)

I can think of good reasons to play stupid, honestly. I just can't think of any that are worth the risk that someone might actually think you are stupid, or that are worth the self-respect I'd lose.

Posted by dichroic at March 7, 2006 02:12 PM