Oops

Perhaps I spoke too soon. When I headed back to my new favorite coffee shop to avoid the power outage, soak up the a/c, and attempt to finish my taxes, I ran into my new friend, Lyhov. He gave me a friendly greeting, watched over my motorbike, and when we left, I once again found myself turning down a marriage proposal. I think.

Lyhov and his fellow parking attendant (no name, sorry) were impressed that I told them "see you later" in Khmer, and then Lyhov gestured to his friend and said something to the effect of "Do you want him to be your husband?" I replied, "No, thank you." (I mean, it's not the most romantic proposal... the man was wearing a surgical mask at the time!) Apparently the friend thought Lyhov was shortchanging himself, because he got involved, asking me if I wanted to marry Lyhov, or to make him my "special" (read: boyfriend). When I (briefly) studied persuasive tactics in college, we studied this particular strategy: ask for something outrageous and then move to a smaller request, which won't seem so difficult to fulfill. Too bad I am wise to those games! Instead, there was only more practice at declining oh-so-tempting marriage proposals for me.

In non-marriage related news, I saw someone else on the road wearing the same helmet that I have (and thought, wow, what a great helmet!). I think this makes me a helmet trendsetter, and I'm quite proud. A few weeks ago, someone commented that the Pink Helmet is quite stylish, and wasn't I special for owning one (and yes, they were serious, thank you very much). Just in case you were worried that I 1) wasn't wearing a helmet or 2) was wearing an unfashionable helmet. Safety and fashion... all rolled into one. I guess that ends up being attractive to some people. Like parking attendants. Sheesh.