I think that I have become an extremely paranoid human over the past 10 years. I’ve been through so much bullshit with other human beings that I tend to expect the worst at every turn. I know it’s not fair to preemptively think that everyone is a monster, but that has been my experience. I do everything that I can to keep myself level-headed and fair… But I’m always on the lookout for red flags so I can cut the cord. This is why I happily ended my first date early last week after my potential romantic interest presented as an absolute control freak. The trouble all started when I got into his car and it was burning hot. It felt like he had the furnace running at full blast for a few days or weeks. The indoor air was so hot and stuffy that I could barely breathe from the moment that I sat down and closed the door. I was basically gasping for air in the sweltering conditions. I desperately wanted to roll down my window so I could get a single gasp of cool, fresh air from outdoors. Unfortunately, when I mentioned the indoor air quality to my date he didn’t respond in the way that I expected. Although his car had to separate temperature controls for the driver and passenger, he proceeded to adjust the air temperature settings for the both of us…. And it actually got even hotter inside of his car. I only made it about 5 minutes into the drive before I told my date that I felt sick and needed to go home. Truthfully, I was so overheated that I wanted to throw up. His controlling antics didn’t help.