let's be serious

Yes, a serious post. I had a meeting today with the state attorney's office that's prosecuting the guy who tried to break into our house. I got to leave work early, which is always a plus, and got searched and wanded by security at the courthouse. They confiscated my camera and nail clippers. For realsies. Because I might have used the metal file on the nail clippers to shank a judge or something and then taken a picture of it as a souvenir. I got a little ticket to reclaim my goods on my way out. My meeting went well, it didn't last that long. I basically corroborated the statement I gave the police the night of the incident and answered a couple of additional questions. Apparently the guy our thief tried to rob earlier in the day hired the guys who beat the crap out of him later that day. They cut his neck so deep it looked like they tried to cut his head off, and then tried to cut off his genitals. Somehow he was able to kick enough to keep them away from his goods. He has enough of a prior record that he may go to jail even with the attack. I may have to go in again at some point, so we'll see. Neat.

I was reflecting the other day on how much that guy has effected (affected? I'm drunk) me. I used to feel like I was basically safe. Like I could walk around outside after dark, or just be in the house with the door unlocked, and feel like I was ok. Now I don't go outside after I get home from work if I'm by myself unless I really need to for some reason. I lock my car doors the second I get in, whether I'm at home, at work, wherever. The other evening I walked from the house we were staying at to the restaurant where I was meeting Alfred. It took me about half an hour, and for all but the first 3 minutes or so I was on a well lit, busy road. I not only brought my pepper spray, I carried it the entire way with my thumb on the trigger, ready for action. It's kind of sad that my basic sense of security and really, my underlying feeling of trust in the world at large, is pretty much gone. Some guy randomly tried to break into my house while I was inside. It was totally random, had nothing to do with me, and if it happened once, who's to say it won't happen again? It's probably good that I'm safer now, but it's not like I was picking up hitchhikers and behaving in an unsafe manner before. I'm sad that I feel unsafe. It sucks.

p.s. Alfred made some hard apple cider the other day and we sampled it tonight. 3 sips in, we were both tipsy. Craziness.

some random disconnected comments

I'm going to call in my first picture-free post here. Please refer to Monday's post if you're upset about this development.

Bush is on TV right now, talking about how screwed up the economy is. It's a little scary to think that things happening right now may make history books in the future, like the Great Depression. It's scary because of where we are in our lives right now: just starting out, getting ready to start a family, etc. Our lives could be very strongly impacted by this. There was a report on NPR this morning about how with the government taking over such big chunks of the economy (I'm sure there's a more technical way to say that) is making the US so much less financially free, and how Canada is much more free in many ways than the US. Bush just said "God bless." What the hell happened to separation of church and state? Honestly, I don't know if I just never noticed how religious the country/government was, or it's become more so. The whole shoving religion in people's faces really makes me dislike it more and more. I went off on a rant about it once to Alfred. I think he secretly thinks I'm going to hell. Bush is done. Thank God. Ha!

Speaking of Alfred, he came home tonight! This is his first night home in over a week. We get to catch up on some important TV, such as How I Met Your Mother. Ah, I love it. It's a good one so far. I love Neil Patrick Harris. "I caught feelings. I caught feelings bad."

I sort of accidentally finished the Legend of Zelda again. I was on level 9 and stumbled onto the last room, so I killed Gannon (the little bastard) and that was that. I didn't even finish getting all the stuff I was supposed to get in that level. I'm just that damn good, I guess. Gosh, I'm a wienie.

It's too hard to concentrate with a good show on. I missed our regular shows! So I'm out.