A brush with misfortune

We’ve lived here now for 7 months. We’ve had our house robbed, an attempted car break-in, and this week someone broke into the truck and stole the stereo. Honestly, I never worried too much about the truck. The only thing of remote value in there is the stereo, and it’s not exactly a recent model. Apparently the crooks around here aren’t too discerning. Sometimes you wonder who the crook is. Is he looking for a crack high? Is he a gang banger? Is he dangerous?

We met the face of the crook…the thief…the scum. He’s a teenager, not even 18, though he looks 14. We finally got to face the person connected with breaking into our house. We went to testify against him in court, but didn’t get the chance because of a last minute guilty plea. He got off easy: possession of stolen property. The DA predicted he would get an ankle monitor and a few months in a juvenile farm. He was a small kid, demure even. Defeated looking. Bored looking. He wore a jeans and a t-shirt which grieved the loss of a family member, perhaps to get sympathy…I think it backfired. I wanted to feel sorry for him, but I couldn’t feel too bad. Even if he didn’t break into our house, he knew he was taking someone else’s stuff when he sold our things.

We got to give a victim statement, and he turned around and looked at us. I said the real impact was the loss of feeling safe in your home and the loss of sense of community. We’re surely moving when our lease is up. I’m sick of this shit. I shouldn’t have brought Kat here. We actually hear gunshots some nights. It doesn’t look any worse than other neighborhoods that we’ve lived in, but it is. How does a neighborhood where the crack houses sell for half a million able to support such a thriving impoverished criminal community? It’s amazing that we can’t do more to stop this stuff.

What’s really sad is that it’s not really his fault. It’s the parents. And it’s not the parent’s fault, it’s their parents. Of course, at some point, someone has to stand up and take responsibility. But how does someone raise a child when they have no idea where to begin? I think parenting classes should be required. I’d take them if I thought it would help society.

Anyway, the other bit of drama is Kat’s conference in Houston. She talks in front of perhaps a thousand people on Friday, and left today. But of course, an hour before she leaves for her flight, she discovers that the laptop computer where her presentation resides was knocked off the coffee table by the cats in the night. And of course it broke. And of course she had no backup. We were lucky that we were able to get the presentation off the hard drive before she left, but Kat’s already frazzled nerves couldn’t quite handle the shock to the system. Poor thing. She’s under so much pressure. I’ve been pretty busy and haven’t been able to help out as much as I should. Things will be better in May, but for now, we’re putting our noses to the grindstone and trying to finish out the spring. Well, when I’m not procrastinating (like now for instance)!!

Last Saturday I took the dog for a hike on a rare sunny weekend day. This has been the rainiest March in history, both in days and inches, in the Bay Area. Not done yet either. Rain every day in the forecast. I had such a good time I really let the time get away from me. I snapped pictures at a rate of around one a minute! I love the green hills this time of year (when the sun comes out). I really wanted to get out and capture them too. It’s amazing how quickly they turn brown, in just weeks. I underestimated the brightness of the sky though, and they didn’t quite turn out the way I hoped, but it’s a lesson learned for next time.