im0ftheuniverse's Journal

Wow... we have come so far!

For clean, tidy, and organize:

This weekend has been pretty good in terms of being really productive. Yesterday I bought some mini notebooks at the dollar store and jotted down a little page of everything I accomplished with my beau. Here are some highlights: 

- put the coats hanging by the door away in the closet

- re-upholstered my folding chair to match the living room

- ran the dishwasher, did the dishes

- sent that stupid phone back in fedex

- and ProFiction did the laundry, hearts!

Today! We went to the linens n things since it's going out of business. We picked up some super cheap items to bring the living room together more, literally -- I used those little "suspenders" (elastics with little grippers) on the "slipcovers" on the couch. The chocolate chair has those tiny screw-in pins (used for bedskirts) to hold its covers in place, too. 

 For cope w/ negative thoughts:

Friday/Saturday ended up being quite a serious turning point.

Awhile ago, maybe a month plus, I went on the swingset and hurt my hands... and made some enemies in the neighborhood children. These are not just any kids. They're truly the evil spawn of satan. That day on the swings, they stole my shoes, punched me in the back, and just engaged in general teasings and tauntings. Since that day, things have gotten worse here and there. They sometimes just try to annoy me by bouncing a loud ball off the side of the house... They leave things in the yard (legos, garbage including juiceboxes and food wrappers, a dirty diaper, a rickety old rocking horse in my path to get my mail)... But Friday they really outdid themselves.

I cooked dinner for ProFiction and his friend who was coming over to hang out. After dinner, the boys went upstairs on the computer and I decided to get the mail since I actually remembered. 

It was after 7pm so it was already dark outside. I never go anywhere without my keys -- they have a tiny LED flashlight on the keyring so I can see the locks on my car/apt etc... And I also use the LED light to make sure there aren't spiders in my path or in my mailbox. 

I flashed the light in the mailbox. It was pretty packed, a big day for things like cards from our family (for the engagement, yay!) and the usual credit card apps and so on. However, Friday's mail had an unwelcome addition -- of vandalism. On the top of the pile, on my grandma's card, was a piece of chewing gum, stuck firmly on the back edge of everything, where I'm certain if I had not used my flashlight would have wound up in my grasp. DISGUSTING.

Seriously NOT cool.

I was very very shaken and upset by this. I went back inside, got the camera, took a few pictures, then carefully took everything out of the box. I showed my beau. I got out the phonebook and looked up the non-emergency police number (frustrations there as when I used the automated prompts to reach an officer, I got some lady who listened for awhile to my spiel and then stopped me saying whoa listen I'm not an officer, you'll have to dial 911 and ask to speak with someone... which I wasn't going to do... there is no reason to abuse 911 for an act of vandalism involving 10 year olds and their gum.

SO I was PISSED. P-I-S-T pissed. 

I hardly slept. I couldn't even focus on a TV show! I was just ruminating, wishing I could plot some kind of revenge and knowing the best way to handle it was to report the incident... and really pray that the cops showing up doesn't make things ten times worse...

Saturday the cats woke me at about 6am. I couldn't go back to sleep so I watched TV and cooked breakfast for the two of us and at about 8:30 I woke him up. After breakfast we went down to the po-po station. I was so nervous and anxious that they wouldn't take me seriously. I mean, there are evil kids in the neighborhood taunting me, which shouldn't be that big of a deal since they're frigging kids... (whose parents do not know what's going on or how to control their stupid brats) but now they had moved on to breaking the law. Messing with someone's mail is one of the most serious offenses one can commit. It's so personal and sensitive. There are SO many times the door on our mailbox is completely open. How can I have any reassurance that they haven't tampered with or stolen my mail before?? Paranoia is set in so much more firmly after this occurance. 

After explaining the entire situation with all the history, the officer was thankfully not showing any signs of scoffing at this or hinting that it doesn't seem as serious to him as to us. He did take control and offer a plan of action. We provided a couple of names of kids we've seen around (there are probably like 5 or so of them who act together) and the address of the mother of one of the girls, a trusted person to ask about the other kids. The officer said he'd knock on a few doors and that it will probably "nip it in the bud" -- hopefully hopefully hopefully!

After that stop, we also stopped by ProFiction's mom's house for a bit, drove around and did some other errands... and got back after 1pm or so. When we were traversing the parking lot, I saw one of the boys (whose name I did mention) and decided to keep my head down (also helped that it was rainy and I needed to keep my glasses clear to see!)... It seems as though he stopped by one of the girls' apartments and someone else came outside. I heard a small voice say "hi" but I refused to look up. 

My beau and I assumed that the officer did stop by and talk to a bunch of those kids, got them talking, explained that what they did is wrong. I wonder what exactly he did say, to those kids AND to the mother a few doors down... And I wonder if they feel any fear or remorse... or just more temptation to piss me off and break the law.

If it is the latter, terrific... I have the phone number to report any incident and have those cops back over here in a blink. It's on.

If it does turn out that we have reached a resolution to our collective unneighborly ways, even more fantastic. I can get my mail in peace and never have to speak to those brats again.

I can't wait to move outta here!

OKAY, so... Instead of just sitting around getting pissed, I took action. We might have a resolution. I can let it go and stop worrying and stop daydreaming evil thoughts. I don't have to worry anymore. I feel safer.

Thanks for reading!! Boy this was really long.