The Holiday Season Backlog

WOW lots of sh!t has dropped since my last posting. Hmm most memorably, Naomi and I were robbed at gunpoint in DC a few weeks back. We had been at a dance party at the Wonderland Ballroom in Columbia Heights (such fun!) and then we decided it was time to make our way to Adam's Morgan. So we gathered our things and were on our way to the metro... through the deserted ghetto...
There was all sorts of forshadowing for the evening:

• We were at Naomi's place in DC before heading over to the bar, and I was looking through her jewelry. I found the cutest little gun earring which I really wanted to wear, but my third earring hole had apparently healed shut from lack of use, so I did not wear it. GUNS
• Moments before the robbering, I looked back and saw a man following us, but I assumed he was just on his way to the metro as well. I even scolded myself for being so irritatingly nervous. Figures.
• After noticing the shadester following us, we saw a GIANT rat scampering across the road - THIS WAS AN OBVIOUS SIGN AND WE SHOULD HAVE STARTED RUNNING.
  

Alas, instead of noticing all the very obvious warnings, we drunkenly walked and talked loudly. Then he came out with his gun in Nae's face and said "Drop the purse bitch!" Uch please. WHY DO THEY NEED THE WHOLE PURSE?! I mean, I was borrowing Naomi's bag, and she was using her Grandmother's purse, a family heirloom kinda deal, and this guy didn't want purses, he wanted money, and evidently, he wanted cell phones to download games and music. He was probably just as scared as we were and he was trying so hard to be intimidating, but I mean, he had a gun and it was in our faces, so we just did what he said. He took our bags, then he ran away.
Things that were stolen from me:

• My license (now we couldn't even get into bars! and we would have to go to the fucking MVA and wait for like a million years with the mullets)
• My student ID (hope they don't try to get into the computer lab at school! or worse, what if they try to use my gym membership!?)
• ATM/credit card thingy (jsut got paid; yikes.)
• My Smart Trip Card (it was like a dollar in debt so fuck those guys)
• Cellular phone (IT WAS BROKEN TOO!! you could only hear what people were saying if you had the speaker on. But it did have a number of sentimental pictures and embarrasing text messages. PLUS I HAD NO INSURANCE so I had to buy a new phone out of plan - SO EXPENSIVE. What a racket. O well.)
• $30 (Damn it!!!!)
• One of my favorite lip glosses. (HOPE YOU ENJOY IT MOTHER FUCKERS)

We ran back to the bar, got the police, filed the report. I started flipping out as it started to sink in, I felt SO violated. This weird drunk guy got a little too intent on comforting me and I was like GET THE HELL OFF OF ME!! Then since Naomi had the keys to her place IN the stolen purse, we were sorta stranded, especially since her roommate was unreachable (she was with her current boyfriend at his place). And we were very very far from Naomi's apt anyway. Luckily, she knew a girl who lived near/in Columbia Heights, so we had the police take us there at like 1:45 in the morning and we banged on her door until she opened up, super confused, and let us in. (this was a thursday night btw). Once we explained the situation, we got to work canceling credit cards and phones.

Before the phones got canceled, we attempted to call our phones. Mine was busy, but some lady answered Naomi's phone!! Naomi immediately screamed "WHO GAVE YOU THIS PHONE? WHERE ARE YOU?" and the response was "whaaaaaaaaat?" Over and over again. The woman on the other end was so cracked out that she could barely manage any words at all. Wonderful, bittersweet, infuriating, hilarious. O well.

Ok so at this point I am no longer scared, more angry, but I was really freaked out. Like for that first week after it happened, if anyone was following me (AKA walking behind me, my shadow, etc.) I would freak out. The worst part is that it made me feel all messed up about black men, particularly those walking behind me. Let me explain. Right before it happened and I saw this man behind us (he was black) the first thing I thought was SHIT. And this is awful, I hate it that I can't even control my brain responding to this stereotype, even though I absolutely know it is not true. I have friends of all races and creeds, and I'm definitely not racist, but you see a shady black guy walking behind two idiot drunk girls in a bad neighborhood... it's sad, but that was the first thing I thought even before he robbed us. As I mentioned, I scolded myself for thinking that. He was most likely just a regular guy trying to get home. Then he pulled the gun, so then my stupid stereotype got "proved" in the unreachable regions of my brain.

For that week after this happened, I was sort of a mess. I was walking to class and this guy behind me says "hey Danielle" and I turn around and it is this vaguely familiar black guy and I FLIP OUT for a second, and he sees it on my face. In my head I am thinking, this is him, he found me, and he knows my name from my IDs!! But then I realize that he is this guy Kevin who I know from the engineering lounge, and I feel like an ASS and a racist. I mean honestly, I had only met him once really, but I guess since I would be one of the 3 girls in the engineering lounge, it might be easier to remember me and my name. Anyway, later I told him about this, and he laughed and was very understanding.

As a side note, when I got my phone bill I found that the idiots were up like ALL night downloading stuff, spending a total of $60+. What dorks, seriously. Stupid Verizon didn't shut off my phone when I called around 1:50 am like they said they would. And I have gotten 2 calls from blocked numbers since then. One the day after the robbing (I am certain this was from one of their idiot friends) and another 2 days ago. Lame.

Luckily, I am pretty certain that I am over the being scared part, and am more angry. (I'm stull a little scared of the idea of DC at night). The DC police are actually looking into this, and Naomi and I have to go down to the station on Sunday to look at some pictures. What an adventure!!!

YEAH! SO THAT HAPPENED. Crazy. I guess I learned my lesson without much damage.

Now I've been mostly concerned with finishing up school stuff since the semester is ending, and holiday shopping, etc. Christmas is so fun, what a great idea! This will be my first official Christmas with my own tree in-house. If we ever get a tree... AHH!

I am going to go run some errands now!! Maybe I will at some point write again, who can be sure?!