Indeed... I'm very lucky to live where I do.
Ben, I hope nothing happens to you or your friend. Tread softly.
I appreciate it, but nothing's going to happen to me. I've managed to carefully craft relationships over the last few years to where people that I'd prefer not dislike me don't.
Dynash: Yeah, that's how it happens. This neighborhood used to be a lot quieter. I mean, there's always been crack and gangs, but they left 90% of the people here alone and kept it out of the public eye. Over the last 6 or so years it's blown up.
Update: The shooter was taken in. It was some 18-year-old wannabe gangster. The driver was also taken in. Unfortunately, that was also one of my friends. Nick Sheffey is in a medically-induced coma the last time I heard. I haven't been able to talk to his brother for obvious reasons, and even if I felt like going to County I don't think he'd want to talk about it anyway.
Jordan: Yeah, I'm going to do just that. I'm hopefully going to move soon to a nicer area ... the last time I thought I was around July 2009, it turns out the townhouse my dad was about to buy was being foreclosed on, so that fell through.
[RANT]
But if I could just get a damn job that paid anything I could. I actually got turned down from a job today because of where I live and the guy had the balls to tell me it was because of that. He was even hesitant to bring me in for an interview when he saw my address on my resume and looked it up to see where I live. It's ----ed up and I never thought it would happen to me, but it did.
Actually, that reminds me of another story from last month. I was in another nice suburb where my mom lives getting my hair cut, and an old white lady in a nice new Cadillac El Dorado slams her car door into mine right after I parked. I rolled my window down and said 'Lady you need to pay for that' only to be told I deserved it for parking too close. She closes her door and starts up her car. I get out and step in front of her car while I dial 911 to stop her from driving away and the lady DRIVES AWAY ANYWAY. Through me. I was able to get off to the side before she full-on rolled over me so I wasn't hurt, thankfully, but I ended up punching her hood in the middle of it all while yelling "Stop!" as my personal way of saying "Lady you're about to kill me".
The cop that got out there was a ----. He saw my car (----ty condition), saw on my license where I lived and kept asking me why I was out there. "What are you doing here? Do you work here? Why did you come here?!" in that order. Finally I got him to listen to what happened.
Two days later I went to the precinct to get the full report and he left out the part about me getting hit with a Cadillac. The report read like I ran up to her car and started punching like the hulk as soon as she dented my car's door. I kept reading and they're in the process of convincing her to file Simple Assault (for 'threatening her') and Criminal Damage (for damaging her car) charges against me (by some miracle they didn't immediately file and are leaving it up to her). She's being charged with nothing. Not even for leaving the scene of an accident. Her story was that she thought I had a gun.
I went to talk to a judge in the magistrate court about it and he laughed in my face. Said he wasn't going to sign the paperwork to have anything done against her. Told me he doesn't know why I bothered to go in.
[/RANT]