Okay, it's time for my first personal rant. ^_^

My car was broken into two days ago. Nothing too serious-- Driver's side window smashed, glass everywhere, but no other damage to the car. Registration, insurance card, some burned CDs, and a few other things stolen. Again, nothing too serious. Took a while to take care of, cleaning up all the glass, talking to the police, figuring out insurance stuff, getting the window replaced. I was lucky-- I don't leave anything valuable inside my car, and I was fortunate that the only damage was the window.

Initially I was just pissed off that someone had the nerve to do that. I was two and a half hours late to work, and I had to shell out $100 to get the window fixed. And the burned CDs that were stolen were awesome, irreplaceable metal mixes that a friend made for me. I have a healthy respect for other people's space and property, so it was quite the personal affront.

Then last night at about 11pm I needed to go out to my car for a roll of tape. The car is parked a little bit down the street from where I live, so it's a bit of a very dark walk to get to it. I was in a good mood; had just set up my stupid, tacky little 2' fiber optic Christmas tree, and I wanted the tape to put up my Christmas lights. I opened the door and started out to my car, and I realized I was nervous as hell. Someone the night before had taken a large, heavy object and smashed in the window of my car, and now I was freaked out about walking in the dark, by myself, in my own quiet little neighborhood. Intellectually I knew that it was just stupid, obnoxious kids that had broken into my car, mostly harmless, but I still had this unsafe feeling. So I went back inside, found my knife, and went out to my car.

I feel stupid for being so nervous. I was safe; nothing was going to happen, and the incident with my car was so minor. I started thinking about people who have been mugged, or sexually assaulted, and how they must feel what I felt, but ten million times more strongly, and every time they step outside. Or people whose homes are broken into, and they don't even have that as their sanctuary any more. And it makes me angry that people have to feel that way.

So the conclusion to my rant is that criminals suck. I don't like them. Nothing profound, not even a very angry rant, but it's nice writing it all out. I doubt anyone will even read this except me. =)