Welcome to the jungle

So...

Last night, I was in my bed reading at about 10:30pm. There was a helicopter flying around but I wasn't really conscious of it. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a very bright white light coming from the window and heard a siren and suddenly it all came together - there was a search helicopter shining its light in my backyard, and apparently police were in pursuit on the ground.

This brought back memories of living in Hollywood, or more accurately, Silverlake (right on the eastern border of Hollywood between Hollywood and East LA.) Although, when I lived there, we lived on the 2nd story of a duplex behind a locked gate. No way anyone could or would really come up and try to get in our house. We had search helicopters all the time shining their light on our balcony and up and down our street. One night, someone got shot right down the hill from us on Sunset Blvd. But that's LA. I was never scared. Most of it was gang violence, anyway, and the Mexican gangs in our area never fucked with white people. In fact, one of our dealers was in a gang and we knew we could always drop his name. Plus, my bf at the time spoke Spanish. I felt pretty safe around there. The fact that I was on drugs might have helped that along.

Even in Huntington Beach they had search helicopters fairly often, but usually it was just someone robbing a liquor store or somesuch. Used to be in Atlanta, if someone escaped from GMHI (Georgia Mental Health Institute) they would do the same thing, but that has long since become something other than a mental hospital.

At any rate, I've been living in Lake Claire/Candler Park for the past six years. I'd gotten used to being in a very safe neighborhood. We took walks late at night, and when I lived on Lakeshore, I never even locked my car. On Tuxedo, we always left the door unlocked in the daytime, even when we weren't home. I got out of the habit of thinking about crime.

So, last night, after I realized a suspect was on the loose, I got kind of scared. My bedroom is on the ground floor, in the corner of the back of the house with tons of windows. We also have a carport/shed in back. Even though we have an alarm system, I went upstairs to the bathroom and looked out the window to see if anyone was in the shed. I followed the search helicopter and saw it had gone to the southwest. After a few minutes, I went back to my room. Then, it came by very close again so I went back upstairs. I was actually kind of frightened that someone may go running through our yard or be hiding in the carport. It was really weird to have those feelings. It has been a very long time.

My neighborhood is "transitional." It's pretty much in about the same state as East Atlanta. I guess this is just something I'm going to have to get used to again. Not really that big of a deal. It was just a good reminder. I'm used to crackheads and hookers so no biggie there. Although I haven't seen any of those in my hood just yet, I know they are not far away. Maybe it's because I live with my mom and we don't have a gun. In LA I lived with a guy and he did have a gun. Even when I stayed with Jeremy, we had a Great Dane as well as a gun. I think Judge was the bigger deterrent for criminals lol.

Anyway, I just wanted to share that. I will post more on my neighborhood later.