Making Peace and Doing Research

 So, the shooting occurred July 30th. For the following two weeks I went through a whirlwind of emotions and feelings about things. I was anxious, and paranoid. I thought for sure something was going to happen to me. That sparked off a manic episode that only lasted a short while because I suddenly crashed into depression. 

But yesterday as the mate and I got to talking, I noticed I was feeling much better. We went for a walk for the first time since the shooting happened. We'd been doing research, to see if there were any other cities we'd maybe like to move to, but we both agreed it wouldn't be until it was time for us to go somewhere because we wanted to, not because we were running from somewhere else.

The apartment manager evicted the person on our floor that had been involved, so I feel a lot less scared to go down to pick up a package or food delivery. And if you stay out of the bad areas, don't go out at night, and keep a watchful eye, you should be ok. My mate's mother got us some alarm key chains. When you're being accosted, you pull the pin and it emits a high pitch alarm that drives you crazy and alerts anyone who hadn't been looking before. And hopefully scares away the perpetrator.

We decided though, to keep on doing research.. St. Louis is definitely not going to be our life forever. But somewhere else will be and we'd like to plan it early and keep an eye on the cities we like. So far here are my top 3:

Cincinnati, OH : Great walk score, friendly people, lots to do, the biggest Oktoberfest outside of Munich, lots of breweries, bars, restaurants. The only downside, currently, is there is some crime happening there, not as bad as St. Louis (No one is as bad as STL) but something to keep an eye on.

 

Indianapolis, IN: Sports galore! WNBA, NBA, Football, NASCAR, and much more. Great place to go for concerts, and tons of fun things to do. A canal, lots of parks. Again crime is the reason we're putting this on hold.

Des Moines, IA: Smaller, quieter, reminds us of an up and coming Denver, huge State fair, nice people, bars, restaurants, breweries, great traffic. The downside is that it's not really close to anywhere else within driving range like the above two cities. Oh, and... tornadoes.

 

Some that we've looked at that had deal breakers were:

Pittsburgh, Jacksonville, Albany, Columbus, Spokane 

Some that we still need to research are:

Kansas City, and San Antonio. 

So I feel much better about things. I really was having a hard time. I felt like, also, looking for places in our price range was a big bummer because our company never gave us a cost of living increase. So the only places we can afford are in the crime-y areas. Which made me super sad and got me thinking I'd like to go to a 2-year school for something, that would help me get a job and make more money for us. But then I thought, god I am 43 I've peaked already and haven't done anything, it's too late for me, etc. And that was a very sad thought. But I think my mate has helped me to see it doesn't matter how old you are, you can still do whatever you want, and in the long run it may be a good idea for classes later on, but first to watch YouTube videos about it, and maybe take one introductory class for an hour to see if it is something I would really like to do, because I took 90% of a UX Design course from Google before decided it wasn't for me. I didn't really like it.

So I think I'll be ok here for a while. Wish me luck. 

UPDATE 9/24/22:

Ok, fuck this place. Someone busted the window of our car and went through all our crap. Didn't take anything because we had nothing in there.This was in a gated lot, by the way. And then of course there was a sexual assault in the building last week. So.. as soon as our lease is up here... we OUT.

Hit The Deck

 Picture it:

Saturday July 30. Morning. 1:57am to be exact. I awake to the sound of someone banging on the window behind my head. No, I think, that's not someone banging on the window... that is gunfire.

"Hit the deck" I don't remember saying, to my mate in bed next to me. What a silly thing to say.

We scrambled for the ground. I peeked out the window blinds. Two young black males with automatic weapons with their faces covered, were 10 feet from our window, shooting at someone running outside along the fence. We live in a gated building. The fence surrounds our parking lot. Whoever was running was also shooting, directly at the two men in front of me. I could see the flash of his gun as he fired toward us. All I could hear was extremely loud "pop! pop! pop! pop! pop!'s" in close succession.

I ducked down, grabbed my phone, and called 911. My mate did the same thing and went in another room. I was on hold for a few minutes waiting for an operator. When one finally answered, she said, "Saint Louis emergency, this is Renee." I paused, for a moment, because usually they say something like "What is the address of your location" etc. So I explained the situation to Renee, that there was a gun battle erupting outside our apartment, and no sooner did I explain to her what was happening that another barrage of gun fire exploded alongside the west facing window, down by the outside stairwell to the entrance of the building. I heard screaming.

"Get down!" I yelled for my mate, who was still on the phone waiting for 911 in the next room.

I peeked out the blinds again to answer Renee's questions, few and far between as they were. I saw a stream of young ladies wearing booty shorts and high heels following a group of men with their faces covered - with t-shirts, COVID masks, etc. One gal had a to-go box of food in her hand. No one appeared frantic or in distress. They all appeared non-chalant, as if this was a regular occurrence for a Saturday at 2:AM. You know, just your average morning of murder and mayhem.

The operator, Renee, said she would send the police right over.

My mate was also with 911, standing in the hallway by the front door to the apartment. We heard a gaggle of excited voices ruminating over what was happening. Whether these were concerned neighbors or those involved, I am still unsure.

20 minutes later...

Police lights. The two men who I saw originally, were accompanied by what I counted to be 5 other men (later this turned out to be a group of 9 but forgive me if my counting abilities were slightly stymied at the moment) slowly marched, with the women in tow, toward the pedestrian gate where the police were waiting (waiting? Not marching in dramatically with weapons in hand? No). Their weapons were gone, but a few of them still had their faces covered.

I do not understand what happened, why it happened, how it happened, or why they appeared to be turning themselves in. I also don't understand the complete lack of intensity to these perpetrator's behavior. No one was tense, everyone was completely calm.

Whenever anything happens that is insanely crazy to us, we can never - let me highlight that.. NEVER find anything about it in the news, social media, crime blotters, etc. I have no clue why not one single person from this apartment building posted anything about it on any of the outlets that we so often use to connect to one another.

My mate, however, did finally find a very bare bones version of an arrest report, indicating the ages of those involved, which was anywhere from 16 years of age to 40. 

This was all a crazy nightmare, and I can't believe it happened. Perhaps I am still in shock.

And now, for a picture of a bullet hole in a neighbor's car windshield:

So.. that was my weekend. How was yours?