What a way to end a week...

Now that I've had a good night's sleep, I'm not so emotionally charged about what I wanted to share with you from yesterday. That's not a bad thing, and it'll keep me from unleashing the slew of swear words that were swirling around my head yesterday. As a matter of fact, I think I'm just going to try to give you the short version of the story.

Yesterday, in a matter of less than an hour and a half, 4 cars were broken into at the Hell-Hole. Just after 8:30, there was an all-call over the PA system, asking for the owner of a red blah-blah-blah (I don't even remember what kind of car) to come to the office. I just assumed they needed to move their car, as that happens pretty frequently around the Hell-Hole. I didn't give it any thought. About 9ish, one of our security guards comes to our door, and asks me what kind of car I drive. As he's talking to me, one of the assistants also comes to my door with the same question. They both thought that a certain silver car in the lot was mine. Mr. T., the security guard (haha, I just realized he's Mr. T.!) told me that it was the second car that morning to be broken into. Thankfully, it wasn't my car. The cars that had been broken into were parked in the lot that is next to the school. I park in the very tiny lot behind the school. (One of the things I loved about my old room is that I could literally see my car all day long out my window. Now, if I wanted to keep an eye on my car, I'd have to park it on the street in front of the building, and that's not gonna happen.)

Mr. T. told me a few minutes later that the silver car they thought was mine actually belonged to a woman who was essentially making a service call to the school, and that the jackass that broke into it did it about a minute after she walked into the building. It seems to me that whoever did it was watching, and saw someone he knew didn't work at the school, so they figured what a perfect target. He smashed the window, and grabbed a bag that was on the seat. Unfortunately for him, one of the older men who work at the Hell-Hole (Mr. E., who is in his 70s) saw him and yelled, and the jerk dropped the bag and ran. Turns out, it was a bag of clothes that the woman was going to drop off at Goodwill on her way home. Hell, she would have GIVEN it to him if he had asked. So, he got away with nothing, and she's now got a busted out window. Nice, right!? "Thanks for visiting the Hell-Hole!"

Within a half-hour of hearing that story, two more cars were broken into, but this time in the back lot (where I park!). WTF?! My first question was, 'why the hell weren't the police there yet, at least to write up reports for the first two break-ins?' However, I knew the reality of it was simply this - they have WAY bigger fish to fry in that neighborhood than a couple of car windows being smashed. The did come, however, but by then, there were 4 people who had been victimized. And, the kicker is, NOTHING was taken out of any of the cars. It was more vandalization than burglary, I guess, which to me, is even more pointless and annoying.

Well, so much for the short story. Although, I'm sure those of you who know me well laughed when you read "short story" cuz you know I can never do that, even though I always say I will. What can I say? I'm chatty!

Oh, I forgot this little tidbit. Right after lunch, New Principal buzzed my room. First, let me tell you that since we've been back from break, there has been something wrong with our PA system. We can't hear what the hell they're saying to us! It's really annoying. We know they've buzzed into the room because there's a beep first, but then nothing. Anyway, New Principal buzzes in, I hear, "Mrs. L?" I answer, but then hear nothing. I called out a few times, saying, "I can't hear you," because I know SHE can hear ME on her end. Nothing. About 30 seconds later, repeat of the same. Now, truthfully, I was getting nervous because I thought they were calling to tell me that now MY car had been broken into. (I had just found out during lunch that the fourth car had been vandalized.) So, I walked down to the office myself to see what was going on. Turns out, it was just an early dismissal for one of my babies. On a side note, it was his birthday yesterday, and we hadn't had a chance to celebrate. Luckily, his mom wasn't in a big hurry, so she came down to the room, and we did a rushed version.

Now, despite having the week end on such a crappy note, the first week back really wasn't so awful. Maybe I'll feel like talking about it later (you know, since I don't think I'll be following those crappy prompts for much longer) but I'm trying to approach work with a different attitude/outlook in the new year. I'm hoping this will reduce my stress level, even a little. So far, so good. Shoot....I hope I didn't just jinx myself.... ;-)