Get ready, this is gonna be a long one.
Early thursday morning (around 1 am) I was mugged (technical term: strongarmed) right outside my apartment. I had just gotten out of my car which was parked a little farther away from the building than I liked. I sat in the car for a bit after I parked because I had picked stuff up from my parents’ house and had to gather it out of the passenger seat. When I got out and shut the door, I heard leaves rustling and looked towards the other side of the street, where a black man had just come out between two cars. I thought he was just going to a car, but started getting my key to the apartment ready in any case. I was wearing gloves which made it a little more difficult, and a hat which might have been why I didn’t hear him cross the street until he was right behind me.
He grabbed me from behind and I (in total disbelief that he actually did it) started screaming-loudly. Somehow he pushed me to the ground as he tried to shut me up, and kept saying, ‘where’s the money, where’s the money.’ At one point he forced my chin up so I couldn’t open my mouth (and nearly couldn’t breathe) but I guess I moved enough that he pushed me onto my back. I tried biting his hand but I don’t know if I actually got anything…but it got him angry enough that he pushed me down…and left my legs free. So I kicked him in the head. Or at least something in that general vicinity Now while this sounds wonderful, it made him mad so he clocked me just above my ear. This understandably slowed me down!
Luckily by this time some neighbors had heard me screaming and called the police. A guy who lives across the street came out with a baseball bat when he determined that it really was a mugging (as opposed to just a friendly wrestling match, which I totally understand) and the guy ran off. I curled up on the concrete for a short time just to make sure I was ok…realized the guy broke my glasses, which pissed me off. A girl who lived in my building had heard the commotion but didn’t (understandably) want to come out, in her pjs, alone, against a rather bigger man. She didn’t have shoes on, and I remember telling her to get off the concrete and realizing I was still lying on same. The police came very quickly after that, and I gave a report, and the policeman walked me back to the apartment. I called my parents and told them the news…they took it pretty well, all things considered. Then I called Leo and Alex and asked them to come over from Alex’s because I didn’t want to be alone that night. Realize that it was close to 2 am by that time. Thank you guys for abusing your sleep time for me
Now for the ever-growing experiment in irony that is my life…
Bear with me, these get long, but they do have points.
Irony #1: The day had been very windy, windy enough that the power went out at the apartment. The main reason I had stopped by my parents’ place was that I had to drop off a book I’d just finished (remember Quicksilver?) that was two days overdue. Because of the aforementioned power outage, I had to read the last thirty pages by candle- and flashlight, making me late for home and later returning to the apartment. Now, I know I’ve mentioned how loquatious Mr. Stephenson is…the book is 900+ pages and has a good heft…I actually weighed it: 5+ pounds. It was too big to fit in my bag, so I had been carrying it from my car to work and vice versa, always thinking that if anyone did try to jump me I’d have a ready weapon to bash their head in. So of course when I did get jumped, I had just returned the book. Sigh.
Irony #2: Earlier in the day I had gone home to be there when my Josh Groban cd arrived (see previous entry), enjoyed it, and had it in the cd player in my car. I got it out of the player when I got back to my apartment (which was part of the reason I was in the car so long…I suspect the guy saw me sitting in the car getting stuff and assumed I had something of value, which I guess I did, but…more on that later) and had it and a flyer and a pair of jeans I’d left at home in my hand. Now if you know me you know that I have only a few of the characteristics of my zodiac sign, Virgo, one of them being a slight analness about little things, like spine-cracking on books and scratches on cds. Well, obviously, the cd got scratched in the scuffle. It looked worse than it was at first, as the cd seems to play just fine in all my players. But still. 12 hours before it had been pristine…point being that I’d had it for such a short time and it was already messed up, and it was just the sort of cd I didn’t want messed up. I stepped on my Two Towers soundtrack last year (on the way to a Two Towers screening–how’s that for irony, eh?) when I was so desperately trying to keep it nice…and here goes another cd. Meh.
Random bits: I was a bit embarrassed because I could have easily sprinted to my apartment, being a track star, don’t you know. But then I think that even if I’d made it to the door, I’d still have to unlock it, and that takes time, most likely enough that the guy would have caught me anyway. I was worried at one point afterwards that he had taken my wallet, but it turned out to just have fallen out of my pocket, and I remember thinking (when I thought it was lost) ‘aw man, there goes that cute new wallet (I’d only had it a few months)’ and then I was like, ‘aw crap, I have to get a new driver’s lisence, debit card,’ &c. And you know that thing about just giving them the money…I didn’t even think about that, and I know it would have galled me to do so, so I suppose it’s for the best that it fell out I didn’t know that I could scream so high or so loud…guess those years of choir helped me out…and now I know what it feels like to be punched, or elbowed, or whatever it was he delivered to my head. It didn’t really hurt that much, to be honest, it was just suprising, another thing to add to the list of ‘I can’t believe this is happening.’
I spent yesterday getting new glasses (and to be honest about that, I’m not sure if I broke them or he broke them, all I know is that they somehow ended up in my hands with one earpiece bent totally to the side and both lenses out) which left me a couple hundred dollars poorer and slightly weirded out, because it’s been at least six years since I had a new frame. It takes some getting used to, you know, different frame color and different shape to the lenses…Of course, even though I went to Lenscrafter’s which boasts ‘Glasses in about an hour’ they didn’t have my power of lens so it took rather longer than that. I had entertained the idea of going into work for a little bit but I didn’t have to, and I ended up back at my parents’ house sleeping in a chair in the living room. Needless to say I was a little tired after that!
I’ve got one of those alarms that you pull to make a really loud noise on my keychain now, and you can be sure I’ll have my keys ready when I get out of the car. Who knows if the guy will ever be caught, but I hope I did get him in the head and I hope he has a lump somewhere on his noggin too. I still can’t believe it happened, to me…I mean, it’s almost funny. And all the what-ifs and ‘if I had done this, would it have been better’…I keep thinking about it, but you know what? I’m not going to let it bother me. I’m gonna get on with life. The apartment is too nice to give up (and I really don’t want to break my lease), and honestly, it didn’t even occur to me to get out of the area. I like it and don’t want this incident to ruin that. Ah well. Three cheers to Girl Scouts and all the people who showed me how to defend myself. I’m rather proud I prevailed…and the guy didn’t even accomplish his objective. So I’ll learn from this, and pass my knowledge onto you (and if you’ve read this far I commend you)…Look around you, especially late at night. Give them the money (if you can remember where you put it), have your keys ready. Run like hell if terrain and circumstances allow it. Try to remember everything you can about the attacker. Got that? Good.
Thanks for caring. Feel free to make me feel better by utilizing the links to my wishlists