I got home, the door didn’t open proper with my key, I twisted it this way and that. For a second I’m worried that the stupid door stopped working and that I’m locked out, but eventually I work it open. Inside the cupboard drawer in the hall is out of place, the venetian mask that was in the drawer is on the floor, the window in the bathroom is open wide. Wind? No, fuck, my apartment’s been burgled! But –
Things seem to be mostly in place. The bed room (did I leave the duvet crooked like that?) The same mess on the living room table, the TV is still there (of course it’s still there, the thing weighs a ton and is as manueverable as an ocean liner, the computer is there… Ah, computer…
I call my mom and tell her, silly me, I thought someone broke into my apartment! We talk, and then I go and make myself something to eat, take stuff from the fridge, cook my omelette, put it on a plate, come to eat it.
There’s something odd about the living room table. The big thick book I keep my laptop on is there, but where is…?
Fuck.
Laptop gone, its power supply and cable gone, and, right next to the computer where I sat, crap shoved aside so someone can steal my laptop carrying briefcase. Fuckfuckfuck. So, wait, did they turn things over looking for cash? That pair of socks jammed in the drawer, did I do that or…? I panic, but turns out that cash (Amuta money!) is still there.
So just the laptop. Which I was growing fond of again, after abandoning it for a while for the flashy new (but thankfuly heavy) desktop computer. With my half-munched, half-regurgitated story, and a half-written incoherent blog post, and a lot of chunks of my life.
And, you know, that sense of security you lose when the place you live is violated by a stranger.
Fuck.
Updated: OK, I am a moron. My portable hard drive (“the library card”) is also gone. And the Motorola 3G phone/PDA my dad got off an Egyptian that brought it from Germany, which I never used because it’s too battery-hungry and clunky, and which gathered dust in my bag as recently as ICon where I flashed it before Ophir’s eyes, but which apparently I was stupid enough to take out since then. Damn.
5 replies on “Burglarized”
Man, this hasn’t been a good week for you, has it?
Our house was burgled when I was 8 or 9 – the guy came in at night while we were all asleep. This was not long after we’d moved in and soon after my father died. Now that I think of it, I suppose I should have been terrified, but at the time I had a kid’s unshakable belief in the steadiness of the world, all evidence to the contrary notwithstanding. Can’t imagine how my mother dealt with it, though (well, I sort of know – we got a big dog, and the next burglar got scared away but good).
Dare I ask if the laptop was insured or whether you have current backups?
I think my parents’ house was burgled (or attempted-burgled) a couple of times over the years. I recall one night when I arrived late and was surprised to find light on in the garage and the gate open. I ignored it, went to sleep and learned the next morning that my dad’s car had been stolen.
I’ve had my own car stolen once and broken into twice (different cars), I got pickpocketed (very efficiently and painlessly). Having your home broken into is scarier, because it is supposed to be the safe place.
This also highlights how complacent we can get in our sense of false security, and how oblivious we (ok, this time it’s me and not neccessarily anyone else) to our familiar surroundings.
I only figured out my portable hard drive was missing when I read your question about back-ups. I moved my data to the new computer; The rest of the hard drive is mostly a lot of TV and, uff, Singing In The Rain. I had it on my laptop and the HD, both gone, and I still haven’t showed it to the person I wanted to show it to in the first place.
I told you you should do the martial arts thing!
Now you have gone and inconveniented me. I was hoping to get Batman back from you since my hard drive was violated by God (which is much more insulting and personal than when an NPC does it). But maybe he is removing loose ends for start of new campaign? One with superpowers, maybe?
I.
Funnily enough my portable HD is fucked as well.
160Gb of collectables down the drain.
This streak of bad luck is not a good sign, is it?
Bo – I suspect it indicates a malicious GM; in which case, now is the time to petition for superpowers.