My friend Brian said that, in my shoes, he'd have gone apeshit. Kevin says that he'd be out for blood. Surprisingly, I'm not as angry as I would have been. I'm not even as angry as I was prior to realizing that the laptop was among the stolen goods.

What really pissed me off was the realization the CDs were gone. Not just that I lost 20 or so original CDs (as opposed to burned), but that four of them were signed by Mark David Manders while we were both in a drunken stupor. It's a memory I'm never going to forget, but the beer-soaked CD that Manders didn't want to sign to begin with and the other three. that pissed me off.

But when I realized that the laptop was gone, I realized the depth of what had happened... and it's too big to get angry about, really. Or maybe the shock of having the shell out $2,000 to replace the bare minimum of what was taken hasn't sunk in yet. But really, what can ya do? Be thankful my new digital camera wasn't in the car, I suppose.

Of course, a question I'm being asked is whether or not I've "learned my lesson" in regards to leaving things in the car. Really, though, the big things were only there because of an avalanche of circumstances. It's the second time my CDs have been taken, though. My friend Jay suggests I stop keeping my CDs in there. Truthfully, without the CDs and CD player, they never would have broken into the car to begin with. The laptop was in what looks like a simple knapsack, so there's no way they saw it. Chances are they saw the portable CD player, the CD binder (but not the original presses, which were covered), and the tons of covered stuff and figured there was stuff in there worth having.

But I think about taking the CDs with me when I leave the car, and I'm just reluctant to. For the same reason I'm not as angry as I could be, I think. At the end of the day, it's just stuff. A lot of stuff and stuff that costs money, but I bought that stuff for a reason. Okay, two reasons and the second being so I could have it and some asshole with a cocaine fix won't pawn it, but the main reason is that I want to use it. I don't want to spend all my time looking after it and given my propensity to lose things, that's what I'd have to do. I lose and break a lot of things and I've gotten so tired and frustrated with it that I can't let it get to me anymore. I'm not positive the car was locked when the CDs were jacked the first time. This time it was locked so they just busted open the window. If I leave stuff in the apartment, they can just steel it from there. What's the point?

I'll just count my blessings that I can afford to replace it all. The new laptop is on its way.

But you can sure as hell bet that one is never spending the night in my car.

Ever.

Sorry bout the excessive self-indulgence of today. Regular posting will resume tomorrow.