BAM! BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM. vroooooooooom.

[garote]

Hm. Six gunshots fired in rapid succession followed by a car driving off, less than two blocks away. Someone yelling "I’ve been hit!" to his friends. "Where?" "I dunno it just hurts! Let’s get out of here!" 45 seconds later the sound of cop sirens. Lovely.

Ahh, Oakland! Aside from the imminent threat of violent death, it’s actually a great place.

...

Just went out and spoke to some guys and girls sitting in a car outside my house.
One girl said "I know who got shot, I think. Friend of mine. Cops say someone got shot in the foot. I think it was him."
She and the other girl had their phones out and were texting. One guy asked me if I saw anything. I told him "six shots fired, sound of a car driving off, dunno it it was them."
The cops have three cars out there, two blocking the section of street where the incident happened. One cop was handling a plastic bag. I suspect he found a used casing, but I didn’t walk up to ask.

Anyway, back to writing code...

Comments

[juan-gandhi.livejournal.com]

OMFG. What's so good about it? Why not rather stay away?

[garote]

Well, I’m actually kind of living the dream, here. Or at least, my own version of it.

I own a house, and with the renters, the cash flow is manageable. I have a back yard with big trees and sun that I get to putter around in. Last weekend I raked leaves and pulled weeds while listening to an audiobook, and it was a total indulgence.

I do science-ey things for a living in a job with a flexible schedule and my commute time is 14 minutes total on a bicycle.

Mira-cat stalks around the place and naps in a little basket, and there’s farmer’s markets five days every week within biking distance, and the weather is pleasant and the coastal air blows away all the smog.

(It's an interesting thought that, up until about two years ago, I was totally convinced that unless I own a car and use it almost every day, it's impossible to actually live a high-quality life in the United States.)

Sure I might get riddled in a crossfire ... but that’s the price I pay, I guess.

[bluepapercup]

Do you have a will for the disposition of your estate?

[garote]

I do in fact! But I wrote it up in order to travel, not because of my neighborhood ... Which is kinda silly

[aquestrian.livejournal.com]

That all sounds amazing. Where are you in Oakland now?

[garote]

On Linden Street, about a half block from Emeryville :)
NOBE, as "they" call it

[juan-gandhi.livejournal.com]

Well, right; makes sense...

[(Anonymous)]

I don't know how I was directed to this page from the Internet article I was reading which had absolutely different topics involved and yet the search through my soul is the theme I have been pn, and does this journal provide. I had never heard of Arthur Clarke, but wow what an interesting review, opinions, etc. and application in my mind to read them without reading anything the author had produced first. It's quite fantastic what mt mind connected them to from my most recent experiences and perspective - type of shifts internally. This was in the most random, perfectly found live journal or thing I could have read to help me fill in some links in the newly developed understanding, interpetation, and reality of my consciousness which I likely believe in no way was intended to do so, nor would ever have been interpreted this way under any other circumstance ever of me coming across this page. Thank you very much for taking the time to journal, think, express all that you have about your life. You never know how it may touch a stranger or the fluidity of life even minorly. I am sure this comment makes no sense to you or anyone else reading, but it is a very appreciative THANK YOU for being you and doing the things that you have done thus far in life, it is truly amazing.

(No, I am not on drugs or anything of the sort. Lost soul, looking for answers who stumbled across them here somehow just exactly perfectly for myself here. )

Happiness and Love!


Random other human being who is happy you exist