Alas
So two weeks and two days ago, whilst I was at a weaving class, my car was broken into. Passenger front window smashed, schoolbag taken. In the schoolbag: my laptop (what the thief was looking for, I assume). Also in my school bag: a textbook filled with handwritten notes, two or three folders of assignments and such, a notebook filled with notes for two classes, a paperback I was borrowing, some paperwork. The bag itself was an old Harry Potter Hogwarts book bag which is no longer manufactured, to my knowledge. Three other cars were broken into; at least one of those had items stolen as well.
It sucked. I was more devastated by the loss of my school notes and book bag than the computer. I have renter's insurance which covered the window damage and my property loss; I had my data backed up on an external hard drive which was several miles away from the site of the theft. I was not physically harmed. It could have been so much worse.
What characterized my reaction to the theft most was sadness. I was angry at first, of course. The police, to my awareness, have not been able to recover the computer nor do they have any leads. All I was left with was my loss, and a resignation. Life doesn't stop just because bad things happened. I had to figure out how to keep going. It felt like being knocked onto my back, picking myself up and finding that my original path had now been diverted somewhat. I could keep going forward; but every so often I would stumble onto new obstacles. "That was on my computer." "I hope I do okay on this quiz since my notes and textbook are gone." "I think I edited that file after my last backup, so that edit is gone."
I've gotten through okay. I don't have a lot of anger anymore; I didn't have much to start with. It's a waste of energy, anyway. I can say this much: after having gone through this, after having been robbed, I would beg before I would steal. It's clear that the thief never thought about how their actions would affect the lives of their targets; I now know enough that I would never willingly put someone through that. Even if they had my experience, where everything worked out okay.
I got my new computer today. Time to move forward.
This entry was originally posted at http://carrie-ironhorse.dreamwidth.org/7329.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
It sucked. I was more devastated by the loss of my school notes and book bag than the computer. I have renter's insurance which covered the window damage and my property loss; I had my data backed up on an external hard drive which was several miles away from the site of the theft. I was not physically harmed. It could have been so much worse.
What characterized my reaction to the theft most was sadness. I was angry at first, of course. The police, to my awareness, have not been able to recover the computer nor do they have any leads. All I was left with was my loss, and a resignation. Life doesn't stop just because bad things happened. I had to figure out how to keep going. It felt like being knocked onto my back, picking myself up and finding that my original path had now been diverted somewhat. I could keep going forward; but every so often I would stumble onto new obstacles. "That was on my computer." "I hope I do okay on this quiz since my notes and textbook are gone." "I think I edited that file after my last backup, so that edit is gone."
I've gotten through okay. I don't have a lot of anger anymore; I didn't have much to start with. It's a waste of energy, anyway. I can say this much: after having gone through this, after having been robbed, I would beg before I would steal. It's clear that the thief never thought about how their actions would affect the lives of their targets; I now know enough that I would never willingly put someone through that. Even if they had my experience, where everything worked out okay.
I got my new computer today. Time to move forward.
This entry was originally posted at http://carrie-ironhorse.dreamwidth.org/7329.html. Please comment there using OpenID.