Driven home in a police car.
OR
How my birthday ended on the worst note ever.
OR
Why I need to move out of Yagi RIGHT NOW.
Yesterday was my birthday (I'm 26 now! Do I get anything special?), and as I didn't have any other plans, I decided to go play basketball with my mixi group. Basketball was really fun - there was a good turnout and I won most of the games I played in. Plus, as it was my birthday, I didn't have to pay the 300yen for the gym. Score!
Then I went home. And walking home in Yagi, some asshole on a motorbike rode up behind me and grabbed my bag.
All he got were my basketball shoes and a bookstore bag containing idol zashi - my purse and all its contents (digicam, ds, keitai, money, gaijin card...) were on my other shoulder, away from the fucker. So it could have been much worse. Also, I realized afterwards (probably about an hour or so) that I was really really lucky to have only gotten a twisted wrist when he grabbed my stuff - I'd had the handles looped around my forearm and was holding on to them as well when he came by, going fast enough that I was pulled along for a couple of steps beside him.
What bothers me the most, I think, is that I KNOW my stuff just got dumped somewhere. It's not worth anything to anybody but ME - my basketball shoes are about 10 years old now, and the idol magazines... well, I suppose if he had a 12 year old sister she:d be happy to get them. BUT I WANT MY BASKETBALL SHOES BACK, DAMNIT!
I screamed, even. I didn't know that I could. But it was a mighty fine scream that echoed off of the houses and apartment building right near where it happened. Of course, nobody came to see what the problem was, so I probably could have saved my vocal chords the trouble.
Walked back to the koban (I was about halfway home when it happened, right next to the Nova Dome for those of you who know Yagi), feeling jumpy whenever I heard a motorbike, and inspecting each one I did see for somebody matching what I'd seen of the guy who stole my stuff. At the koban I sat for about 1.5 hours, describing what happened, what I'd seen of the guy, what got stolen (do you have any idea HOW EMBARRASSING it is to explain to the nice police lady that "yes I am 26 and I am reporting stolen IDOL ZASHI"?!), how much the stuff was worth to me, where it happened... all that sort of fun stuff. I did hear in the background on the radio the cops out patrolling all being alerted to what had happened and looking for the guy and my stuff, which was kinda cool in a way.
The police offered to drive me home when we were finished, both because I felt shaken still and because when I said I lived in Jioucho they were all "Jioucho is scary." Thanks for the reassurance, guys!
But really, I WANT MY BASKETBALL SHOES!
How my birthday ended on the worst note ever.
OR
Why I need to move out of Yagi RIGHT NOW.
Yesterday was my birthday (I'm 26 now! Do I get anything special?), and as I didn't have any other plans, I decided to go play basketball with my mixi group. Basketball was really fun - there was a good turnout and I won most of the games I played in. Plus, as it was my birthday, I didn't have to pay the 300yen for the gym. Score!
Then I went home. And walking home in Yagi, some asshole on a motorbike rode up behind me and grabbed my bag.
All he got were my basketball shoes and a bookstore bag containing idol zashi - my purse and all its contents (digicam, ds, keitai, money, gaijin card...) were on my other shoulder, away from the fucker. So it could have been much worse. Also, I realized afterwards (probably about an hour or so) that I was really really lucky to have only gotten a twisted wrist when he grabbed my stuff - I'd had the handles looped around my forearm and was holding on to them as well when he came by, going fast enough that I was pulled along for a couple of steps beside him.
What bothers me the most, I think, is that I KNOW my stuff just got dumped somewhere. It's not worth anything to anybody but ME - my basketball shoes are about 10 years old now, and the idol magazines... well, I suppose if he had a 12 year old sister she:d be happy to get them. BUT I WANT MY BASKETBALL SHOES BACK, DAMNIT!
I screamed, even. I didn't know that I could. But it was a mighty fine scream that echoed off of the houses and apartment building right near where it happened. Of course, nobody came to see what the problem was, so I probably could have saved my vocal chords the trouble.
Walked back to the koban (I was about halfway home when it happened, right next to the Nova Dome for those of you who know Yagi), feeling jumpy whenever I heard a motorbike, and inspecting each one I did see for somebody matching what I'd seen of the guy who stole my stuff. At the koban I sat for about 1.5 hours, describing what happened, what I'd seen of the guy, what got stolen (do you have any idea HOW EMBARRASSING it is to explain to the nice police lady that "yes I am 26 and I am reporting stolen IDOL ZASHI"?!), how much the stuff was worth to me, where it happened... all that sort of fun stuff. I did hear in the background on the radio the cops out patrolling all being alerted to what had happened and looking for the guy and my stuff, which was kinda cool in a way.
The police offered to drive me home when we were finished, both because I felt shaken still and because when I said I lived in Jioucho they were all "Jioucho is scary." Thanks for the reassurance, guys!
But really, I WANT MY BASKETBALL SHOES!