Days of break remaining: three
After going to bed early last night, I was awakened at 1:54 AM by my cats growling.
Yes, my cats growl, but only when something bad is happening and/or going on. Along with the growling, I heard the distinct barks of what could only be several German Shepherds, and very close to the house. As in, in my driveway close. There was also some very loud yelling in the street.
Yes, at 1:54AM.
The fact that I didn't wake up to the sounds of yelling or dogs barking, but instead to the cats growling, doesn't surprise me at all. I grew up in a house with dogs who barked or howled at everything that moved, and the house behind mine has several Jack Russell terriers who never shut the fuck up when they're outside. The yelling's about the same -- my neighbors up the street are really white-trash folk who tend to have screaming matches and fights a lot, though usually in the summer months, and the cops have been at their home more times than I can count.
This noise, however, did not sound like it was coming from their house. It sounded like it was coming from right outside mine. And it was.
I looked out the downstairs window to see not one, but three police vehicles -- two squad cars and one of their big SUVs -- parked right in front of my home. As in, in front of my mailbox. And saw what can only be described as a "violent altercation" taking place in the driveway of the house across the street.
The dogs' barking was coming from inside the SUV, by the way it sounded, and it was the closest vehicle to my window -- no wonder the cats were scared and growling. While they scattered to hide, I threw on my clothes and ran upstairs to get a better view of what was going on -- not once turning on any lights or doing anything that would let anyone outside know I was a spectator to the debacle.
By the time I got upstairs, I saw several cops -- weapons drawn, mind you -- throwing the guy who lives across the street to the ground on his driveway and restraining him, while he screamed obscenities and other things I couldn't make out the entire time. They held their lights on him, he was fighting with them, etc. I was hoping to see video cameras rolling for his appearance on COPS, but was disappointed. They basically threw him into the back of the squad car, did an outdoor sweep of the property with their flashlights, said a few words to his wife/live-in-lover/what-have-you, and then all of them left.
In retrospect, he may have been screaming because they'd tased him. Which, if they had, I wish I could have seen.
I will take an aside for a moment and say that I live in a very nice small town with some very nice, down-to-earth people. We don't really have crime here. I think there have been less than ten murders or violent crimes in Newton, or within the entire county, in the past twenty years. Part of that's just the area of the country I live in, and part of that is because Newton has a very strong, very vigilant police force who will pull you over for questioning if you even sneeze in their direction while driving, and who actively pursue criminals. Cops get a lot of flak, but the cops I've talked to in this town over the years, mostly when I was working at/for the newspaper, have been pretty cool.
That being said, the neighbor in question was a relatively new one -- he and his woman, along with one kid, have only been living there since October or so. I remember this because I remember when they moved in, with their big truck and all sorts of redneck friends there. I've never heard any yelling or fighting coming from that house, and they seemed to be pretty happy most of the time, if loud and redneck-y (they let the kid run around the street and scream in his Power Wheels truck, etc etc). They both drive cars older than and in poorer shape than my Monte Carlo, for example, and that's hard to do. Both of them work low-wage jobs in the service industry or retail; I know this because I see them coming and going in their "work uniforms" all the time, at all hours of the day and night.
I don't get out much. Therefore I tend to look out the window a lot.
Anyway.
The police there was amusing, but not extremely surprising. A few weeks ago the cops were there as well, questioning the guy in his driveway. Then they quietly left. Not tonight. Hoo boy, not tonight. I really wish I could've seen the whole thing go down, to be honest. That's not something that happens every day.
So, I thought I'd share that interesting tale with you.
Yesterday was fairly productive; I am in the last stretch now, the last few days of break, and the last weekend of it. Because of this, I've found that there are a lot of things I have left to do before classes start back up again on Tuesday, and I am once more a slave to academia for the better part of the next four months. Therefore, I finished my work on everything for my students, and moved to focus on getting the house in order (figuratively, of course). I put new gas in the car and filled the tires up with new air, after which she handled remarkably well and purred like a kitten. I also mailed out all of my packages to my friends, so they should be receiving them Tuesday or Wednesday.
One of the last things I did, however, was visit the local discount grocery store here in town. I used to go to this place a lot, but I'm not sure I've been there since the former girlfriend and I broke up. I go there primarily because they sell Powerbars and other energy/meal/granola bars for five for a dollar. Sometimes their selection is better than others, but most of the time I can spend a few bucks there and have myself some meals/snacks to put in my desk at work for a few weeks.
Yesterday, their selection was extravagant. I ended up getting sixty of the bars (grand total: $12). There are so many that they will fill my desk drawer at work and will give me meals and snacks from them for the entire semester, if not longer. I plan to go back next weekend and get more, just so that I can have some in the house as well.
I did get a few other things, but not much. I got some snack-packs of Corn Nuts (25 cents each), some flavors of Kool-Aid I'd run out of (10 cents each), cooking oil, noodle soup packets (for my chicken noodle soup, 60 cents each), etc. I forgot to go through their rack of bread, which they get from really good local bakeries -- it's about the closest thing I can get to the D'Annunzio's bread I like from West Virginia. I also got some good frozen food -- probably the best deals they have on anything in the store aside from the Powerbars.
Upon returning home, I took care of some internet stuff, made some food, and started the fourth disc of Community, and went to bed early around 6 or 7 (since I was tired).
Community is, by the way, one of the funniest television shows I've ever seen -- and this is coming from a guy who just watched all three seasons of Arrested Development and the second season of Archer over the course of the past few weeks. If you haven't seen it yet, I really, really recommend it. I can't get enough of it, and it's one of those shows where I see the DVD sets and I'm like "SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY," etc etc. It very well may be the funniest show currently on television, as many have said.
I'll finish the first season today, with just enough time to receive my Blu-ray player in the mail.
Yes. In an uncharacteristic stroke of "let's spend money on something that doesn't involve keeping food in my stomach or the lights on," I went to Amazon and purchased a Blu-ray player for $55 or so. Something like that. Aside from the few items of clothing I've bought over the past several days, it's the only "splurge a little, just for me" sort of item I've purchased in many months, and the only such item I plan to purchase for the foreseeable future. This one's supposed to be a "quick loading" model. I didn't realize Blu-ray discs took forever to load, but okay. It was one of the less-expensive ones on Amazon, at least. For $55, it can work for a while and then blow up if it wants to.
Anyway, that'll arrive today via UPS. Hopefully.
Aside from taking care of around-the-house stuff and doing school prep stuff, not a whole lot is going on. The police incident across the street was about the most exciting thing that's happened in a while. I've enjoyed my break, and lived it to the fullest by sleeping a lot, watching a lot of TV and movies, and living frugally. The rest of my weekend will be spent cooking, cleaning and doing laundry, watching football, and having some responsibility-free video game and internet time. I have but three days before everything flips back around to academic mode, and to center myself this is what I do.
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