I am in the mood...

I am in the mood to do some yard work and it would be a great day for it, too... but I have homework.  And I am behind because this past week sucked so I guess I am just grateful for the day off.  😕

UPDATE ON THE NEIGHBOR SITUATION:

There is not a lot of news to tell.  I went to press charges today, but then I didn't.  Not because I'm not going to, but because when I do I want to have all of my shit straight.  My goal is to have it done by next Friday.

The ladies at the police station seemed confused as to why I'd want to press charges if I'm not asking for compensation of some sort.  I highly doubt there is any way to tell how much power she has stolen from me, but I'll check with Alabama Power anyway.  Other than that her actions did cause damage to some of my electrical stuff on the back of my garage so there is that.  ALSO, I would like to find out if endangering my home and my family by creating a fire hazard could count for something.  So I have homework to do.  If anyone has any helpful information I would greatly appreciate it right now.

The other thing that happened today was that I walked to the neighbor's house across the street.  He keeps to himself, but seems like a good guy and he works somewhere in the school system and knows Shadow.  He said he keeps an eye on things here and that he saw one of the guys that was in and out at the neighbor's house go to hook it up, but thought I had consented (he said that he just stays out of people's business and I get that).  So while we don't know which guy it was I do have a witness that someone from her location did it.  Also, on my way to his house across the street in the ditch was a used needle.  Disgusting.

Anyway.  I got the neighbor up the hill's phone number in case I need him so that's better.  I gave him mine, as well.  I've also got a couple of more friends in the neighborhood than I knew so I'm feeling a bit better for now.

I have no idea what happens when you press charges on someone, but the main thing I want is for her to be punished.  I know I will never see anything she owes me, but I don't want her to think she can just do whatever with no consequences.  She should at least get community service or something.  If anyone knows how things work please let me know.

This is what we did in class tonight.

This is what we did in class tonight. It's a short, simple little bit of code. It asks your name and age, then when you answer and press enter, it gives you this. Hello world! 🙂

Update on the neighbor situation:

I have had my cheapie Amazon camera hooked up since last night. As far as I can tell nothing happened. I left the camera hooked up all day so I could check in when I felt like it from my cell phone. Well, I had one moment of panic when I saw a bunch of cop cars going up and down the road and then one officer walking onto my property, but shortly after that I found out that my place was ok and the officer was just calling in the names of some guys while standing in front of my house so I calmed back down. I don't know the details of any of that, but things are ok.

I've been seeing stuff go in and out of the house next door, but not often and not much. I have been hopeful all day that she would be leaving, but just found out that a friend of the family is moving in. I heard that he is a good person and won't allow her crap so maybe it will be ok. I don't want to get my hopes up, but I'm open to the idea that it won't be awful. I just can't imagine that if she's super into drugs and screwing people over that she won't do it to him, too, eventually, but hell - what do I know? Maybe he's magic or something.

I haven't heard from the cops since they left yesterday so I am going to call in the morning and see if they have my report ready. I don't exactly know the procedure for pressing charges, but I assumed I have to go down there and sign something. Anyway, that's it for now. I have get my mind back on school because this week was entirely derailed by this shit and I have a lot riding on this semester. Send me some concentration vibes, please. ❤

I should have been asleep hours ago...

I should have been asleep hours ago, but I wanted to set up this little cheapie camera from Amazon. It's just stuck in my window.  But I can view what's going on from my phone. Supposedly if there is movement it will alarm and start recording. We'll see. Maybe we'll find out what she is doing with that U-Haul after all.

Goodnight, friends. ❤️

As of right now...

As of right now this is the first time I've felt half-way ok-ish since Monday at 3. This is a story and it might be kind of long, but shit has gone down.

I know you all have probably thought that I was straight LOSING IT when I posted on here that I'm armed. But if you were in my position you might understand why I feel the need to do that occasionally. It's true that Shaun has made my life much easier, but I have worked hard for 16 years operating largely as a single parent to have what little bit we do have. Being that me and Shaun live separately it is just me, the kid, and the ani-pals here. My neighborhood is going to shit and there is nothing I can do about it for a few more years.

A previous neighbor moved back into their empty house in July. She used my water hose to shower once and eventually put it through her window and refused to give it back. This went on until October. I only let it slide for so long because she was giving me money and kept promising to have her water turned on soon. When my water bill reached $200 in one month I ordered a lock from Amazon and put an end to that.

Off and on during all of this time I've been suspicious that she and her drug-addict friends have been on my property, but I've had no way to prove it or stop it.

Ok, so fast-forward to Monday (the day that school started), and I'd just gotten out of Physics class. I was in Gadsden and pretty stressed already. Then Shadow called me. He usually texts me when he's home - he only calls when he's excited or something is wrong. He goes "I need to read you something" and then proceeds to read a 3-page long letter that was anonymously left in our mailbox. Among other things it told me all of the drugs that the neighbor was using / selling (weed, heroin, meth), that she had, in fact, been trying to find a way into my house and garage, and also that she had illegally hooked up power from the back of my garage. It described the location of the hookup and told me that it was very unsafe.

Obviously that sent me into panic mode, but I had another class and desperately did not want to miss on the first day. I called my mother and thankfully, she went to my house to check it out and be there with Shadow. She easily found the wires and took photos. I called the cops immediately, but it took 3 calls to finally get someone out there. The guy they sent said that one of the wires wasn't hooked up so that it wasn't working and even if it was, they would be stealing from Alabama Power and not me. I was told that I had to contact them.

So, we called Alabama Power and they sent someone out on Tuesday. They called this morning to inform me that I WAS the one being stolen from, not them. SO... I called the cops AGAIN this morning. The cop who came out seemed reluctant to deal with the situation at first due to an officer coming out Monday and doing nothing, but she followed through, thankfully. I told her what the power company said and showed her the wire and she tugged on it. I told her to be careful - that a note told me it was going into the neighbor's house. She asked to read it so I let her. She said "Well, I'm no electrician, but I can follow this cord." AND SHE WENT OVER THERE.

There were lights on in the house where the note described. The neighbor said that they were being run by a generator and there was one out back, but it wasn't running. SO I was finally ABLE to file a report on her for something after all of these months. When it is ready I will be pressing charges. I also asked the officer if there was anything to be done about her trespassing and the officer witnessed me issue a no-trespassing statement to her so now if I catch her over here again I can press charges for that, as well.

My mom and brother came over this afternoon. My brother (who learned electrical stuff in the Army) unhooked her setup. He said that when he touched the box it popped and sparked. He's pretty sure my little power supply is fucked, but I'll live. He also said that it looked like a fire waiting to happen. We have the power to the garage cut for now at the breaker so hopefully this will not come up again anytime soon.

Currently there is a U-Haul next door and I don't know if the neighbor is moving out or moving someone in. People come and go over there all the time so I don't even know if it has anything to do with the fact that I cut her off today. Hell, she could be planning to clean me out tonight and run for all I know.

I feel sorry for her because it's going to get cold, but at this point in my life I'm working so hard to get us into a better place and she does nothing but fight with people, bring junkies into the neighborhood, and stress me out. If this gets rid of her somehow - then great. She did have a job and a vehicle, but she has lost both and she does nothing to help herself. If she did I would probably have more sympathy for her, but I just don't have any left. I have no idea how long she's been stealing from me, but worse than that she put us in danger of losing our home to a fire with that crap.

So I finally feel somewhat relieved now that it's unhooked and I've filed a report. I feel better now that it's documented and she knows I know what she's doing, and, perhaps most important of all - that I'm not going to just roll over and take it.

So, this has been my week so far. How has yours gone?

Edited to add: If you want to see the letter then message me, but I'm not posting it publicly.

Edited again to add:  I was never able to press charges because the police department needed to know the value of the electricity stolen.  I had no way to know when this started, how much she'd used, or anything like that so she got away with it.

Yesterday was bad...

Yesterday was bad and I'm not totally over it yet. I cleaned my bedroom and organized my binder how I want it for this semester and that is helping to cull the crazy for the moment. I was hoping to have a less stressful semester so that I could focus on schoolwork, but the way things are shaping up that is definitely not going to happen.

On the bright side someone is looking out for me. I have no idea who it is, but if you happen to be reading this I appreciate the warning. Please know that I'm doing all I can to force a change. ❤

#vaguebookingandiknowitbutshitisgettingreal