Breaking and Entry - Friday the 13th

JOHN - Well, as many of you already know, our apartment was broken into on Friday, the 13th. How freakin' appropriate, right? I was looking forward to going to Rawlinson's 7th and 8th grade dance that night. In fact, it was around 5:00 PM when I got the phone call from Jayma that changed everything for us.

As I said, RMS had a dance that night so I decided to stay after school and do some final ISU-required stuff with Mrs. Schiebel. We got the classroom set up and we were going to go grab a bite before the dance started at 6. I had my phone's volume off, which I usually do during the day, so I missed Jayma's initial. When I did see that she called, I noticed she called twice w/i a minute and even left a voice message. If anyone knows Jayma, she NEVER leaves a voice message. She'd much rather text you. When I listened to the message, she sounded hysterical. After calling her back, and finally understanding what she said, I immediately drove home.

As I arrived to the apartment, the first thing I saw was the huge crack in the door frame. It looks like the thieves broke down the front door. I was a little bit shocked that they had the balls to break thru the front door in the middle of the daytime. As I walked thru the apartment, I first noticed Jayma's tv (the one she just bought a few months back) missing. Then, I noticed both of our laptops were gone and then I moved into my bedroom.

Inside my bedroom, I immediately noticed that the mattress was moved. My room wasn't torn apart but lots of things were missing. My custom made Tim Brown Raiders jersey...GONE. My rare Vince Young Texas Longhorns Rose Bowl jersey...GONE. Plus, I had other jerseys including my Bruins, 3 Cardinals and a Celtics jersey....GONE. My PS2, which was under my bed...GONE. All of my Sunny and Scrubs dvds in the living room....GONE. I had a cd case which held 20 cds...GONE. I had some comics...GONE. Even my black suit, YES, my black dress suit with matching shoes...GONE. Assholes took some of my hats, too. Camera, guitar, MP3 player...ALL GONE.

Thank god Jayma and I both have renter's insurance. And I realize now that a lot it is just "stuff" and can be replaced. But now I have mixed emotions on everything. Once I get my check from the insurance company, do I want to go out and buy everything I lost. Not that I don't want my stuff back but rather, I wonder what's the point to having all of this stuff if it can happen again. I realize that I cannot stop living my life b/c of these pricks but our life has been turned upside down b/c of this mess.

The two things I really want back is 1) my computer and 2) the Vince Young jersey. That jersey is rare. I tried looking for it on Ebay. No one is selling one. Granted, it means it's going to be valuable but I don't care about the value, I just want it back. I will never get it back and probably never find another one. It just pisses me off that someone, somewhere has my jersey. Ironically enough, I took ALL of my UT stuff to school that day b/c Mrs. Schiebel and I were decorating the room for the UT-A&M game. I decided to take my Colt McCoy jersey instead, thinking that I didn't want the kids to do any damage to the jersey. I chuckle now it would have been safer at school then at home in my closet.

As for my computer, this sucks because I just bought that computer and I liked it. But what's worse was, my entire life was in there. Every picture I have taken w/ my camera (which was also stolen), is gone. Jayma was lucky enough to have some saved on a flashdrive but still, it sucks. However, EVERYTHING I have done this semester is GONE. EVERTHING. Granted, there are some things I was able to find on Livetext and on sent emails but still, I have spent hours saving things and changing passwords. You never realize how much your life has become dependent on computers until yours is stolen.

I think the thing that bothers Jayma and I the most is that we no longer feel comfortable in this apartment. Even with all of the maintenance issues and loud neighbors, we still felt that this was our little home. Not anymore. Now, it's just a place to keep what's left of our stuff. Jayma no longer feels comfortable being here alone. We decided to keep all of our windows and blinds shut. We'd rather turn the air on than give anyone another opportunity to violate us. I have since packed up what remaining valuable items and moved them to Don and Lisa's. My room is pretty bare minimum now and that's fine. Granted, I still have a bed (with a missing pillow case which was stolen and really pisses me off), I don't sleep well here now. Hell, I woke up at 3:30 Saturday morning thinking my spare set of car keys could've been taken which would make it easy for my car to be stolen.

I will say this, Lisa and Don have been wonderful to us during this chaotic time. On Saturday night, Lisa invited us to the Spurs game. Granted, the Spurs lost to Oklahoma City, it was nice just being out of the apartment. We ended up going downtown for some drinks (I needed one or ten) and tried to get our thoughts off of it. Sunday, I went to Don and Lisa's and they were gracious enough to let us borrow one of their laptops and tv's. That was so amazing of them. It's weird how much a tv adds to a living room but it makes the room feel "right" again. It's strange, I know, but it helps bring back some level of normalcy.

As the days of progressed, Jayma and I have been trying to get back to normal. We have contacted our insurance companies and have created our lists of missing stuff to send to them. We are not going to go out and buy things since we are leaving in a few weeks. We are just going to try and get through the remaining time here and then head back to Illinois on December 7. I know that, even though I am coming back here in January, I am not going to live here at Fountainhead.

Here's my advice for those students considering moving to San Antonio or getting an apartment (and this could go for anywhere you live): 1. DO NOT rent from Fountainhead. Have Linda Mendoza help you find another place but DO NOT live here. Some of the clientele they have moving here is looking shady. 2. DO NOT rent a ground floor apartment. Get one as high as you can. Having worked in property management for 9 years, I can say that if you take some small but smart steps, you can rest easier knowing that something like will not happen to you. No guarantee, just be smart.