Can we rest now?

[saifai]

Wow.  It's been quite a week.  It's been so hectic at work.  Hubbyfai is working 12 hour days 7 days a week.  Even I'm getting quite a bit of overtime.  It's just that time of year.  The bus company hires out their services to charter for trips and such.  Keeps them super busy.  Also?  The natives are getting restless, if only because of the candy the teachers are giving them.

I haven't had time to work on projects in well over a week.  I come up on my break and sleep.  I come home after work and catch up on emails and such.  I go to bed late and get up the next day and start all over again.  I so need a break.  *checks the calendar*  Oh yeah.  I guess that was what today was for.

*****

A few cool things are happening.  One, I've got my computer on order.  It's gonna be a powerhouse.  Some parts we had to scale back on simply because they're just too expensive right now because of transitions in technology.  I'm gonna have a 2.4ghz AMD with hypo-transport technology (or something), 800mhz FSB, 80 gig HD (smaller because the larger ones are going obsolute because of the liquid technology or some such.  they're just hard to find anything bigger without paying high prices, or so I'm told), and 512 RAM (which we tried to get the 1gig chip, but they're in such high demand right now we couldn't find one without paying an outrageous price).  I also couldn't get the DVD-writer either, again with the high prices.  So I'm going with a DVD reader, CD writer, Zip drive, and a floppy drive.

*pantpant*  I can't WAIT to get it.  I'm so excited.

Also, I'm hoping to pickup an old laptop at the main auction. As it turns out they've got ancient laptops down there that are at least three times as fast as the old broken down clunker I'm currently using. I can probably pick one up in good working condition for 50 to a 100 bucks or so.

*****

Odd things have been happening too.  I guess the crime rate for gang activity has picked up considerably in the last few years here in our little state.  A guy we work with is a semi-retired cop.  He still works with them, but on a more limited basis.  Anyway, he was telling us a few details about a gang shooting.  A fifteen year old kid was executed in front of a large grocery store the other day.  At first they thought it was the rival East End gang, as he was a known member of the West End gang.  Apparently he was just a member of their own gang who'd been ousted for beating up a mentally handicap student he'd seen roaming in their area.

Anyway, one of the kids on my elementary bus, one of the sixth graders, was very good friends with this kid.  It saddened me at first to think this poor child was going through such an ordeal of losing such a close friend in that way.  But on the other hand, I was far more horrified to realize that he'd called this boy his brother at first.  He said the boy was his street brother, what he said was another way to call him a best friend.  That means that in just a few short years, he'll have a gun in hand and will be roaming the streets right along side these other gang members.

He's just so young, and so sweet.  I just can't imagine such a life for him.  I'm scared for him.  I feel so helpless too because there's not a damn thing I can do about it.  In the position I'm in, I'm so limited in what I can do here.

People in this area, because the local police have been withholding news about violent and gang related crimes for years, just don't take this kind of thing seriously.  They think "gang" and don't associate it with people who have guns and will pull little old ladies out of their cars right off the street and beat them to bloody pulps.

Comments

[speakr2customrs.livejournal.com]

If a 1 gig RAM module is too expensive why not get two 512 Mb ones?

[kaydee23.livejournal.com]

I am a librarian at a inner-city high school in Houston. The other day, a very nice female student stabbed another girl in the head and chest with a pair of scissors.

After 15 years of working in the inner-city, I wasn't even shocked or surprised. I really wasn't. Their world perception is so different.

The girl stabbed the other girl over some dumb guy. Apparently, the stabbing victim had *the nerve* to speak to a boy the other girl liked.

Ridiculous.

[lunabee34.livejournal.com]

Congrats on the new computer!!!!!!

I know exactly what it feels like to know or be pretty damn sure that someone is headed for trouble and be able to do nothing to prevent it. *commiserates* It's a shitty feeling and I"m sorry.

[saifai.livejournal.com]

An excellent question. LOL Not a clue. Hubby talked to him and didn't think to ask. Thanks for bringing it up though. :)

We did some checking around this weekend to see what we could find on our own. Looks like we might be able to get the other more expensive ones from alternate sources.

[saifai.livejournal.com]

Wow.

I suspect that's the sort of thing they're trying to avoid here. I'm just not sure it's the best way to go about it.

It's absolutely ridiculous, the whole lot of it.

[saifai.livejournal.com]

Thank you, on both accounts. And yeah... I just hope a little extra cheer in his day from me might help at least some.

[chicken-cem.livejournal.com]

It's almost as if there is no "best" way -- only a series of kind of vaguely good ways, all of which have problems. I know there's a big problem with gangs having guns (unregistered, of course!) in the high schools here, and it seems like every time a case comes before a jury, a mistrial is declared for one reason or another and everyone just proceeds with the violence. ARGH.