Think Twice

Hello. So for any of you who don't know (or who didn't notice my facebook status), my purse got stolen this past Saturday. It was stolen from a room that was supposed to be locked outside of the laser tag arena at Nickel City. You see, when you go to play laser tag, you are taken into the room where you get your gun/vest and the attendant tells you to leave your stuff under the rack that you take your vest from. They tell you this every time. They tell you this because they then proceed to lock the door and stay in that room until your game is over. Unfortunately for me, the girl that was running laser tag that night was apparently a complete idiot and let some girls in to look for their "cigarettes" in the middle of our game. After they looked, they took my purse. I can only hope that girl was fired for her idiocy. But the point of this post is not whose fault it was or how it played out. The point is, there are some people out there who think that stealing is a good idea. I could not tell you why they think that. Maybe they grew up in such a situation where stealing was not demonized as it should be. Maybe they are trying to impress friends. Maybe they desperately need money for whatever reason. Maybe they just have no soul. I really don't know. But when you steal something, think about this: how will that affect the person you're stealing from? I know that if you're stealing someone's stuff, you've probably dehumanized that person anyway so as to not feel guilty. But really, consider this:

My purse contained the following:
-Keys to my car and house (including a little teddy bear keychain I got from New York when I went there with my family over Christmas break)
-My wallet (including not just my cash and bank cards, but a whole host of other cards, including my temple reccommend and a mini diploma sent to me by BYU. Also, I guarantee I'll never find another wallet like that one. It was my favorite I'd had in a long time)
-My cell phone (including many photos that I had not downloaded on to my computer; notes about photoshoots, books I wanted to read, ideas I'd had, etc.; my calendar, which is basically my brain; and all my work schedules)
-My iPod (lovingly named Fred II after my first iPod, Fred, who died of natural causes)
-Various lipsticks, chapsticks, and a necklace that I had just rediscovered
-And last and possibly worst, my camera (which I had owned for seven years, which contained recently-taken photos, and which I could still take better photos with than most people can with their fancy new cameras, even though it was so old and only 6 megapixels. It was the best point and shoot ever. That was my FIRST digital camera. Knowing I'm a photographer, equate that to me losing a beloved pet.)

So, aside from looking at the actual items stolen (amounting to over $1000 worth in losses), look at the memories that were stolen from me. But of course, the thief never would have thought of that. Because if you are so depraved as to steal someone's belongings, then you are probably past feeling anything about anyone besides yourself. So I just wanted to say that if any of you are for some reason considering stealing something from someone, or if you are ever tempted, just take a second and think twice about it. Not only are you breaking the law. Not only are you demoralizing yourself. But you are hurting someone. And you never know how that will affect them. Luckily for me, most of those things can be replaced, and eventually, I'm sure the hurt suffered at the loss of those memories and precious things to me will heal. But say my circumstances had been different. Say that camera had been given to me by someone now gone, whose photos on that camera had been all that I'd had left of them. Maybe that's a little extreme, but you get the idea. You never know how you're hurting someone. So, thieves, wherever you are, I invite you to rethink your life choices.

And if I ever see you again in real life, you'd better be fast runners.

The value of a quiet spot.

Maybe because I grew up an only child, I never truly understood the true value of peace and quiet. Never in my life (besides when the nephews/niece came to visit) have I had to wake up to screaming children or the pounding of feet. Maybe that was a disadvantage for me...obviously I'm going to have to put up with it someday. Except I swear if my kids make enough noise to make it sound like the house is caving in, they're going to get in trouble. Because as much as I didn't realize it until now, I very much value my quiet time. This is something that I have unfortunately come to realize of late because of my utter lack of it. The most quiet time I get is when I work at the hospital in Mother/Baby (yeah, ironic that the quietest part of my day is in the section of the hospital with all the screaming babies). Today was the first day in a couple months that I've actually been woken up by my alarm instead of the sound of my ceiling being pounded to pieces, and I suspect that that was only because I've been so exhausted this week that I slept right through it, because there was the pounding about twenty or so minutes after I'd woken up. And it's not just in the morning that that happens. It's at night, too. And it's constant. Not just a couple thumps and we're done. It literally sounds like the stampede from Jumanji is running around upstairs. Since I grew up with a very low noise level, I have a hard time concentrating when there's any sort of loud noise. I could never study when there was music playing, I find it difficult to focus in a room full of chatting people, and I'm having the hardest time getting any of my book read in my current living situation. Which is a real shame, because I very much enjoy reading. I can't tell you what I would give for a comfortable, sound-proof room with a big, cushy couch and some large windows (to let in the beautiful and rarely-seen-in-my-apartment sunlight) at this current moment in time.

I swear I'm never having visitors when I get my own house (please please please let that be a not-too-distantly-in-the-future acquisition!). Or maybe I'll just have a separate guest house so they can't disturb me with their absurdly over-the-top volume.

That being said, maybe I should look at this as a blessing...so I can acclimate myself to high noise levels...for the future....

No but let's be serious. The sooner I get my own place, the better.