Unfortunately, while out on Saturday night some punk-ass jerk decided that my adorable, new, black clutch with tiny hardware details and rhinestone clasp would match his outfit better then mine. Along with it went my wallet, which was an early gift from G. He picked it up for me in Vienna when he traveled through Europe after college with his parents. The purse itself was a recent gift from my mom. My camera went bye-bye as well. It too had been a gift – this time from my mother-in-law. It also really hurt since there were all of those pics still on it that I had not downloaded yet. And yes of course, my iPhone. I was rendered completely disconnected from the world.
Of course, initially I was and freaked out. I’m right smack in the middle of my 2-year contract, so there was very little in the way of subsidies coming my way to help me get a new phone, and I’m just not in the place to drop several hundred bucks right now. Then, of course, knowing someone else is out there with my license is scary. The whole feeling of lack of control that being robbed whacks you with is also incredibly unsettling.
I should have been holding the purse, obviously. I had set it down next to me on the counter next to me to order a drink and talk with some friends for a moment. We were at a bar on the 3rd Street Promenade, not exactly a sketchy part of town. Nonetheless, I turned around for a couple of minutes, and *poof* some schmuck had whisked it away.
The next day, though, we took a nice walk by the beach with M&N. It was a beautiful day, the ocean looked so vast and beautiful, and we had good friends with us. Definitely helps put things back in perspective. There was no tragedy here, after all. The items had emotional value, but at the end of the day it was just stuff.
Plus, it could have been a lot worse. I had emptied a bunch of things out of the purse in the car before we got out, so there’s a bunch of things that could have been taken that weren’t. I noticed that the purse was missing pretty quickly, so we were able to file a police report and cancel the cards right away. All the cards had already been flagged for suspicious activity, so Schmucko wasn’t able to get all that much $$$ anyways. There had been no cash in purse so :-P. The info on my license needed to be updated anyhow. Even the iPhone situation looks like it’s going to work out. Marc is about to get the 3G s, so I can buy his old one for a lot less than I thought I’d have to pay. It turns out that you can even have the balance of your Starbucks card refunded-- as long as it’s been registered – so even my coffee money will be sent back to me.
I admit that it also gives me solace that my iPhone was actually cracked. When I first got the phone it flew out of my hand as I got out of the elevator and plummeted 3 stories down into the courtyard. The fact it had survived this fall felt like badge on honor to me, but means it’s less valuable were it to be resold. My camera was a few years old, so that to is somewhat devalued. Schmucko ended up getting some free drinks at a pub, little bit of cash at the atm, a cracked phone, an aging camera, and a nice purse to give his girlfriend or sister. (Or to wear herself if she's a girl)
So, Schmucko, hope you enjoyed the drinks, my pictures, and my purse. You succeeded in being a pain in my ass. But guess what? My life is still great, and Karma is a bitch.
(Since I have no pics from their visit last weekend, this is one of G, M&N during our trip to SF last Thanksgiving. It was nice to have them all around to keep me out of my head. It definitely helped me focus on the positive -- particularly all the wonderful people in my life.)Post Script. Yesterday our DVR crapped out. There was a power outage and it just did not resuscitate. All of my most “needed” electronic items are gone or out of commission. Good to know that the world goes on.
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