G to the etto

I like to joke about living in the ghetto, but I can joke about it because it IS a joke.
While I was worried about being able to afford to live in University Land (and while I'm still vaguely worried about how I'm going to be able to afford to live here come July, which is approximately when I'll run out of all of my bartending/waitressing savings and be forced to live off of my pathetic stipend and loans or something)I am currently able to afford a nice place. It's a lakefront property so I have a nice place to walk the dog. The area I live in is relatively affluent, so the nearby shopping centers are kept up well and there are plenty of dining options within walking distance. It's quiet. Now that I have gotten used to it, the traffic isn't actually too bad, most of the time. Basically, even though I live on the edge of a major urban area, my town is comfortably suburban and although I actually think I would enjoy living in the city proper, I like where I am right now. Even though the crime rate in my county is high in comparison to most of the rest of the country, I have always felt very safe at my apartment complex.
Yesterday morning at about 5:15, however, my sense of safety was disturbed. I awoke to a noise so startlingly loud that my first instinct was to literally jump out of bed before I was fully awake. My second instinct was to say to myself, "What are you doing?!" and then jump back into bed and hide under my covers (when I'm half-asleep, I somehow always think that's going to protect me). Then I woke up enough to start logically trying to figure out what was going on. The sound was basically an extremely loud engine, so loud that my windows were rattling. Honestly, my first thought was that a plane was going down right outside my apartment. Looking out the window didn't automatically change my mind, either, because all I could see were some weird lights in the still pitch-black sky. Eventually I put my glasses on and figured out what was actually going on:
Four helicopters were hovering in the sky above my apartment complex. Four! Which explains the horribly loud sound, and the fact that it didn't initially sound like helicopters at all. Not only were they hovering very low, but one of them was shining the world's brightest searchlight down onto the parking lot outside, where a police car was also slowly cruising the parking lot and shining a giant flashlight of its own behind cars and into bushes. And let me tell you, there's nothing like a white light from the sky beaming its way directly into your apartment at 5:15 in the morning. At least it was cold enough for me to be wearing pajamas. The helicopter eventually stopped shining its light into my apartment, but for the next half hour I couldn't sleep because I could still hear all the helicopters hovering around outside. The police cruiser came by a couple more times, too.
I never did figure out who they were looking for. I heard on the news yesterday evening that the leader of a ring of car thieves had been arrested and then escaped from my town's hospital this morning, but the newscast implied that the escape happened during the daytime. Plus I don't know that a car thief would warrant an all points bulletin and four police choppers, but what do I know? What WOULD warrant four police choppers?
Anyway, I found the whole thing a bit unsettling. I think I saw a police helicopter doing a search in my hometown years ago, but never directly over my house in such an intense way. In retrospect it's not a big deal, but yesterday in the dark it was scary.
I realize that there are some communities where searches like this happen all the time, though. For me, it became just an interesting story to tell my friends when I got to the office. But for many people around the world, waking up to unexpected blaring noises and intrusive shining lights is a daily way of life. I'm so lucky and so grateful that it's not mine.

To change the subject completely, I am pleased to announce that I am no longer drowning in work. True, I am paddling frantically in the deep end, but at least I am keeping my head above water, and that is a major improvement over the past two weeks. Of course, a greater improvement still would be to get to wade in the shallow end for a change. Or float leisurely on a raft. Or, to continue this stupid metaphor to its logical conclusion, to get out of the freakin' pool and flop down on a lounge chair with a pina colada. Oh well. Winter break is only a little over a month away. I think I can survive until then.

Oh, I'm taking an unexpected day trip to New York on Sunday! My aunt called me yesterday. Her company is sponsoring some sort of social event where they all go to a Broadway show together, but they ended up with several extra tickets. Because my aunt is awesome, she thought to call me to see if I wanted to use one of the tickets. So because I have this deluded idea that I can actually get all of my work for Monday done between now and Saturday, I happily accepted the ticket and will now be taking the train to New York on Sunday morning to see a matinee performance of Young Frankenstein!!! Which I am extremely excited about! And it's one of only eight shows that isn't on strike, which is really lucky! And then I'll go to dinner with everyone and catch a late train home.
It seems a little silly to go to New York for just the day, especially since I'll come home for just two days before loading my pets into the car and driving back to New Jersey for Thanksgiving. Still, the ability to do day trips to the city was one of my deciding factors in moving here in the first place, so I might as well actually take advantage of the opportunity.
Rae's brother and his wife and their baby are in City B visiting Rae and her husband this weekend as well, so I agreed to go out to dinner with them in Little Italy on Saturday night. Which should be fun, too. Although between the whirlwind New York trip, going out on Saturday night, and going to another event I have to attend tomorrow for research purposes (which I can't really tell you about without giving away what I study), I'm going to have to scramble in my free time to get my work done before Monday.
Thank goodness next week is nothing BUT Monday. Hooray for Thanksgiving!