Vandalism on My Car

I’m fairly certain that this wasn’t a ‘hate crime’ and it was likely my car was targeted at random considering my neighbor’s car was also scratched. But $378.08 worth of damage, not to mention the side which I didn’t even notice, is what it cost to clean this off.

Thanks to State Farm for covering the cost to fix this.

I Feel Right at Home

Back when I was in high school and college, I went through a phase where I wanted to write very controversial things to spark debate and generate feedback.

It’s been 13 years since I last wrote for University of Maryland’s Diamondback, where I simultaneously earned some of the best compliments I’ve ever gotten and heard the worst insults – over the same article.

With Gunaxin, I don’t have the same type of forum or audience, but my ability to draw vocal, obnoxious feedback continues. While silly top tens lists are bound to get feedback, finding other ways to strike a nerve, while generating huge number of page views, is the jackpot for a blogger.

This time, it was for my article “Ten Wars That Will Happen in Our Lifetime.” Huge web traffic. It cracked the code of the new Digg. The comments?

Some of the funniest I’ve ever seen. By that I mean anonymous, obnoxious Internet dorks who feel this was the worst article ever written and I am a complete moron and should die in a fire. Seriously? That’s their contribution to the comments? I mean, at the very least refute some of my points (which VERY few people actually did).

Coming up with that list wasn’t too hard. We all know India and Pakistan will go at it again. Israel will fight Hezbollah. U.S. vs. Iran. U.S. vs. Iraq again. Afghanistan civil war. Capping it off with World War III was silly, but hardly the spark that set many people off. I think what may have upset people were saying things like India will nuke Pakistan, and other sensitive things. But ultimately, I prefixed the article by saying that this is a humor blog, not Time magazine.

Moving on.

Volunteering Again

After years of taking a break, I’m doing volunteer work again. This time it’s with my neighbor, Norma Nashed, who is the president of Reaching Hearts for Kids. She runs a charity which provides children in desperate need with the basic essentials necessary for them to live healthy lives. I’m currently helping her with her website, but hope to soon get involved with other things as well.

I'm Failing Math Class

Seriously. I am failing math class. The only thing is, I haven’t been in a math class since 1995.

Okay, to be more clear, I have a recurring dream that I am failing math class. It happens, I don’t know, a few times a year, but often enough to make me wonder: Why, of all things, do I keep dreaming about this?

The dream is of me almost always in high school or college (but everything is ‘different’ – you know how dreams are). And at some point in the dream I realize that I haven’t been to math class recently and I’m falling behind, and may not even remember where the classroom is and might get lost trying to find it (sometimes I make it only to realize I have no idea what’s going on). Other silly things happen in the dream, usually different and weird things, but that’s not unusual.

I have no bad memories of math class and I can’t for the life of me understand why I dream of this, but it happens. I suppose there are worse things. You know, like failing psychology.

Will People Ever Learn?

Here is a copy of the letter I wrote and distributed to my neighbors.

July 27, 2010

Dear neighbor,

On Tuesday, July 27, around 8:30 p.m., a couple from 11210 left an unattended fire burning in the grill by the tennis court. It was a coal fire, there was no food, and there was no one around when I called out. It was unattended for about 5 to 10 minutes.

I grabbed the fire extinguisher, but opted not to use it as I saw some ice on the ground, and put it out with the ice. I sat there on the park bench for a few more minutes, talking to another neighbor about fire safety, when a child came out from 11210. I asked him whose fire it was, and he pointed inside. I believe it was his mother who came out after that, cursing at me for invading her space.

Yelling ensued, and I went inside and called the police. The woman and a man started the fire again and this time stayed outside, yelling at me through the window. When the police came and went to talk with them, I was only told that the situation was under control.

After losing just about everything I owned in the Dec. 2007 fire at Cherry Glen, I may be a bit antsy when it comes to people leaving unattended fires on the grounds, as I should be. Not only that, it is against condo rules to do such a thing, and it should not be tolerated.

Seeing what we have already been through, I urge anyone to immediately report unattended fires to the police instantly. Cherry Glen has responded in the past by putting up flyers about this, but considering this incident, I strongly feel that flyers dont help. So Im asking you, neighbor to neighbor, to help put an end to this dangerous, selfish behavior that can once again take our homes away.

Thank you,

Ben Sumner

Building 12