we were mugged

two sets of keys, one hundred and thirty dollars, a social security card, student ids, driver's licenses, a pair of sunglasses, debit cards, health insurance cards.

we were mugged. we were mugged! we lost everything from simon's wallet to my bag and it doesn't exactly capture everything when i say i'm still sickened by it.

1:45 am and we were walking east down lead across the bridge when a car stopped so abruptly i thought at first a car accident had just happened in front of us. a teen jumped out of the passenger seat just to scream at us to give him our money. somehow i can't remember but i suddenly was about 20 feet away from the whole scene. did i back up? did simon walk toward them? it was a blurry and hurried memory. i remember thinking it was a joke and then screaming when i realized it wasn't and he had a knife. we were being mugged. i gave him my bag, not thinking that i should have taken my keys out first. and he pushed simon from the back and yelled at him again.
they drove off with our things. our money. and we stood there among the passing cars. brake lights reflecting off of the metal bars next to us and our money! what had just happened? why were we so close to the frenzied downtown traffic and still very alone? would this have happened if we had one more person walking with us? si called the cops and we gave them our statement which they promptly threw in the gutter. they couldn't have had less interest in our crime and then when we asked them to drive us home, they refused. the three parked cops were far too busy to drive us home just three blocks away. if anything, it made simon and me laugh on the walk back to his house.

but.

the worst part of this whole experience is the 'advice' i get when retelling the story. believe me, i'm mad at myself for not getting my keys out of my bag or possibly just handing him only a couple bills and not my whole purse or possibly i could have tried to run or fight back. but at the time none of it occurred to me. and the fact that si and i walked away unharmed says we did something right.
so far, the worst advice i've been given was from marc's landlord who told me that i should have taken an 'awareness class'. no, not a self defense class. AN AWARENESS CLASS. and lectured me about how simon and i would never get mugged if we had been more AWARE of our surroundings. ok. next time a car speeding at 50 miles an hour rams into the side of the road next to me in under two seconds, i'll remember to be AWARE of my surroundings.
also, i like how he BLAMED me for having my keys in my bag that night. and BLAMED me for giving the mugger my bag. and how he made me feel like shit for not trying to resist the mugger. i think the car full of large men may have stopped simon and me from pulling anything off. and i don't know, but everything is so plain and simple in retrospect. at the time, i simply didn't want to be stabbed or touched by this mugger and i walked off without any physical harm. knowing that, i wouldn't do anything differently. the next time i get advice on what i should have done please watch my eyes as they'll be glazed over while i chant GIGI ZAZA 770 times.
and i like how back at his house, simey put on super troopers as our redeemer against any fearful thoughts. at least it wasn't WEDDING CRASHERS. again.

a couple photos (the really nice ones) are from this and this flickr site.