things that have been stolen from my property

i hate oakland sometimes. the neighbors can give my kid balloons all day, it doesn't change the fact that stuff disappears, on a regular basis, from my doorstep. ARGH.

So, in recent weeks, I've lost

• a side table. this table furnished my stoop for several months until it abruptly disappeared this afternoon. Right after I thought/said to myself "I should take this in now that the rain has started."
• 4 pieces of outgoing mail. containing a birthday card to my mother, a personal check, and MY COMPLETED (absentee) CALIFORNIA BALLOT. Have you ever seen a California ballot? It's like a final exam of studying you have to do to be a conscientious citizen. And mine was stolen. Thankfully, since then my mail has been full of voter guides of the sort where you just take the Democratic (or Green, or "Conservation"??) flyer to the poll and check off what they tell you. But I voted my conscience! GDMF, as they say.*
• A bag of soiled diapers. SERIOUSLY??
• a car stereo. ok. we expect these to get stolen. FINE.

that's all. except maybe a plastic spider. Can you believe the nerve of these people?!?!?

luv

R

* I wonder about going to the polling place on election day. The vote-by-mail envelope has all sorts of warnings against voter fraud. So while I completed the ballot and signed it the way you're supposed to, did the crackhead who stole it mail it anyway, knowing there was no money in there? Or was it a Meg Whitman canvasser who stole it, knowing there's not a chance in hell I'd vote for her? OR WAS IT ONE OF THE MULCH PEOPLE? Pissed that the mulch was wet and possibly full of mold spores? Oh god. I have too many enemies.