mellowtigger | it has been a day

Sorry, but my day started and is finishing as a Moody Monday.

Click to read the not-so-great details...

My first workday alarm goes off at 5:55am local time. I heard gunfire not very many seconds after I woke up this morning. It seemed within the 2-block radius that I usually call it in to 911, but I was grumpy and still groggy and didn't want to participate in the too-familiar routine. A minute or two later, I heard a single police siren stop nearby. Later, I found these links about the event. It was almost exactly 1 block away, as the proverbial crow flies, and farther away by following the streets.

Citizen.com: 5:57:52 AM CDT Police are responding to a ShotSpotter activation reporting 10 rounds fired.
Citizen.com: 9:11:47 AM CDT Firefighters are assisting police with scene cleanup after a shooting.
Facebook.com: October 19, 2024, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said a fight after a party escalated to gunfire, leaving one man dead. Just before 6 a.m., Fourth Precinct Officers responded to the 1700 block of 26th Ave N on a ShotSpotter activation. While officers were enroute, the call was updated to a shooting. When they arrived, officers found a man with apparent life-threatening injuries. Officers provided medical aid until EMS arrived. The man died at the scene.

I was not in top form at work today. Several small dumb mistakes. Nothing major, at least.

I went for my usual walk westward after I ended my work day. I saw lots of squirrels foraging. None of them were chunky yet. It seems late in the season to still need that much fat. Strangely, I saw 2 dandelions blooming. Not seeding out, but blooming with yellow petals. Almost every other plant is clearly giving up for this season.

Nearing my home on the way back, somebody stopped me to ask for $1. I got my warzone wallet (which always has a few dollars in it) and gave the too-skinny, too-downtrodden young adult woman $2 and continued on my way. It's been like this for years. I can't walk anywhere around here without being stopped and asked for money. I'm a walking money machine. I don't know if it's my white skin, white beard, long hair, or the magic combination of all three indicators (trifecta!), but it happens far too frequently for my liking.

I heard the "God bless you" as I walked away. I'm not in the mood for it today, honestly. Whenever I see suffering alleviated, I always see some human's actions behind it, whatever their personal motivation. I with my modest income keep voting for representatives and policies that will increase my taxes so that we can have systems (instead of strangers) meeting these humanitarian needs in our own country, state, county, and city.

Today, I'm just tired.