deadbolt

when i was in paralegal school, we studied a case in tort class where women in a neighbourhood in ontario were being terrorized by a man who would climb up balconies in apartments where the sliding door was open, enter the home and rape the woman that lived there. not surprisingly, he was nicknamed "the balcony rapist". he was sent to jail and served 20 years. the big fuss in the news right now is that he's recently been released. first, he selected one city to live in but was quickly chased out by the city's residents. i knew he was coming to my city next, mostly because where i live is an old city that is rebuilding itself after many years of neglect (think the phoenix but before it actually rises out of the ashes). anyway, i thought nothing of it because ... well, again, i had a feeling he was going to pick this city to live in. old buildings, cheap rent, close to public transportation, a lot of low-income residents, etc. unless he was going to move to the DTES, how could i be surprised? i walked into the elevator in my building today and there was a crumpled, handwritten note stuffed into the memo-holder. guess who's moved into the neighbourhood? a block away, to be exact. and not only that but it's the same block that the triple X store is located. talk about stimulation.

what sucks is that summer is coming and i would like to sleep with my windows and sliding door open. it could be possible because i live on the top floor of my building but i also live in a low-rise so with enough determination, you could get to my balcony if you really wanted to.

kind of scary. i walk by the empty parking lot next to the seedy motel he's living in every single day. i know it sounds paranoid but i may have to start taking a different way home now... up the hill! thank goodness daylight savings time is coming up.

then again, there are crazy people all around that we don't even know about. at least we have the heads up on what this guy is capable of.