Do you feel like you have a "kick me" sign permanently stuck to your back sometimes?

Unfortunately I didn't have too much time to revel in the joy of overcoming my greatest fear before I got a reason to have a new fear. A little less than two weeks after my freeing flight, I had a pretty scary incident happen at my apartment. Let me back up a second...

The days after my trip to Florida were really good-- we threw parties and went to parties for Mike and Karen's wedding, and then, since Karen and Zooey were officially moving out, and Joy was moving in, Demoree and I began preparing the apartment for new furniture. One Wednesday night we even stayed up ridiculously late to paint a beautiful green accent wall in the living room.

Demoree (sadly for me!) decided to paint over the unicorn. :)

Well, our excitement about redecorating was short-lived. The next morning, around 9:45am, I woke up to the loudest banging noise I've ever heard. Although I felt like I was technically still sleeping, I got up to check it out, thinking "What on earth is Demoree doing?" I walked into the living room and saw my front door shuttering violently and could hear the door-molding cracking. I thought, "This is not happening", ran to the door, threw on the chain, looked out the peephole, and confirmed my suspicion: someone was breaking into my apartment! Again! But this time I was there!

I didn't scream or panic, I just pushed myself against the door and resisted his pushes from the other side, then I banged on the door a bit, watching the hooded figure through the peephole. Once he realized I was on the other side, he got startled and ran away.

I suppose, in my own way, I was a bit of a hero that day. And I feel really lucky that it just turned into a scary story and not the worst day of my life...

Apparently I was naive the last time it happened when I thought that "lightning wouldn't strike twice". In actuality, it probably had a much higher chance of striking since they got in so easily last time (if you remember from the picture I posted, the door didn't actually suffer that much damage before they got in). I guess if you get in and out without that much effort, why not come back? And, yes, the police and I are pretty convinced it was the same guys, particularly since it's too big of a coincidence... Luckily, though, the precautions and stronger locks we got installed after the first break-in were enough to keep him out long enough to get scared away.

For the last two weeks, we've felt like we've been in a standstill over the question: "Do we move out or do we stay until our lease runs out this summer?" After exhausting our options (which were few, with our overly-strict lease), we decided to stay. I know it may sound like a stupid plan, but none of us are in a position to pay rent at two apartments or get into a legal battle. Plus if the criminals ever decide to come back, we'll be ready for them with:

1. A new door, new thicker doorframe, and additional locks
2. An alarm system
3. Pepper spray
4. An apartment full of people on the lookout (since we're informing our neighbors)
5. Random police surveillance of our complex (which they didn't do before, but are now)
6. Less things of value to take anyway (since we didn't replace it all last time!)

Who would have thought that after living in the city of Detroit for 18+ years, the biggest crimes would happen to me in my presumably "safe" smaller college town?

I am ready for life to take a boring turn! I hope it happens soon!