Hello everyone,

Boy, do I have a story for you. But first:

----------- -------------- ----------------------

I don't post as often as I used to but I always like to share my new music with this community. That being said, feel free to check out my soundcloud, where I just released a new, 7 track album. If you have 30 minutes to spare, I'd appreciate any feedback:

https://soundcloud.com/t.../sets/the-solemn-voyager

----------------------- ------------------ ------

It is a bit of a miracle that I am able to sit here and type this post and share my music at all. Why? Because my house was broken into and ransacked a couple weeks ago. When I left my house one evening, I came home to find my door kicked in and some money, TV, and a list of other things (I don't want to go in to much detail since there is an open investigation. Unlikely that anything will come of it but anyway...) were missing. Turns out, I came back sooner than they thought I would and they ran out of the house as I pulled in to the driveway. Didn't know that until I talked to the neighbor lady who saw this happen yet refused to call the police because,

"I'm scared the police will shoot me." (To be fair, they are elderly and possibly disabled).

I've concluded that it was most likely a random act and that we were targeted because of low lighting and bad timing.

Anyway, we don't have many friends and no immediate enemies that I could think of. I am an introvert and don't enjoy people being in my house and in my space, even when they are invited. But the fact that an uninvited someone has been in my home and went through my things and stole from me feels like a huge violation and makes me feel unsafe in my own home. We have taken drastic security measures since then so any future would-be thieves will immediately regret their stupidity.

So how is any of this a miracle? Well, I assume that since I startled them into leaving early, they were unable to grab more items. Somehow, I still have my musical instruments and even my laptop with the album I just released today. It sucks that they got us for all of the other things but I can't help but be a little grateful that I can still play my instruments and make music. I don't know what the chances are of them ever coming back to "finish the job", but like I said, we have all sorts of security measures in place now to help prevent that.

I'm about to start my 3rd year in college and am finally going to be diving into my major/minor combo of audio studies and music composition so I just don't know what to make of all this. Was it coincidence or just a tiny bit of luck? Neither? I don't think it really matters in the end. I am thankful for our safety most of all and that we were not in the house when it occurred. Things, money, and valuables can always be replaced. Our lives can not.

Anyway, I just wanted to share this bit of craziness that happened to us over the summer. I hope all of you are doing well and use this story to maybe beef up security at your own place. You never think something like this will happen to you until it happens to you.

Any and all feedback on my new album and/or this story is welcomed and encouraged!

PEACE

The Grateful One -

It is very painful to read of this, how someone has invaded your home.
I am glad it was not worse.
Most of all, like you say, I'm glad you and yours are all physically safe.

I look forward to enjoying your music, as I always do.

First thing i thought to myself when i read you'd been broken into was "i hope they didn't nick his music gear"...Small mercies eh?

Hey Sunnyside, thank you for your kind words and encouragement. I truly appreciate it. I'm glad you enjoy the music too. Hopefully someday, I'll be able to do it in some sort of professional capacity.



Absolutely! I still can't really wrap my head around it. This incident was a shock to the system but it also served as a jarring reminder not to take anything for granted. It can all be taken away in the blink of an eye.

Once the dust from the trauma settles completely, it often inspires creativity. So, perhaps I'll be able to translate these feelings of unease into musical form for the next song/album. Put this extra energy to good use or something...

Music is magic hidden in plane sight

Time to get a dog along the lines of a more stout/protective breed. They'd think twice then most likely. Or implement some other type of security (at least for your more valuable items)

Awesome album btw. Enjoyed this for sure. Some great talent there friend. Thanks for posting it.

Thanks, Tatt. We now have a security/surveillance system in place + reinforcing doors etc etc. We are most definitely looking into adopting/buying a dog. Currently, we are one of the only people in the neighborhood without one.

It is a bit ironic that when we moved here a couple years ago, part of the appeal of this place was that it was in a safer neighborhood than where we were before. Or so we thought.

Oh well. All we can do now is continue to improve security while trying to feel normal in our space again.

So happy all is well that ends well! I'm a few tracks into the new album and I'm really diggin' it. I like the name change as well - fits the music perfectly.

I'm sorry to hear that the sancity of your home was violated. I hate being told to look for silver linings, but it's a good thing they ran when you came home and it did not turn into a violent scenario. It's just stuff, but the violation can cut pretty deep.

I'm guessing police can't do much. They wouldn't even fingerprint my house in GA after a nearly- murderous home invasion...

I know from experience how you must feel, hopefully the experience wasn't overly traumatic and by you taking security measures maybe you will help alleviate some of your family's anxiety.

TGO i just added you on soundcloud
Great music. Thanks for posting.

I can relate to your story. 8 years ago I was robbed of my guitar and some drum equipment.
Aside from my dog, music was what I had in life.
Losing that equipment left such a void in my life I didn't know how to cope...until I smoked DMT
and understood that plants were always my calling.
So I became familiar with medicinal plants over the last
8 years, and somehow in the past year all my musical outlets are revamped.
Guess I needed to go through the gauntlet of not having anything.
This year is the first time I have owned a guitar since then.
Losing important things like musical equipment is like someone trying to steal your soul.
You can replace them but a lot of these instruments come from powerful trees and I think it resonates with us.
Since getting robbed I turned to more mobile forms of music that can be created on computers.
Sometimes loss can be a blessing.

I'm sorry to hear your space was threatened, hope it never happens again

Hey DK, how have you been? I'm glad you are enjoying the new music and I greatly appreciate that you've taken the time to listen to it. I feel that with each new project, it gets a little bit better, more polished. And soon I'll be taking classes in college to really hone my audio recording and music composition skills! I'm transferring from a community college to a state college so I'm nervous and excited about being in a new, better school.

It is good to hear from you! Hope all is well!



Hey Null,

I remember reading about your extremely terrifying home invasion some time ago. Scary stuff that shook me up just reading it. Glad you made it out of that alive!

As for your question, you are right about the police, who essentially told me, "We can give you no hope. False hope will do nothing for you so we need to be honest here. It is unlikely that these people will be caught." I mean, the Police took some prints and the thieves left a tool behind which was taken as evidence. I found out later, unfortunately, that none of the prints returned a match so I guess the investigation is cold now.

So we still have no idea who did it or why this happened. It may have been some bored teenagers in the neighborhood. It could have been some tweakers (meth is a HUGE problem in this area, Middle of the USA), or any number of other scenarios. One thing I failed to mention in the original post was that two nights before the B&E, someone came to our house around 12:30am and was lightly tapping on our front door, just to where I could barely hear it. Turned the TV off, confirmed more light knocking and shouted through the door, "WHO IS IT?" Some jerk claimed to be looking for some girlfriend of his...yeah, sure, I told him he had the wrong house and to leave my property...I know this is a game that B&E people play trying to get you to open the door so that they can force their way in and do god-knows-what. I never opened the door, yet two days later, my house gets hit. Maybe it was just coincidence, or maybe they were casing the house...I'll never know.



Hey Chimp Z, thanks for the add on soundcloud! Glad you are enjoying it! I followed back!

Trying to steal your soul is a spot on description. I view my instruments and music making technology as a literal extension of my physical self and taking them away would be nearly equivalent to chopping off my hands. I can't thank the music gods (or whatever/whomever is in charge of this crazy reality in which we live) enough for sparing me that trouble this time. It breathes new life into the whole creative process because when I pick up my guitar now, I find I am thankful for the privilege of even owning the guitar. In many ways, I think I was starting to lose sight of that so if anything, like you said, sometimes loss can be a blessing too. For me, it was more of a reminder to truly live every moment like it could be the last one.

There are countless ways this event could have gone further south. I am eternally grateful that it didn't and am now prepared to defend and protect my home and family should something like this ever happen again.

Thank you for your words of encouragement. I highly value the input of everyone here at the Nexus!