AM I JUST PARANOID?

Folks, I hate to sound paranoid or like some kind of mental case, but something has been going on today that seems rather strange and very unsettling, so I feel that I need to get this warning out just to make sure that I c.m.o.a.

Let me start from the beginning. Yesterday, about 3:57 p.m., my mother who is 93 years-old and lives alone (by her insistence) was found on her living room floor after having suffered a major stroke which has result in right side paralysis and unable to speak. I received a call from my brother telling me to get to the hospital a.s.a.p. I got there at 4:35 p.m. and stayed there until 10:30 p.m. which was when my mother was finally admitted and taken up to the stroke ward.

Upon arriving back home, at 10:59 p.m. I discovered that my electricity had gone off at around 9:00 p.m. No reason for it to have gone off. This morning, I left home at 9:30 a.m. to spend the day at my mother's bedside. I returned home at 4:45 p.m. Now here is where things start to get interesting and worrisome.

I have a fireproof safety box that I kept in the back of my bedroom closet. NOBODY, except me, knew that box was there, not even my sons knew. I am the only one who has the key to open the box. In the box I kept all of my important records,papers and receipts and my monthly bank statements, rent receipts, my baptismal certificate, my certificates of ordination and consecration, my life insurance and auto insurance policies, and $600.00 that I managed to set aside out of my Social Security each month. This money was to be used for my dog Munchkin's vet bill and for Christmas gifts for my grandchildren. All of the various receipts and bank statements are needed in order for me to get re-certified for section8 that helps me with my monthly rent. I am required to re-re-certify every year.

Well, when I returned home from the hospital this afternoon, I noticed that my closet door was open about three inches. I know that I NEVER leave that door open, so I went into the bedroom and looked in the closet and discovered the strong box missing. Nothing else was touched or taken, just the strong box.

I discovered that who ever took it, entered my apartment through my patio door, which was my fault because last night before I went to bed, I closed the patio door, but I forgot to put the safety bar down, which would prevent the door from being opened from the outside. I called our local P.D. and they sent an officer who took a report. He told me that who ever the person was, seemed to know that the security box was in my closet, because they went right for it. I have 2 other closets that weren't touched, none of my other valuables (computer, TV, checkbook, etc.,) where touched. I told the officer that I was the only one who knew that I had the box and where it was.

The officer said that it could very well be that who ever took it, may have entered my apartment once before and did some snooping, then they decided to come today and get it. Now comes the good stuff. I made four phone calls after the police left. I made two calls using my cell phone and two using my home phone. All four times, right in the middle of my conversations, I heard a click and my phones went dead for about twenty minutes each time. And, six times my computer suddenly shut down and rebooted. I have PC Matic installed on my computer and each time the computer shut down and rebooted I ran a complete diagnostic test with PC Matic and it could find no reason for the shutdowns, no virus, no nothing. Need I say, this has me very unnerved.

I lost my grandchildren's Christmas money, which I cannot replace, but also, without the various receipts, I will not be re-certified for section 8 next year which means I lose my apartment because on my Social Security I cannot afford the full $689.00 a month rent, and since they have now put section 8 on a lottery type system, I will never be able to get back on again. In my area, they give legal and illegal immigrants first crack for section 8. In 1997 when I first got on it, one had to apply and go on a waiting list until your name came up. I was on the waiting list for 2 1/2 years before I got. now you have to apply and they assign you a number then once a month or when ever they have an opening, they hold a lottery drawing, so I will never get it again if I lose it now.

Any how, with all of this happening, the strange power outage, my phones going dead, the theft where only my safety strong box was stolen and the strange shutdowns of my computer, now have me looking over my shoulder, so if I suddenly stop posting for an extended period of time, you will know that something has happened to me. Like I said, I hate to sound paranoid, but some things just don't seem to add up.