Hi all. After a few weeks of hanging out here more and trying to make myself poast again, I've been away for the last week or so.
You may have heard about the shooting rampage in Seattle in a cafe. That cafe is my home away from home, and those were my friends who got killed and wounded. Though I wasn't super close with any of them, I have hung out at their houses, they at mine, gone camping with them, watched them play music, and had plenty of long talks and laughs together. They were closer to me than much of my family. I didn't know the woman in the cafe (or the lady downtown) but the three men who died and the one who survived were/are all amazing, talented and sweet people. Any of them would literally have given you the shirt off their back and I am not just saying that. There are plenty of assholes around who could have gotten shot, but this psycho picked some of the best.
I and my girlfriend are dealing with it relatively well, considering the circumstances; trying to be there for our friends who are not doing well, some really not well. However, there are two surviving spouses and lots of surviving close friends whose lives are completely shattered. Some of them have been worrying about money for long before this happened and now they are really worried about just how to make rent and pay the bills until they can get their lives in some kind of order.
This is hard for me to write about and hard to ask, but if anyone feels like they can donate a little to the family and friends of the victims and the survivors who are trying to keep their lives together right now, there is a fund set up: http://victimsofcaferacershooting.chipin.com/victims-of-cafe-racer-shooting All of the money will go to the victims' families and (possibly) to help with the costs of repairing the Cafe, which is a home to so many people, who are now all wandering around with big pieces of their lives missing. I would really appreciate it, if any of you has a bit of money to spare right now, if you could consider putting it toward this. It's extremely personal to me, and I would feel a lot better if I could indirectly help out by telling everyone here.
Here is a well written piece on the situation: http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/06/02/an-open-letter-from-the-cafe-racer-staff
I will try to be back to the site as soon as I can, but right now I'm trying to avoid the internet and news sites, and to be with friends as much as possible.
Please tell your loved ones you love them, because you don't know how quickly they might be gone. Love to you all,
J.
