Sometimes I swear that living in this city is going to cause me to turn into a hardcore drug user or alcoholic.
I found out today that this weekend the city is doing drills throughout the city involving police, EMS, etc. They're pretty much staying out of people's way, and normally this might not be so bad. Normally, if it were some drill that lasted a few hours I could hang out in a basement cafe at a local hospital or go see a movie or two or whatever.
Unfortunately, those plans won't work because this is going on from early morning Saturday into Sunday, so I need to figure out what to do from Friday night (because I am afraid that I will sleep in too late Saturday and be startled by this little drill they are doing in the morning) through Sunday morning.
I can't just stay in the safety of my house and hide out, I know that wouldn't end pretty, would end up with me dissociating, etc. These drills are taking place all throughout the city, different drills in different areas being repeated over and over. And, literally two blocks from my house the police and SWAT will be fully armed with guns (which the sight of is often enough to induce flashbacks of a robbery I witnessed) and... yup, just my luck, simulating a robbery, firing off blanks and everything.
I asked tons of questions at the police station and city hall today, found out that it's not going to be gunfire going off just once or twice or for a few hours during the day, that I could survive. It's going to be many times throughout the day, and yes, that includes at night too. Basically, I get to endure 24 hours or more of PTSD hell.
I have no idea how to cope with this. Anyone else have ideas? The only friends I have who I could stay with who live out of the area are in NYC pretty much, and most of them have gone off other places until at least after this weekend just with how bad they got hit by the storm.
My landlord doesn't really want overnight guests and so someone staying with me is out of the question. Seriously, I may as well just schedule a nervous breakdown this weekend right now, because I don't know what to do to survive through the weekend. That's a very long time, and I can't even hear a fireworks show for even a minute without completely dissociating, so gunfire going off many times a day and them simulating a robbery isn't going to go over well.
Just my luck that they'd be doing the robbery thing nearby :( I am nervous about being out in other parts of the city even, since I'm not sure yet if they will be shooting off blanks in other parts, I was mainly concerned with finding out what the hell they were gonna be doing around my house.
Of course, just my luck, it's the most triggering of all their drills right by me. And even if I found something else to do during the day, this is going on at night too. Earplugs won't help, I can't play music really loud because my landlord would be upset with that, and I doubt she would appreciate it if I were in the shower for 24 hours, so I am officially out of ideas.
I found out today that this weekend the city is doing drills throughout the city involving police, EMS, etc. They're pretty much staying out of people's way, and normally this might not be so bad. Normally, if it were some drill that lasted a few hours I could hang out in a basement cafe at a local hospital or go see a movie or two or whatever.
Unfortunately, those plans won't work because this is going on from early morning Saturday into Sunday, so I need to figure out what to do from Friday night (because I am afraid that I will sleep in too late Saturday and be startled by this little drill they are doing in the morning) through Sunday morning.
I can't just stay in the safety of my house and hide out, I know that wouldn't end pretty, would end up with me dissociating, etc. These drills are taking place all throughout the city, different drills in different areas being repeated over and over. And, literally two blocks from my house the police and SWAT will be fully armed with guns (which the sight of is often enough to induce flashbacks of a robbery I witnessed) and... yup, just my luck, simulating a robbery, firing off blanks and everything.
I asked tons of questions at the police station and city hall today, found out that it's not going to be gunfire going off just once or twice or for a few hours during the day, that I could survive. It's going to be many times throughout the day, and yes, that includes at night too. Basically, I get to endure 24 hours or more of PTSD hell.
I have no idea how to cope with this. Anyone else have ideas? The only friends I have who I could stay with who live out of the area are in NYC pretty much, and most of them have gone off other places until at least after this weekend just with how bad they got hit by the storm.
My landlord doesn't really want overnight guests and so someone staying with me is out of the question. Seriously, I may as well just schedule a nervous breakdown this weekend right now, because I don't know what to do to survive through the weekend. That's a very long time, and I can't even hear a fireworks show for even a minute without completely dissociating, so gunfire going off many times a day and them simulating a robbery isn't going to go over well.
Just my luck that they'd be doing the robbery thing nearby :( I am nervous about being out in other parts of the city even, since I'm not sure yet if they will be shooting off blanks in other parts, I was mainly concerned with finding out what the hell they were gonna be doing around my house.
Of course, just my luck, it's the most triggering of all their drills right by me. And even if I found something else to do during the day, this is going on at night too. Earplugs won't help, I can't play music really loud because my landlord would be upset with that, and I doubt she would appreciate it if I were in the shower for 24 hours, so I am officially out of ideas.
