...I'm rather detached from the state of the world. It's easier to get by on a daily basis by living in ignorance of the inanity and insanity that occurs regularly. But this morning, on CNN.com, there was a story about a shooting of a student at a PG school. And my heart beat a little quicker. And I thought, "Wow...I went to school in PG County. I wonder which one it was..." And then I saw the name - Benjamin Tasker Middle School. Not only the school where I went, but the one my mother worked at until this past June. I think I forgot to breathe for a few moments.

I am glad she no longer works there and is far, far away in Florida.

And then, just thinking about the neighborhood - recognizing the streets a few blocks from my old house in pictures on CNN.com and washingtonpost.com, that silly BOWIE hedge with the 'W' too wide...it's the clash between news-world and my-world. It's very something, and the something is like disturbing, numbing, except not quite. But still, very something.

And it's times like this that I hate the world a lot.

Especially when thinking about the boy with the hole in his chest, who probably got up this morning with his biggest worry being about Mr. Hall's history tests. Not if he was ever going to breathe again.