The gunfire has started.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

9. Used to live one street over from a creek...

...which meant a long cement "bowl" that the local gang members used to like to throw fireworks into because it amplified the sound.

The house I lived in was a 55-year old shithole, a one-story "ranch home" that, as the cliche says, was "held together by termites."

My street was one long procession of neck tattoos, Oakland Raider bling and fist-bumps as these fucking "gangstas" (most of which still lived with mom and dad) would gather in the street and light just about anything with a fuse. I used to freak the fuck out during dry spells when I'd see one of their bottle rockets go up in the air, imagining it landing on my roof and torching the place in seconds.

I now live about three miles away, in the same city, but it's a much better neighborhood and I don;t think I heard ANY fireworks last night. In the old neighborhood, when I used to have to call the cops, they would drive over and say "Well, this IS a bad neighborhood."