oh wow glad your ok and safe from that

Thank you~

Glad to hear you're okay, and your mom too.

Thank you~ I feel very grateful and lucky.

*Hug*

Oh, shit, I didn't even realize you were in Vegas. I'm glad you and your family are safe.

I'm glad too. I feel very lucky.

Oh gosh, I was really worried for your mom, since I recalled you mentioning that she worked there, and I'm supremely glad that you and yours are safe! I'm so sorry that your celebration has been marred by this, but I hope that before this all happened that you were able to enjoy your birthday. I also hope the best for you and yours when it comes to the recovery and reconciliation of your community with the tragedy. Take care <3

I definitely had a good birthday, thank you~ It's kind of got a bit of a permanent sad note to it, and I suspect I'll always kind of remember what happened alongside my 25th, but that's alright. The victims and the incident deserves to be remembered. And thank you~ I really appreciate it.
I am very very lucky that myself and everyone I know were safe and sound, so I'm trying not to take too much time with this, but it's hard to process and there's signs and billboards all over the city saying #VegasStrong and talking about how we're with the victims. There's just evidence of it everywhere. My heart hurts a lot, and though the shooting doesn't exactly change my mind about going out to shows and festivals (I've always been paranoid and assumptive that I might get shot at an event someday, and I'll just continue to think that), I can't help but feel even more worried now.
I don't know. It's a lot. It's a lot to process, but I'm very lucky I don't have to process the death or injury of a loved one at the same time.

Not too sure if there are words to be said for this that don't turn into an ugly rant or harsh statement. So glad to hear that you and your loved ones didn't get involved in this tragedy. And sympathies towards any whom did.

Thank you~ There's plenty of harsh words I have about the events as well. Thank you thank you. I'm very happy that we're all safe and sound. I'm very fortunate.

Well, I didn't realize you were even in Vegas, but I am glad you're alright!

Thank you~

For what little it means, I am so glad you and your loved ones are safe. Though I must admit I share your sentiments: it is horrifying, yet as you say, unsurprising.

Thank you. I'm very glad as well. I feel very fortunate.

Yeah, not only is it unsurprising to have another mass shooting in the US, but for years myself and my loved ones have all expected there to be one in Vegas at some point. We're a very big city, and the Strip is very popular; there's a lot of festivals and tourists from all over the world, and a lot of open-air venues (mostly to indulge in our climate). When I talked to my mom, and others that I know who have lived here awhile, we all agreed that we figured it would happen eventually.

Not to mention the State of Nevada has and has always had a very entrenched tradition of firearm ownership and proactive support of deregulation of gun laws. There are a lot of people who not only have access to weapons, but access to extremely dangerous weapons with larger magazines, rapid rate of fire, or modifications that can enable the same (the latter of which was precisely what was used by the Las Vegas shooter). There's a lot of parts of the US where fully-automatic assault rifles are actually quite easy to acquire for any number of reasons, especially "grandfather clauses" where assault weapons owned prior to the passage of the assault weapons ban remain in private ownership and are thus unaffected by such legislation.

So, with all of this in mind, it really was only a matter of time.

Glad that you are OK, and fortunately not had to get tangled up in that mess

Thank you~ I'm very fortunate to be safe.

damn, no words just well hope everything ends up ok somehow.

I hope so too.

Yeah~ Born and raised. And thank you~ I'm happy to be safe.

Definitely relieved to hear you're alright, along with your loved ones, sweetie. Me and Now were thinking of you - we didn't think you'd go to an event for that kind of music, didn't strike us as your style - but we still were worrying.

Thank you~ I really appreciate that.

Yeah, I definitely don't listen to that type of music, and I often don't have the money to afford the big festivals. Ironically, at the same time as this festival, there was the Life Is Beautiful festival, which is one I'd considered going to. My mom was concerned for my wife and I, as sometimes we get free tickets to stuff and say 'why not'. Luckily for us, this wasn't one of those times.

Very lucky, and, again, I'm glad that you and FD are safe. Please, stay that way - we care about your continued existence. And I hope to get to talk to you again soon. I sent you an updated thing that I hope you'll enjoy reading. ^_^

Annnnd goddamnit, autocorrect. It turned Joe into "Now" in my last post. And looks like in Joe's note, it turned Kae into Mae. BLEH.

Glad you’re alright. But definitely agree with you there. Just hope people wake up and make moves to prevent future tragedies.

Thank you~ I am too.
And boy I hope so, but I'm very skeptical of anything actually getting done.

Glad to hear you and yours are safe. :( I'm just so fed up with this 'norm', it's not okay. :(

Thank you~ I'm happy to be safe.
And I agree. It's absolutely sickening.

Good to hear you're safe and sound!

Thank you~

Oh jeeze, I forgot you lived in Vegas. o_o I'm glad neither you or your mom especially were hurt. I can't imagine what it's like to actually be close to something like that, that sounds awful.

I'm very thankful that no one I know was anywhere near the event. And it's very strange. There's definitely a different mood to the city now. I spoke about it in another reply, but there's signs and billboards all around now, and a lot of vigils. I feel kind of soaked in grief and sorrow and it hurts a lot. But at the same time I'm very thankful no one I know was hurt.
Just a lot of emotions.

I know Mae already said this, but we're so relieved that you and yours are safe. We were really scared there a bit, but we're happy to hear that you're physically okay. You know if you need us you just have to let us know.

Thank you. I really appreciate that~ I'm happy that I'm safe, and everyone I know is safe, and I may be taking you guys up on that offer sometime next week.

I've been unable to really socialize. I feel sick a lot. Last night, my wife and I drove by the site, and there's still a ton of police surrounding the site. And there's still the stage and all the festival stuff set up. It made me feel very sick and sad. There's a lot of emotions to process, so I'm just trying to kind of quietly work and process all of them.

I did not know you lived here until today.

I've more or less been going through the same motions. My only relation to Mandalay Bay is that I can see it on my way to work every morning, but most of my relatives are still on the East coast and think Vegas is just one big long street and everybody lives in the hotels, so I've been getting "are you okay?" emails all throughout the week.

I say "getting" as opposed to "answering" because a few of them chose to ask "are you okay?" in the most insensitive, if not outright dehumanizing ways conceivable, and I got too mad to trust myself to rationally comment.

Then I got mad as the authorities and media started piecing everything together; that this worthless load was a millionaire who'd been raising red flags for months with frequent gun purchases, huge wire transfers and suspicious web searches. And, of course, then at Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell and all the other subhuman scum bawling their eyes out about the possibility of a CONVERSATION about guns in the future, already counting their Smith & Wesson slut-money even before the ICU is cleared.

So just like you, I've also been struggling to find the right words, and also come to the conclusion that they don't exist.

So seeing this journal was a refreshing change of pace. Glad to hear that both you and your mother are okay (and I'm sorry I failed to wish you a happy birthday).

Oh it's quite alright on the birthday.

I tend to not get political in my journals (not that saving thousands of lives from being fucking slaughtered is a political issue for me) but let it be known that I do agree with everything you've said.

Honestly, at this point I've been trying to just shut out the news, with my wife telling me some of information as it comes out, because I honestly have no patience to listen to anyone's pro-gun bullshit right now. I never really pass Mandalay Bay, and avoid the strip at all costs if I can help it due to traffic and shit, but I went past it yesterday to kind of-- I don't know, pay my respects I guess. It made me feel very sick. The city feels a little different now, I don't know. :c

There's still a lot of emotions just swimming around right now and I'm trying to take it slow and just kind of process them one by one.

EDIT: Also!! I didn't know you lived here too! It's rare to find another Vegas person~!

I have no idea what to say, but I'm glad your safe.