I can never get enough of Angie Aparo’s music. He puts so much of his heart and soul, his blood and tears into it, and it shows. Every single time I listen to “Wonderland” I can’t help but cry. It’s a song he wrote for his daughter, and everytime he plays it at a concert (he always closes with it) he says, “This is for my daughter.”
Angie is as much a poet as he is a musician. All of his songs have meaning to them, none of them are repetative crap written for the radio. In “Wonderland” he talks about the sacrifices a father makes for his daughter, “I stand in the night with a silver sword / Killing her demons beating ‘em off her door / Sleep baby don’t you cry / Daddy’s got a worn-out lullaby / And I live forever dark and damned / To see you spend one minute, girl / In Wonderland”

Wonderland – Angie Aparo

Take a piece of the sky
Make it rain cherry wine
Give her love give her life
Give her mine

She’s a child young and willing
In a world that’s unforgiving
That in time takes all the living
From your soul

I stand in the night with a silver sword
Killing her demons beating em off her door
Sleep baby don’t you cry
Daddy’s got a worn-out lullaby
And I live forever dark and damned
To see you spend one minute, girl
In Wonderland

She can run free forever
Still our blood runs us together
I’ll be there if she runs home
For worse or better

I know you like Adam knew Eve
Every tear you cry is a tear that I will bleed
Sleep baby don’t you cry
Daddy’s got a worn-out lullaby
And I live forever dark and damned
To see you spend one minute, baby
In Wonderland

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Well, I’m not a police officer yet, but as of 12:00 today, I am an employee of the Cobb County PD. I was so nervous/excited about my final interview today that I probably only slept 4 hours last night. It took me forever to fall asleep, and once I did, I kept waking up. I woke up at 6:00 so that I would have plenty of time to get ready and battle traffic down I-75. I drove Michelle’s car because of the tag situation with my truck. [See the bottom of my last journal entry.] I didn’t want to be parked at Police HQ with an expired tag. Since starting my truck in the morning is quite tricky, I started it drove it around the parking lot so Michelle wouldn’t have any problems getting it to work. It was the first time she’s driven my truck, and said she loved it. There’s just something about a 1985 Toyota Pickup that makes it fun to drive.

Anyway, once I got to HQ I had to fill out some more paper work. There were six of us being hired today, and the break room where we were waiting was very quiet. I was third in line to meet with the chief and the hiring board. I waited in the chief’s secretary’s office while the guy in front of me was talking with the board. Once he was done, he came out of the office and they closed the door behind him. I was so nervous at this point, and asked the secretary if she could hear my heart pounding, or if it was just me. She assured me everything would be ok, but I was still nervous.

They opened the door and called me in. I shook hands with everyone as they introduced themselves, and was instructed to have a seat. I was glad that only the chief was sitting behind a desk and the other three were sitting on couches and chairs. It was much more relaxing than if they had all been behind a table staring me down. They asked me how I was doing, so I told them how nervous I was. They were understanding and made jokes throughout the process to help keep the atmosphere light. Besides telling them about myself, they did most of the talking, and I mostly nodded and agreed with everything they said. It was more as if they were saying, “Are you really sure you want to do this?”

After talking with them, the chief said that he would like to offer me a job. I graciously accepted, and three of the four had to sign to hire me. I suppose that would mean that it would take three people to fire me too…

I then proceeded to supplies be fit for my uniform. I had to try on body armor along with several different layers of clothing. I felt so cool looking into the mirror while I was in uniform. After they got all of my measurements I drove to the sheriff’s department to have my finger prints taken. I dropped those of at internal affairs and headed home.

I just can’t describe how excited I am. On May 8th I get my uniform, take a tour of the facilities, and set up my insurance and probably do some more paper work. May 9th is the first day of academy.

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Corporal Harris called me earlier this week with my schedule for next week. On Wednesday morning at 8:00 I meet with the police chief for my final interview. Though this is just a chance for the chief to meet me before hiring me, he’s still going to ask me a lot of questions that I can’t actually answer. They’ll ask me some ethical questions like, “If you see your partner get a free cup of coffee, what do you do?” (Police officers aren’t supposed to take any gratuities what-so-ever). Or, “You get to a scene of an accident on Christmas eve, and it’s a fellow officer who is obviously intoxicated, but has a car full of presents that he was bringing home to his children, what do you do?” I suppose I’ll answer the questions to the best of my ability, but I’ve been told to just tell them, “I don’t know” if I can’t answer.

Once I’m done with all of that, I have to fill out more paper work. I guess they’re getting me ready for the job, because I am sick and tired of filling out paper work. You’d think that they could just use the first packet of information I gave them, but instead, I have to fill out the same stuff over and over again. After the paper work is done, I’ll be finger printed, have my IDs made, and I’ll drive home an officer!

Of course I won’t be a sworn officer; that won’t happen until I complete police academy (which starts May 8th).

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I got pulled over as I was entering my apartment complex yesterday by the KSU Police for having an expired tag. I was really confused, because I remember dad mailing me the paper work saying that it was up-to-date, but apparently I either didn’t get the sticker or forgot to put it on. Either way, I showed him the receipt saying that it was not expired. He said he wouldn’t give me a ticket, but wanted to check on the tag all the same. Before he went back to his car he noticed my KSU parking decal and asked what I was studying. When I told him Criminal Justice his face lit up. When I told him that I have my final interview on the 19th, and academy starting on the 8th his entire demeanor changed. He said, “Oh you’ll love it. If you like driving fast and shooting guns then you’ll love it. Have you had any classes with Dr. Crowder yet? I’ve taken all that he offers.” I told him which classes I had taken and he said, “Well alright, find that sticker, and good luck with the academy!”

I think it’ll be good to be a cop.

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As the tornadoes worked their way across the country to Georgia, Michelle and I watched movies then went to bed. Right around 4:00 this morning the tornado siren on campus went off. Normally I would try to go back to sleep because they have random test drills with the siren. But this morning was different: we heard thunder, wind, and things blowing around. Michelle got up to turn on the T.V. to see what was going on, but as soon as she got up the power went off. We quickly decided to hang out in the bathtub with pillows nearby because it is in the center of the building and seemed to be the safest. Unfortunately, we live on the top floor, so if anything did happen, being in the center of the building may not have helped too much.

Once we found our way into the bathroom and to the bathtub, I went to find a flashlight. Luckily, I never took it out of the backpack we used to go to Cumberland Island. I also got a little battery operated lantern while I was up. While I was getting the lights, I looked out the window to see what was going on. The sky was greenish-yellow, and the trees were almost bent over because of the wind. There was also one spot in the sky where lightning was repeatedly flashing.

We took shelter in the bathroom until the storm passed. I’m not sure how long we were in there, but it seemed like forever. It was hard going back to sleep, and I wasn’t able to until after the power came back on. I probably wouldn’t have notice the power coming back on, but my printer makes a lot of noise when it first turns on.

We ended up sleeping until 11:30, and it would have been longer if it wasn’t for my cat, Gypsy. She’s not used to us sleeping past 8:00, and was putting up a fit. I can’t see any damage from our windows, but I read of damage throughout Cobb County to residential and business buildings. They have yet to determine if a tornado touched down.

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