And while I'm pissed off...
My fucking neighbors have started with the loud music again.
I started out by trying to politely let them know I could hear it by banging on the wall. In EVERY apartment I have ever lived in, and I've lived in a lot, this has been the standard practice for letting people know you can hear their music. And they always turn it down. These neighbors? Turned it UP, because they are all rebellious rock stars who aren't gonna turn their music with it's enormous thudding bass down for THE MAN.
The second time it happened, I banged on the wall again. At this point, I was actually trying to goad them into playing their music really, really loud so that everyone in the apartments around them would complain. I figured that if everyone complained, then when I finally complained, the complex would take it seriously enough to tell them to keep it down or move out.
But this time, there was a pause, and then HUGE VIOLENT THUMPING against the wall. I mean -- terrifying. Like someone was slamming something very, very heavy against the wall. My bookshelf almost tipped over. It terrified me -- I locked the door, pulled all the blinds shut, and hid in the bedroom for a long time. After that, Sam went to speak to them, but they refused to open their door.
So we complained. And the complex sent someone over to talk to them. And for a while, the music turned down. But not for long -- first, it was a video game played really loudly, so I could hear the 'rat-tat-tat-tat-tat' of the gun that someone was firing. Then the music started up, quiet at first, but it's gotten louder and louder. I'm waiting for it to get loud enough and constant enough that I'll have a good case to go back and complain a second time about them. It's getting to that point.
Eventually, they're going to get mad enough at us that they do something really scary. And while this will be good, because it will mean that I can call the police and get them involved, and the complex will probably start eviction proceedings, it will be bad because I don't know what they're going to do. Hopefully, it'll be nothing more than vandalism, but maybe not.
I'm starting to regret moving here. There are aspects of it that I like, such as paying $200 less in rent. (Actually closer to $300, because our rent at the old place would have gone up) And I like having less space to clean, even though it means that we had to get rid of a lot of our stuff. I like my new desk, with all its cubbyholes and drawers for my knitting stuff. I like having my knitting stuff close at hand. I like that the mailbox is not set up so that people can take your outgoing mail. Yes, the place where I used to live was like that, and people kept taking our Netflix CDs, so that I eventually had to just start always taking them to the mailbox downtown. I like that the managers aren't racist assholes, and the repair people don't come in after being expressly told not to.
But stuff in the apartment keeps breaking. The hot/cold water is completely messed up. Our heater is broken, and we're having trouble getting the complex to fix it. Which isn't actually that much of a problem because I hate running the heater anyway and having it be broken means I'm not arguing with Sam over whether it's too cold and whether he should just get a blanket to wrap up in, but still, sometimes it gets cold enough that I'M too cold, and it would be nice to have a heater on those days. The air circulation is so pitiful that I have to have my awesome tiny fan running whenever I am at my computer. Our closet rod fell down after we asked the repair guy to fix it and he did a shoddy job. Our dishwasher is so pitiful that I've taken to just washing dishes by hand and using it as a glorified drying rack. The only way it doesn't leave the dishes dirtier than when they started is if I wash them completely, anyway.
And we have shitty neighbors. We have the people next door with their loud music. And we have the people who are using our cable -- like to get free cable. We don't pay for cable, so the cable company thinks WE are stealing the cable. It wasn't until I let the guy who came to intimidate me into my apartment and showed him every room, and showed him that there was no cable box anywhere in the house, and showed him all of the places in the house where the cable wires came in and were not hooked up to anything that he backed off. I've called the cable company and registered a complaint, so hopefully they won't bother us anymore, but it's really irritating that someone would do that. And then there was the person who attempted, and failed, to punch my lock. The police have gone to the house across the way at least once, their lights coming in through our closed blinds at 2am, waking me up. Last night, I heard what I swear was a gunshot. I have not heard gunshots near where I lived since I lived in Oakland. (To be fair, I heard a hell of a lot more of them over there.)
On the plus side, I guess, the management DID go talk to our neighbors the last time they did the whole loud music thing. I know they did, because it stopped entirely for a while, and has only been slowly creeping up since then. I figure in a couple of weeks I will have heard it loud enough times to make it worth complaining again. (I want the people next door to KNOW they've been playing the music way too loud whenever they get talked to. Also, if I wait, it's more likely that the people who live above them have complained as well.)
Anyway, I'm gonna go do some baking and try to ignore the thumping coming from my wall.
I started out by trying to politely let them know I could hear it by banging on the wall. In EVERY apartment I have ever lived in, and I've lived in a lot, this has been the standard practice for letting people know you can hear their music. And they always turn it down. These neighbors? Turned it UP, because they are all rebellious rock stars who aren't gonna turn their music with it's enormous thudding bass down for THE MAN.
The second time it happened, I banged on the wall again. At this point, I was actually trying to goad them into playing their music really, really loud so that everyone in the apartments around them would complain. I figured that if everyone complained, then when I finally complained, the complex would take it seriously enough to tell them to keep it down or move out.
But this time, there was a pause, and then HUGE VIOLENT THUMPING against the wall. I mean -- terrifying. Like someone was slamming something very, very heavy against the wall. My bookshelf almost tipped over. It terrified me -- I locked the door, pulled all the blinds shut, and hid in the bedroom for a long time. After that, Sam went to speak to them, but they refused to open their door.
So we complained. And the complex sent someone over to talk to them. And for a while, the music turned down. But not for long -- first, it was a video game played really loudly, so I could hear the 'rat-tat-tat-tat-tat' of the gun that someone was firing. Then the music started up, quiet at first, but it's gotten louder and louder. I'm waiting for it to get loud enough and constant enough that I'll have a good case to go back and complain a second time about them. It's getting to that point.
Eventually, they're going to get mad enough at us that they do something really scary. And while this will be good, because it will mean that I can call the police and get them involved, and the complex will probably start eviction proceedings, it will be bad because I don't know what they're going to do. Hopefully, it'll be nothing more than vandalism, but maybe not.
I'm starting to regret moving here. There are aspects of it that I like, such as paying $200 less in rent. (Actually closer to $300, because our rent at the old place would have gone up) And I like having less space to clean, even though it means that we had to get rid of a lot of our stuff. I like my new desk, with all its cubbyholes and drawers for my knitting stuff. I like having my knitting stuff close at hand. I like that the mailbox is not set up so that people can take your outgoing mail. Yes, the place where I used to live was like that, and people kept taking our Netflix CDs, so that I eventually had to just start always taking them to the mailbox downtown. I like that the managers aren't racist assholes, and the repair people don't come in after being expressly told not to.
But stuff in the apartment keeps breaking. The hot/cold water is completely messed up. Our heater is broken, and we're having trouble getting the complex to fix it. Which isn't actually that much of a problem because I hate running the heater anyway and having it be broken means I'm not arguing with Sam over whether it's too cold and whether he should just get a blanket to wrap up in, but still, sometimes it gets cold enough that I'M too cold, and it would be nice to have a heater on those days. The air circulation is so pitiful that I have to have my awesome tiny fan running whenever I am at my computer. Our closet rod fell down after we asked the repair guy to fix it and he did a shoddy job. Our dishwasher is so pitiful that I've taken to just washing dishes by hand and using it as a glorified drying rack. The only way it doesn't leave the dishes dirtier than when they started is if I wash them completely, anyway.
And we have shitty neighbors. We have the people next door with their loud music. And we have the people who are using our cable -- like to get free cable. We don't pay for cable, so the cable company thinks WE are stealing the cable. It wasn't until I let the guy who came to intimidate me into my apartment and showed him every room, and showed him that there was no cable box anywhere in the house, and showed him all of the places in the house where the cable wires came in and were not hooked up to anything that he backed off. I've called the cable company and registered a complaint, so hopefully they won't bother us anymore, but it's really irritating that someone would do that. And then there was the person who attempted, and failed, to punch my lock. The police have gone to the house across the way at least once, their lights coming in through our closed blinds at 2am, waking me up. Last night, I heard what I swear was a gunshot. I have not heard gunshots near where I lived since I lived in Oakland. (To be fair, I heard a hell of a lot more of them over there.)
On the plus side, I guess, the management DID go talk to our neighbors the last time they did the whole loud music thing. I know they did, because it stopped entirely for a while, and has only been slowly creeping up since then. I figure in a couple of weeks I will have heard it loud enough times to make it worth complaining again. (I want the people next door to KNOW they've been playing the music way too loud whenever they get talked to. Also, if I wait, it's more likely that the people who live above them have complained as well.)
Anyway, I'm gonna go do some baking and try to ignore the thumping coming from my wall.