it needs to be a house. or at least the top floor.
I just got done writing a mother entry about this to myself. bottom line is, I live in a 700-something square foot apartment. it is sort of small but it's spacious enough for everyone. for a while, a single guy lived above me and yes, he made a great deal of noise every time he got up, but it only kept me up a short amount of time and with earplugs it wasn't that bad. fastforward to this past july, when a family of four moved in. they have two small children. yes, for a 700-something square foot apartment. i do not know what thought process told them it would be a good move, especially with growing children. to my despair, the noise level got far louder than i've ever had to deal with. the floors are not well insulated. that means i can hear any kind of child screaming, yelling, and especially running. these particular kids like to run back and forth across the apartment. at 7 am. for two hours. on a sunday. I spoke with the mother once before and asked if there was any way we could instill some quiet hours, from 10pm-10 am. she looked at me sarcastically and said, "I'll try, but they're kids." I even asked her if my playing bothered her and she said, "no, we really enjoy it, practice whenever you want." still as a courtesy i have stopped practicing around 11 pm every night. sometimes 10 pm. it did get quieter for a few months, and recently has gotten extremely loud again. every single day I get woken up by the young girl going to school. she giggles, screams, and runs around the house. i understand that some of these noises are uncontrollable. it's noteven the week days that bother me so much but the weekends are pure hell. i get woken up at 7 am on saturdays and sundays for a good two hours every time by the children screaming their heads off and constantly running/jumping the entire two hours. this morning i had enough and walked up to the neighbors and said that the running had woken me up and was there any way they could be quieter in the mornings.
she then bitched me out for telling her how to live, that she has two young kids and they love waking up and playing and how do i have the right to tell her kids not to be alive (she really said this) and she didn't live in nazi germany and wasn't going to live in her house like anne franke. she also said that she did not like that I practiced all day (I don't practice all day. 2-3 hours max, usually an hour and a half at a time) and had parties all the time and was really loud. I asked her what i could do to help her, and she refused to give me an answer. she told me to live my life how i wanted and "that's what you get when you live with people. just deal with it. if it wakes you up, then for goodness sakes, it's time to get up!" so she just bitched at me for suggesting to her that her kids play in the living room in the mornings and not the bedroom (I did suggest it and she looked at me like i was hitler) and yet she tells me that i need to wake up when her kids wake up. and that she gets woken up when she doesn't want to and basically that i have to deal with it. I don't think that that is a good compromise at all.
long story short, she completely turned my words around, became offended at me trying to work with her to find a plausible solution to make both of us happier (even with my practicing. she refused to give me hours that she was out of the house so i could practice when she's not there) and nearly shut the door in my face.
I want to move now. i'm THIS close to finding a sublet/temporary housing for a few months until i leave. before i do that, i'm going to a) wear earplugs to bed every night and b) talk to my landlady about coming up with some quiet hours for the weekdays and weekends. it is impossible for anyone to be completely quiet and i never stated that she be quiet all the time. she thought I did, because she kept saying "my kids are ALIVE. we're ALIVE. we make noise. i can't stop footsteps." I never said anything to suggest to them that they stop walking in their apartment. my only problem is the running for two hours at 7 am on weekends. but to her my problem was that they're alive and that she gathered that I think she's a horrible mother and has horrible kids.
for now, since she did not offer me any suggestion as to how to work with her about my practicing, i am going to keep doing what i'm doing. and I'm going to talk to my landlady, probably tomorrow, about this situation. there is also a roach problem, also due to this family living upstairs, because we did not have roach problems for the two years that i've lived here before. it didn't start until they moved in.
i feel a lot better after having rationalized all of her crazy talk and also knowing that I don't have to deal with her directly again and that I can talk to my landlady about it.
and now, i really should go shower and practice before this rehearsal at 6.
peace.
K
she then bitched me out for telling her how to live, that she has two young kids and they love waking up and playing and how do i have the right to tell her kids not to be alive (she really said this) and she didn't live in nazi germany and wasn't going to live in her house like anne franke. she also said that she did not like that I practiced all day (I don't practice all day. 2-3 hours max, usually an hour and a half at a time) and had parties all the time and was really loud. I asked her what i could do to help her, and she refused to give me an answer. she told me to live my life how i wanted and "that's what you get when you live with people. just deal with it. if it wakes you up, then for goodness sakes, it's time to get up!" so she just bitched at me for suggesting to her that her kids play in the living room in the mornings and not the bedroom (I did suggest it and she looked at me like i was hitler) and yet she tells me that i need to wake up when her kids wake up. and that she gets woken up when she doesn't want to and basically that i have to deal with it. I don't think that that is a good compromise at all.
long story short, she completely turned my words around, became offended at me trying to work with her to find a plausible solution to make both of us happier (even with my practicing. she refused to give me hours that she was out of the house so i could practice when she's not there) and nearly shut the door in my face.
I want to move now. i'm THIS close to finding a sublet/temporary housing for a few months until i leave. before i do that, i'm going to a) wear earplugs to bed every night and b) talk to my landlady about coming up with some quiet hours for the weekdays and weekends. it is impossible for anyone to be completely quiet and i never stated that she be quiet all the time. she thought I did, because she kept saying "my kids are ALIVE. we're ALIVE. we make noise. i can't stop footsteps." I never said anything to suggest to them that they stop walking in their apartment. my only problem is the running for two hours at 7 am on weekends. but to her my problem was that they're alive and that she gathered that I think she's a horrible mother and has horrible kids.
for now, since she did not offer me any suggestion as to how to work with her about my practicing, i am going to keep doing what i'm doing. and I'm going to talk to my landlady, probably tomorrow, about this situation. there is also a roach problem, also due to this family living upstairs, because we did not have roach problems for the two years that i've lived here before. it didn't start until they moved in.
i feel a lot better after having rationalized all of her crazy talk and also knowing that I don't have to deal with her directly again and that I can talk to my landlady about it.
and now, i really should go shower and practice before this rehearsal at 6.
peace.
K