random thoughts – Day 1,600 – (Sunday) – not a fun day

As refreshing as Friday night’s long sleep was, the Saturday overnight shift was marked by much less slumber and a significant level of angst.

The Lords of the Nuisance House across the street seem to operating the city’s hottest after-hours bar. Usually the parties would begin around 11:00 pm and empty out around 3:00 or 4:00 am. This morning at 3:30, people were still arriving in their chariots, their presence heralded by thumping bass and booming music. The soundtrack of the new arrivals wove into the sounds of music and merriment coming from the brightly lit back yard.

The noise volume dropped around 4:00. I looked out the window, expecting to see the party attendees exiting, but instead,  saw two police cruisers turning around to leave. This was followed by more people continuing to trickle in. The music wasn’t as loud, but it was replaced by the sounds of a basketball game in the street, complete with a dribbling ball and trash talk.

The arrivals and departures and street shenanigans continued until 5:30. Then a couple began arguing loudly on the porch. When the argument/shouting match subsided in the brightening morning light, it was replaced by four dudes having a loud conversation.

I had given up tossing and turning and swearing and trying to sleep by 5:00 and began reading. At 5:30, I gave up reading in bed, got up, and stumbled to the couch, exhausted and cursing the neighbor and their idiot guests. Coffee was brewed, and once I was sufficiently functional, half a bagel was toasted and schmeared with whipped cream cheese and plated with dates. 

It was finally quiet around 6:30. At 8:30, right around the time it seemed like a fun idea to mow the lawn to irritate the party hosts who had probably recently retired to bed, I fell asleep on the couch for an hour, boosting the sleep total for the night to three whole hours. Woo hoo!

The weather forecast called for rain in the afternoon and the back yard was shaggy. A couple nights during the week I had briefly thought about mowing, but then it rained, was about to rain, or I just didn’t do it. I dragged myself outside and mowed the backyard, feeling like a zombie.

I saw another neighbor after finishing the mowing and she heard all the noise, too. We complained about how all it took was one duplex to destroy what used to be a quiet street. We fantasized about sending the property owners real estate listings for homes in the remote countryside. 

Then we revisited our earlier fantasy of a weekend early morning pot and pan noise parade in the street to wake up the occupants of the annoying house. We have openings for low-skill, high noise participants with trombones, a marching band big drum, and any noisy household items if anyone is interested. The more the merrier! We also decided that crying babies are welcome for the early morning parades and should be brought outside with a megaphone for maximum impact. We march at dawn next weekend. I'm also curious to see which neighbor snaps first and gets to star in a true life crime show. It's really fun to have something to look forward to. 

The rest of the day was spent in a fatigued, foggy, stupor. A grocery list was drafted but I was too tired to go. When the rain came I was glad to have gotten the back yard done. Now I’m just running the clock until it’s “late enough” to go to bed, which in this case will be second it is dark outside. If I retire too early, it’s likely I’ll wake up at some ungodly hour and be recreating this morning’s aggravation all over again.