Wednesday, July 16, 2008

The Man Upstairs

No- I don't mean God... literally, I am writing about the man that lives upstairs from us. I just need to vent the frustration I have been having for a while. We have lived in our condo since the summer of 2005, and had the same girl living upstairs until a few months ago. She was the perfect neighbor! She stayed at her boyfriend's place all the time and only came home randomly to grab more clothes or something. She did have a very annoying dog, but the dog stayed where she stayed so we didn't have to worry about her either. Our condos have a lot of character (AKA- very old) and have some creaky hardwood floors and very thin walls. You can hear the toilet flushing in the condo above you, you know when they get out of bed in the morning, and you can hear the dog running around and clicking it's nails on the floors, etc. Plus- since having Kate, I have become quite a light sleeper! I guess I never realized how great we had it when the girl lived here... because the new man is totally different!
Some background info- Joe is in his early 60s and just recently went through a divorce, and he is enjoying his freedom to come home when he wants and listen to his music as loud as he wants, and he even got himself a puppy for some companionship. I really felt sorry for him when he first got here as I imagined life going from marriage with 2 kids in a house, to a quiet condo with no one around. BUT- I have slowly lost compassion as he makes himself more and more at home here. He likes Pink Floyd music in case you are wondering... Brandon can tell me what songs are playing because it is so loud from upstairs. And the puppy he got... a golden retriever! Those nail-clickings and jumping off the bed sounds are a lot louder for a golden retriever! And, I can hear every word his bedroom television plays. I can tell you that he watches Fox 6 news, and I can even tell when the newscasters change stories. Also, since Joe moved here, all of the neighbors with dogs seem to gather right outside of our window with all the dogs and their wine and they just chat and drink for hours. I know a few are teachers out for the summer, and a few are students who are up late anyway, but it is still my front yard! I just feel like even though these condos look like college dorms, they are homes and should be respected by all of the neighbors.
I have kept my mouth shut for months, and I try my hardest to stay pretty quiet in our place. Luckily, Kate has never been a big cryer, so I haven't had to shush her too much. And I am always a volume nazi with the tv or radio. I also make sure if we have company over to watch sports or a movie, that we are talking/cheering/listening to movies at a reasonable volume. Pregnancy alone makes me not sleep so well since I am up twice a night to go to the bathroom, and I always think any noise I hear is Kate waking up, so I can't sleep at all! I lay there thinking "shut up, go to bed, I only have 3 more hours til Kate gets up," etc. and I have run out of patience. A few weeks ago, a group of 4 or 5 people were gathered outside our bedroom window in the next yard over and they were drinking, talking, and playing with dogs at MIDNIGHT! Who wants to be outside playing with a dog at midnight? I could hear every word they were saying, and I finally got mad enough to go tell them to take their party somewhere else. I just told them it was midnight and that I could hear every word they were saying. They were very nice about it and I haven't had a problem with them again. But, I think the reason they annoyed me so bad was started by JOE! While they were out talking, he had techno music blaring from his bedroom. One of the girls apologized a few days later, and we laughed and talked about it for a while. She lives in the condo across the hall from us, and she said that she hears Joe's tv/music too- so she understood my frustration and wasn't mad at me at all for telling them to be quiet. She said they just didn't realize that it was midnight or that they were so loud
Next incident- a few nights ago, I got up to go to the bathroom and heard Joe's tv turned up very loud, and I couldn't go back to sleep for at least another hour and a half. So, I finally worked up the nerve to go knock on his door and ask him to turn it down. I knocked twice, looked out to the parking lot and his car was not even there, so I went to my place and wrote him a note and left it on his door. I just told him that it was 1:30 AM and that I came to ask him to turn his volume down, but that he wasn't home, and if he is leaving to please turn down (or off) his tv so we don't have to hear it. Around 2 or 2:30, I heard him come home and then the noise stopped. However, even when his tv is not loud or he is just living his normal life- I hate living below someone! I don't like to know exactly when he gets up, or when he is doing pushups on his bedroom floor (sometimes I even count to 20 in my head when he is doing them). I just had to vent about this because it frustrates me every single day! What is even more annoying is that Brandon can hear the noise, but he can turn over and go right to sleep. How am I supposed to survive the rest of this pregnancy and having a newborn with this loud neighbor?? Blake is going to be in our room for the first few months, so maybe it will be payback time for Joe! Am I overreacting or would anybody else (who is pregnant and has a 1 year old that wears her out) be this annoyed?

6 comments:

Milla said...

OH my goodness. First of all, your first sentence cracked me up. Second of all, I would absolutely be frustrated, too! I can't believe you can count his pushups, and I can't believe he leaves his noise on even when he leaves in the middle of the night. Who does that?! I really hope your note will make a difference, and I completely agree with you- I would do the same thing.

Ole Miss Mom said...

Goodness....we had HORRIBLE neighbors one time that would leave their BARKING dog out all WEEKEND sometimes.....I feel for ya! Do you think you guys will be moving any time soon??? If not, just keep leaving notes...and get some other neighbors involved!!

Oh, and sound machines work WONDERS in our house! We own 4........and don't leave home without them!!!! We're slightly addicted!! :-)

Julie-Anne said...

I definitely cannot stand upstairs neighbors, and I am not pregnant nor do I have a one year old. I would just say, (like my dad used to say)"the squeaky wheel gets the grease." Maybe the other girl who can hear the same things you hear can be your your allied force! :) Strength in numbers! Hang in there!

Emily said...

Linds, bless your heart- you are SO justified in venting! We had terrible neighbors last year- a 2 year old who was allowed to run wild at 1 a.m. and later... they initiated a rule on campus that toddlers were not allowed to live on any floor other than the 1st b/c of our experience (I think they named the rule after Jake for bringing it up!) Hang in there- maybe Joe and his wife will reconcile!!! :)

Allyson said...

Oh my gosh that would drive me crazy. When we were in college my freshman year I would go over to Matts to study and hang out and he lived in college park. That place was ridiculous. It was not uncommon to walk outside to see some dude running across the "courtyard" butt naked, all while his drunk friends cheer him on! The guy next door to him liked to play his guitar really loud outside Matts window at all hours of the night morning. I cannot imagine going through that right now, or especially when i was pregnant and things set me off randomly anyway. I hope things get better! Maybe put some white noise in YOUR room! :)

jane said...

i deal with the same anger toward our post-college boy nieghbors who rev their loud cars next to our (and elisha's window)in the middle of the night...

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