I'm a damn good neighbor. My only criteria of that is not calling the cops when my drug dipped neighbors have psycho girls punching, biting and burning people and then yelling underneath my bedroom window "JUST TELL ME WHAT I DID WRONG!"
My neighbors moved in a few months ago. I rather like them enough. They're mere kids. A couple of guys and they have a lot of 'traffic' going through. There's even a 'look out' guy who I like to address as Shady.
But the guys and they're friends/customers/frontmen are all nice to me and the Humanling. So I really don't care what they are doing behind their wooden door, so long as it doesn't involve my fire alarm needing to go off.
The first paragraph up there is actually a rerun of 24 hours ago.
As I held two juicy tomatoes today (I hate tomatoes but I buy them at the farmers market every weekend for the 85 year old woman downstairs. Actually, I buy her one. My sink overflowed into her apartment this week though, so this time I got her two.) Humanling called to me that the neighbor (not Ned) wanted to speak with me. The tomatoes and I complied.
He wore a Brooklyn sweatjacket and stood before me looking serious. He wanted to apologize for the noise last night. He explained that it was his girlfriend that was heard in the metro area, screaming last night. Apparently there is a drug issue (did I mention that before?) only she wasn't having the usual cocktail and blatantly was touchy feeling with some other guy in this dude's apartment. He walked in on it and she didn't attempt to stop what she was doing. So he asked her to leave. That one request caused at least three people to get punched in the face, bit and burned with cigarettes.
I now applaud my decision last night, mid irritation, not to open the window or go downstairs and confront. I pulled a Ghandi, I stayed peaceful, and it eventually subsided.
Brooklyn showed me his arm. A two inch burn slide. He seemed pretty legit about it.
Within four more minutes, I knew that a move to another state had gotten messed up because of his father who he hadn't seen since he was five. That the girlfriend was supposed to move down but didn't and he came back to be with her.
I was informed about the other roommate who is slipping off methadone back into the real deal. And how Brooklyn basically goes for a walk alone sometimes or stays in his room to avoid all the traffic. Originally I thought they were one big happy Plant farming family over there.
Whenever Humanling and I walk up the mutual hallway and the telltale smell and fog tap our senses, I unlock the door muttering, "I see Cypress Hill is home."
I have no issues with their stuff behind their doors. And I applaud the boy for coming to apologize to me. And .... I felt the impulse to fix it. But what could I do - hand him a Gregg Braden book and a candle?
Within an hour, I ran into another acquaintence outside. This one probably in his early 50s. The answer to "How've you been?" was a mini-series. He's hooked up with a crack addict who's ex fought him in January. Then he had some medical thing and lost his job in May. Only to get hit in the crosswalk by a truck. Another impulse to lift to the light and make it better.
If I weren't married to His Royal Turdness for a year and a half, I wouldn't understand it. And because of that marriage, I want peace for these guys more than they'd ever know.
Joe Jonas is performing a duet with Miss Piggy as I write this. I don't have Humanling as a hall pass since she's in bed sleeping. I know way too much about these guys so maybe its time to disengage from all things electronic until the morning.
6 comments:
I'm a live and let live kind of guy - kind of necessary given my background on the shady side of things. I would say that the problem with the methadone/relapse crowd becoming cordial with you is that they will eventually feel that, if absolutely necessary, they could steal from you and talk you out of making it a legal issue. Dour, but true.
Good for you for taking the high road (lonely and cold), ans the low road can be treacherous. Folks in the throes occasionally lose their reason, their humanity. Witness the burning of one another.
Isn't it strange how we arrive at a place of understanding and then of compassion? Kind of a miracle.
Kind of a trip.
I was just sure this post was all about me. Narcissism, anyone?
But Ned. It IS about you.
You nailed it on the head - understanding and then compassion. I love that place. It's way better than resentment.
I have learned to learn from other people's experience when it comes to things that would be way too unnecessary to learn otherwise. I've pocketed the Don't Leave the Door Unlocked and Sleep with the Neighbors advice. The one boy that I was speaking with *seemed* legit but I was married to that on the first round. Cavey is a very likable creature to even people that are standing in a crater of his misdoings. My parents both like him. He's earned his own personality trait "Oh, Cavey's just being Cavey and he'll never change...tee hee....".
Is the low road quiet though? Sometimes I could use a time out....
The high road allows for assertiveness, just not malice. If they are disturbing you in a way that adversely affects your life, explain it to them. You have the same rights as them - they should also be living and letting live. If they aren't, asserting your rights to, in this order - them, your landlord, and the authorities, is totally fine, but be calm, be rational, be compassionate, and document the hell out of everything. That last step is boring, but if push does come to shove, having the best footing is your only real advantage.
Well, or a handgun.
Don't make me go all crazy white girl on you either! (That's AWESOME)
God help me but I love crazy white girls. Like P!nk for instance? Everything she sings entrances me, even though I imagine the lyrics to most of her songs are taken from her therapist's notes.
BTW, follow Ned on this. I can't add a thing. I've never been successful at neighbor probs. I usually just shoot horrible looks at them and cuss them under my breath until one of us moves.
There's something about Pink that transfixes me to listen to what she's saying, to watch what she's doing....all to go...huh. I don't know if I like her. It's been a very wishy washy relationship. I haven't found a definitive moment with her where I could pinpoint whether or not I care. But I'm working on it.
Ha!!! Yeah, I've had neighbors that I would more readily give the Angry Eyes to. These guys for the most part don't bother me. And it was a Friday night so I'd expect it. They're all like 20. I will hopefully never have the post about the brawl with the Crazy Biting girl who burns people she doesn't know.
Sounds like you live near the cast of "Alpha Dog." Eyucch. If my black ass where there, I bet they'd have offered me no apology. Probably a deal on some weed or crack, but no apology.
Um, and it's P!nk now, okay? Get it right, kthxbye.
HAAAhAHAaaa!
That's my attempt at "Crazy White Girl". How'd I do?
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