Sunday, January 27, 2008

The Past Loves to Haunt

One of the loud, obnoxious, inconsiderate children in the apartment next to mine just took it to a whole new level.

They got a musical instrument.

A saxophone.

A loud, honking, squeaky saxophone.

And they have played for two hours every evening for the past three days. And then for another couple hours after dinner.

How do I know it's a saxophone? Well, I spent years of my youth torturing my own family with that unmistakable honking. And I know firsthand just how long it takes for it to transform into anything remotely melodious. It's going to be a long two months till moving day.

The first night, I actually found it funny. The kid must have seriously been playing in the bathroom, because as I was giving E her bath, it sounded like he was about two inches from us on the other side of the wall. But, that was the first hour. During the second hour, as I was trying to nurse E to somewhere between drowsy and passed out, it got to the point of serious consideration of instrumental harm. Thankfully the kid stopped before I tried to put E down for real and didn't start again till after she was out.

So, lately my concentration has been shot to hell and I've been hiding out in the farthest corner of the apartment from any shared walls. Along with the cats. (I think they all breathed a sigh of relief when I sold my saxophone this summer - seeing it leave the house and never come back was no doubt a joyous occasion for their ears).

Anyways, my hiding-out time has resulted in some major progress on the "E's First Year" scrapbook. I'm down to only about 4 months behind now!

8 comments:

Veronica Foale said...

I hated when we shared walls with neighbours. I think they wanted to piss me off because Amy screamed all night every night until we moved out, so of a daytime they would play music really really loud. I could've killed them, but luckily Amy learned to sleep through it. The fireworks from the other neighbours though? Not so much.

The idea of close neighbours now makes me shudder. Lets hope the novelty of the instrument wears off soon!

Coal Miner's Granddaughter said...

My dear husband (fiancee at the time) lived downstairs from a guy who built his own pipe organ. Seriously. It was annoying as hell.

Glad you're almost caught up with the scrapbooking! I need to get inspired to do mine.

Kim said...

I wouldn't dare try to play my clarinet after so many years, the animals would probably drop dead from my screeching.

I love your scrapbook. I have a pile of paper and several unfinished scrapbooks I need to get working on. I even convinced my mom to buy me a wedding scrapbook thinking that after two and a half years I would finally start it, but it has just made its way into the messy pile of supplies. I wish you lived closer so I could have a scrapbook buddy, maybe that would motivate me :)

Karen said...

I canot believe the level of dedication to play for that long! It'll be good for his sax playing skills, but I truly feel for you. Our daughter is learning to play and we are seriously contemplating sound-proofing her room.

Burgh Baby said...

So what you're saying is that I'm going to get paid back for all those years of driving the neighbors crazy with my clarinet/saxophone playing. Great. Just great.

I am officially two years behind on the scrapbook thing. Once again, great. Just great.

geenalyn said...

i'm with burgh baby's mom...i'm close to 2 years behind in all four kids scrapbook albums...and the pile just keeps getting added to. I tried to switch over to a family album thinking that would lessen the volume(only scrabooking xmas once instead of three times and same with zoo trips and what not)...i'm a year behind in the one now too

jayna said...

Veronica - After being spoiled by living in a house, and then moving back into an apartment, I have a totally new appreciation for all the quiet neighbors I did have before.

CMD - A PIPE ORGAN? In an apartment? That seriously tops all.

Kim - I would love to have a scrapbooking buddy, but you'd have to move to Savannah, cause I'm done with this cold stuff - Chicago is not on my list :-)

Karen - Thankfully it seems the dedication level is wearing off. Tonight was actually silent.

BBM - Just wait till Alexis picks out drums or something.

Geenalyn - This is the only scrapbook I'm remotely up to date on - everything else is just stuffed in a book.

Not Afraid to Use It said...

Every time someone rings my doorbell selling something like candy bars or cookies, I feel like it is payback time for all the thousands of doorbells I rang in elementary school. I hope you guys come to a good compromise over the noise, um I mean music.

And, btw, I LOVE LOVE LOVE your map background. Absolutely gorgeous.