Apartment Life

We've lived here at DCC apartments for about 1 1/2 years now. All in all, it's a pretty nice apartment complex, still relatively new, well-maintained, well-managed, and most of the residents are decent, normal people. Still, with the variety of people comes a variety of lifestyles. Since I'm at home most of the time, I see a lot that goes on around here; sometimes it's funny, sometimes annoying, sometimes embarrassing, sometimes scary. Here are a few things I've learned throughout the past year and a half...

• Neighbors can be very noise sensitive. A couple that lived in the apartment below us used to write complaint notes and stick them on our door. They said our bed squeaked and our footsteps were too loud. We fixed the bed, but couldn't do much about our footsteps. :P
• People sometimes forget to close their blinds. Like the guy and girl who were making out in front of their sliding glass door, wearing only their undies. :P Come on, people, I didn't want to see that!
• TVs are bad things to have in bedrooms. Especially when it's in the bedroom of the apartment below you and the owner keeps the sports channel blaring all night. Gaaah.
• Avoid the lady with the wimpy yipper-dog. She has it on a leash, but doesn't restrain it from attacking my ankles as I walk by. Stupid dog. I wanted to give it a good kick. Maybe the owner too.
• Avoid gardeners and lawn workers. Ever since one of them suddenly burst into song in Spanish about a "beautiful woman" when I walked by, I've made it a point to avoid them. Just in case it wasn't coincidence.
  
• Avoid outspoken lady who hates certain cars. Once I got in the general area around her on my way to pay rent and she started ranting about a car that drove by. "I hate those trashy ____. Nothing but junk. I would NEVER buy one of those cars!" o_O Okaaaay, like I needed to know that.
• Beware of blond girl. During my daily walk, I was talking on the phone as I passed a little girl playing near the sidewalk. She said hi, so I smiled and said hi back. Next time around, she said hi and I said hi again. Third time I walked by (still on the phone), she said hi and I just smiled and nodded. Very indignant, she said, "I SAID hi!"
• Never walk after 3 PM. All the teens and middleschoolers are home from school and they aren't very friendly, nor do they like to share the sidewalk.
• Never leave anything of value in your car overnight. A few months ago three or four cars were broken in to during the night. Thankfully, both of ours were unharmed.
• Life is warmer when people are living below us. Their heat keeps our apartment quite toasty. ;)
• People really do have knock-down drag-out fights. Just last night the couple below us had a doozy of a fight, yelling, knocking things around, swearing at each other... the woman finally left. Then the baby started crying.... and wouldn't stop. *sigh*
• Wall insulation between apartments much be very scarce. Just recently we were awakened around 3 AM by someone else's alarm clock playing an annoying tune over and over and over and over. It played for at least an hour; we eventually had to move to the other bedroom.
• Never pet the cat that comes out to greet you near one apartment. It bites.
• If I look straight up at the sky while walking and sorta squint to make my peripheral vision fuzzy, I can imagine I'm on a farm in the country. Then I trip and come crashing back to reality.

So although we don't want to live here any longer than we have to, it's not a bad place and we've been very happy in our little apartment. :) Still, I'm looking forward to that house in the country... some day.