Thursday, January 28, 2010

On Apartment Living

As I'm sure many of you know, there are both pros and cons of apartment living.

Pro: On Tuesday morning, I came home from a frolic in the dog park with Oscar to hear a weird sound coming from the guest bathroom. When I turned on the light, I discovered that it was raining from the ceiling vent, which was ... fabulous. I called maintenance, and they sent someone over to take care of it. Apparently, my upstairs neighbors had a leak issue with their water main that connects to their toilet. It flooded their bathroom, and leaked down through my vent. Luckily, there was no damage and the lovely maintenance man brought in a wet vac to take care of everything. This is a definite pro of apartment living: not having to handle messy situations like leaks myself! Having easy, free maintenance whenever there is an emergency is really fantastic...especially when said emergency happens mere days after your husband leaves for a year!

Con: Last night, I planned to go to bed early, around 9:30. Yet as soon as I got into bed, I realized my upstairs neighbors (ugh...they are extremely bothersome lately!) started BLASTING opera. I mean, it was loud. Now, I actually enjoy opera quite a bit, but ... it was so loud that it sounded as if it was playing in my living room. I could hear each and every note clearly and easily. I buried my head in the pillows and the blankets and, eventually, fell asleep. Obvious apartment con: having neighbors whose homes are attached to yours. Upstairs neighbors are the worst. Matt and I are really great neighbors...we are quiet, especially during the nighttime hours. We don't play loud music and we rarely have people over...and when we do, they aren't loud either. When I go outside to warm up my car in the morning, I turn my lights off so that they don't shine into anyone's bedroom windows. I keep them off until I pull out of my parking spot. I live in an apartment, and respecting your neighbors is a huge part of apartment living. Needless to say ... this morning when I woke up, I blared my music just out of spite. And when I warmed up my car? The lights stayed on. Just this once, just today.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Tags: Things I Hate. Love it!

I have to agree with you, I am still undecided on which is better: high rise apartments or garden style (3 floors) apartments.

Once we called the cops on the neighbors below us (back in the day at a garden style place I used to live at) because the neighbors played the music SO LOUD at nighttime (10, 11pm) with BASS on. So not only was it loud as all get out but my walls and tables were vibrating to the beat of it. Then they had the audacity to come and yell at me for calling the cops on them when I had asked nicely three or four times that same week to please turn it down and respect nighttime hours. Pft.

d.a.r. said...

Would you like to chat about oil painting for awhile?

Unknown said...

I totally agree..there are deffinantly some benefits but sometimes neighbors make it the worst! I actually miss the coziness of apartments but i hated having to take the Charles out all the time to go potty!

Crazy Shenanigans-JMO said...

When I lived in an apartment I loved the fact that I had the maintenance people incase something happened but I hated the neighbor situation!

jenn said...

tik-tok bitches :) love this!!

Jennifer said...

I hate annoying neighbors! My downstairs neighbor plays one of those loud gun/fighting video games (can't ever remember what they're called) and puts it on his surround sound and turns it up LOUD... AT MIDNIGHT. Most nights. Then last night upstairs neighbor decided to have loud drunk friends over. And sit on the balcony. Loud people don't usually bother me. Except for really late on a week night.

So I can TOTALLY relate!

Rachel said...

Neighbors who play loud music is one of my biggest pet peeves!! That is the worst thing about living in an apartment. I usually just go ask them to turn it down, and if they don't I call the cops. Most places have noise violations.

Brittany Ann said...

Once I got my dog, I never missed living in apartments, but its true, I do rue the day when crap goes down, because there's no super to fix it. And honestly, some of my favorite single memories are of living in apartments. I adored my little townhome/apts when I had them! I actually liked them more than the house I'm in now!