Monday, November 26

dear 3-notes, i hate you, sincerely me

we live in between 2 other apartments. since living in this building, our neighbours to the right have generally been crazy. one of them had an honest to god schizophrenic break, and another was just nuts and thought she heard ghosts. there's been a new guy living there for the past year, and he's so quiet, and so perfect you'd never even know he was there.

the guy who moved into the apartment to the left a couple of years ago is another story altogether. i work from home a lot, and not this past summer but the one before, while i was working on a huge project and pulling long hours, our neighbour decided to take up music. he's into heavy industrial, and i think he must do a lot of drugs because during the months following his synthesizer purchase he played 3 descending notes, repeatedly for hours and hours, days and days on end. weeks, and months went by and i'd spend my days losing my mind while he'd play these same 3 descending notes over, and over, and over, and over... i knocked on his door and asked him to keep it down, i banged on the walls, i finally asked the building manager to talk to him. he improved moderately, in that he'd only jam on those 3 notes once a week or so, instead of all day everyday.

it's been over a year now, and i must say that he's improved. he knows more than 3 notes now, but i still find myself knocking at his door, banging on his walls, and reporting him to the building manager. my furniture is still vibrating, and i still feel like i'm going to have a psychotic break like our old neighbours to the right.

so the question is this: what do i do? i can't blast my music in retaliation because i actually like my other neighbours, and don't want to make them suffer. should i give him some headphones for christmas and hope that he figures it out?

as a funny side note, the woman who used to live above 3-notes was a classical pianist, and he drove her completely mental. she used to sit and play the same 3 notes back to him over and over to see if he'd get the drift. he did not.

5 comments:

leslie said...

man, i hate noisy neighbours... in our last apartment we had two small kids who cried and screamed incessantly (i actually was going to call child services about it until their mother told me they both had severe exzema - poor kids but still, screaming all night long is not cool.) then they moved out and were replaced by a gay asian duo who hosted karaoke parties nightly. soooo happy to have our little house now, i appreciate the peace every night.

erin said...

wow. nightly karaoke parties are way worse than heavy industrial 3 notes. you totally win.

but for the record, i had bad eczema as a child, and i did not scream all day and night. it sounds like the kids were just brats, and the mom didn't care.

Denise Kiggan said...

What a desperate, desperate feeling. We have neighbours who have VERY loud parties, but at least that is only about once a month. A home is a refuge and it is very scary when that refuge is invaded by someone else's noise.

Anne said...

I'd go mad and shoot him. I can't handle vibration...sad, I know.

Maybe the headphones would work. Have a talk with him about it when you give it to him.

l o v e l y d e s i g n said...

We had the absolute worst neighbour a couple of years ago. We lived in an old heritage building, and she was the type of girl who needs to be noticed. She actually had a stripper pole installed right above our heads, and spent a good portion of her nights dancing in high heels to her stereo which she insisted on keeping on the floor. She would either be crazy happy loud, or she would spend HOURS sobbing and bawling so incredibly loudly. I could go on forever, but all i need to say is: she used to do trot all around the building in just her bra and panties....

well, no amount of writing her notes, banging on the ceiling, and talking to the manager did a thing. she just did not give a shit that she was making us so stressed and unhappy. It was a nightmare and the only thing we could do was move.

i still get stressed thinking of her!