Cautiously optimistic

I'm pretty sure that the neighbors whose subwoofer has been a regular irritant for the past year are in the process of moving out. I should know for certain this weekend, but everything I've observed indicates that they're on the way out by the end of the month. Yes, they did turn down the bass somewhat after I said something last fall, but even at this reduced level it was still something that would come pulsing through the one shared wall. It just didn't rumble through every room in my place after I spoke to one of them through a narrowly cracked door.

There's the risk that whoever replaces them in that apartment will be worse, so my relief at their departure is tempered by the uncertainty of the unknown. Regardless, it's out of my control. Such is the way of apartment living.

For now, though, I will enjoy the peace and quiet as long as it lasts and hope for the best.

Shh

It's been something of a strange week. Between being one of the few people in the office and spending time on my balcony at home, this has been an unusually quiet stretch. That's not a complaint. At a point in time when it seems like most people are more comfortable filling the background with persistent noise than dare inhabit a hushed space, this is a rare thing.

I'll confess to being fried here at the end of the academic year and feeling perpetually distracted. I think that's part of the reason why I've turned to reading and sitting on the balcony. (Or, per tonight's activity, I sat outside in the cool evening and began a knitting project.) The wind blowing through the trees and the birds singing provide a subdued, calming soundtrack. Yes, that relative silence can be interrupted by the pulsing of someone's subwoofer, but those low frequency beats can be ignored a little more with some of nature's white noise.

Outer silence makes it easier to find inner silence. For as pushed and pulled in every direction that I've felt for some time, this break in the sonic landscape seems to be letting me regain some peace. It's a nice transition to the upcoming weekend, which will find me out of town going to a weekend series of baseball games. I don't currently have any other plans. Maybe I'll find something else to do, maybe I'll pick something to read and find a quiet spot to become immersed in it. I could surely stand a little more of that tranquility.

Tidbits

At the risk of an All About Me! entry that may or may not interest you, some stuff that's going on...

-I've not been entirely sure who's living in the apartment next to me since I returned home after Christmas. One of the young women in the loud apartment resided there before, but I don't know if it's just her in there or if someone has replaced her roommate. It certainly sounds like they're down a couple dogs. (They had at least three, plus a minimum of one cat.) I'm assuming two departed with the neighbor with the loud car. I'm also assuming that she was the one more likely to listen to the sound system at louder volumes. Yes, it didn't come down some after I knocked on their door, but it's not been as intrusive since it seems she moved out. Or maybe it's just temporary. Who knows?

-My parents may be moving before the season is over?!?!

-Oh yeah, you saw the woman knitting on The Office tonight, right?

The sound of silence

I arrived home around six tonight, and I haven't turned the television on yet. I'm likely to watch something once I'm done with this blog entry, but so far this evening I've been enjoying listening to something: silence (for the most part).

This fall I've written about the bass coming from my neighbors' apartment and reverberating in mine. It would seem that my request for them to turn it down has been successful. The volume has been reduced. That said, I still can hear the thump-thump-thump pretty much whenever they have their sound system on. The low frequency finds it's way through the wall.

I'm hesitant to say anything else simply because I don't want to press my luck. The fact of the matter is that subwoofers weren't made for apartment living, especially for people who like to listen or watch at loud levels. I can mostly deal with where they keep it now, even if I prefer to receive less of it or, ideally, none of it.

Tonight, though, they've either not been home for stretches or are keeping the stereo/home theater system off. That means I can sit in my place and not need to manufacture offsetting noise. (I can somewhat block out the current doses of low frequency I get by having my TV on at what is a low to average volume for most people.) You don't know how much I appreciate simply sitting in my apartment without any auditory intrusions.

Even without the noise from next door, I've probably been prone to turning the TV on as background noise, even if I'm not watching it. I'm not necessarily trying to fill the silence, not in the obnoxious way that so many public and private places do, but it can be comforting to have it droning within range while I'm doing something else. (The exception would be while I'm reading a book.)

But for this night, it's been calming to unwind at home and soak up the silence. With my neighbors, who knows how precious this time may be?

Aftermath

I won't be blogging about neighborly noise tomorrow--I'll be in Cincinnati for the Reds playoff game--but humor me one more day on the topic.

Yesterday I wrote about asking my neighbors to turn down their subwoofer. All was generally good for most of the night, or as good as I figure I can request, until the later hours hit. Sure enough, I'm in bed and an additional set of walls away when the booming sound of the bass punches through. It's going after midnight. It's going after 1 a.m.

I went into my living room, and to be fair, it wasn't as loud as they've had it in the most objectionable instances. The problem is that the low frequency carries very easily. Do they now think that because they've turned it down that they can keep it on all hours of the night? Were they trying to provoke me, as it did seem like it would go up louder for a moment and then return to still audible but softer level? (If you think I'm paranoid, you didn't read about when I tried to deal with a similar problem four years ago. Addressing the issue made it several times worse.)

Since I have Monday off for a holiday, I've been at the office most of the day finishing the large amount of work I needed to do. I'm still here writing this now, in part because I worry about going home and having the same racket going on. I'll be gone the next day or two, leading to who knows what kind of sound system blasts that may be deemed acceptable in their minds because I don't say anything. Already ground down, this is turning me into a powder.

I don't need this, especially on top of everything else. Yes, I should stand my ground, but it seems like doing so doesn't yield positive results. I'm just bitching at this point, but I need to get it out. Sorry for all the melodrama.

The talk

After getting some advice about how to deal with the neighbors and noise problem, I decided to attempt a face-to-face conversation rather than printing a letter and putting it on their door. I dreaded it for the better part of the day and practiced what I was going to say as I drove home. I wanted to pick my words carefully and feel less nervous by having a script of sorts.

I knocked on their door and...of course no one was home. It wasn't much longer after that when I heard them return, and I deliberated over whether to make another attempt. I decided I needed to do it, much as I didn't want to.

Best as I can tell, there are two young women who live there. I'd guess that they are either in college or recently out of it, although it seems like they're around all the time, which goes against all assumptions. At first I didn't think anyone was going to answer the door, but finally one of them cracked the door about as wide as her face. (This could have been to keep either of their dogs from getting out or a reflection of her uncertainty about this stranger outside.)

I introduced myself, apologized for bothering her, and rushed through my piece. She didn't say more than a couple words and didn't introduce herself. "OK" may have been the extent of it.

Early results seem to indicate that while it may not be possible to keep the throbbing bass from my ears completely, at least it seems like they are keeping it to what I'll call a tolerable level. I can hear it, but it's not dominant in my apartment like it has been for the past couple months. I can watch TV without feeling like it's breaking my concentration. In other words, it's at least semi-ignorable. I don't imagine I can get it lower than that. While I don't want to hear it at all, I realize that is an unreasonable stance.

I know I bring my stress from the noise issues at my previous apartment, not to mention the other stress weighing me down. I jumped in my place this evening when I heard another door shut. I'm on pins and needles. I don't need additional aggravation in the form of a combination jackhammer-jet engine in the neighboring apartment. Please be gone.

So the commenter and Twitter followers persuaded me to change my approach, and it would appear that they recommended the right strategy. Now we'll see how long this lasts or if my car doesn't end up keyed.

That guy

So apparently I have to be that guy.

Look, it's been a rough few weeks with the job uncertainty, and I haven't been feeling great. After what felt like a late Tuesday night panic attack--it certainly seemed like one--I've felt somewhat better. On top of that, I've come down with something. Not realizing a couple days ago that I'm sick made it all the worse.

And then there's the neighbors with the unspeakably loud subwoofer. I haven't said anything because it tends to come and go, although it usually picks up around 10:45 p.m. Sometimes it's loud enough to be extremely annoying, and sometimes it is intolerable. (Seriously. I can't go anywhere in my place without hearing it and/or feeling it.)

I'd put off writing a letter to these relatively new neighbors because I didn't have the energy for it, and I knew that I ought to wait until there had been a night that was on the worst end of the scale. That night was tonight. I went back into the bedroom where the pounding bass was a slightly duller thumping and fired up the old desktop to write a letter to them.

I'm pretty pleased with what I wrote, but I can also see it making me sound like an insufferable jerk, especially since I've had no communication with them. (I accept the blame for not mentioning how disruptive the noise is. Notice I'm blaming the noise, not them. Or is this just me running from confrontation?) I've not mentioned this problem to the rental office and don't intend to on this occasion, but after the letter, going to them would be the next step. I'm the victim, yet whatever I do, I come across as the bad guy, even though I believe they have to know at times they have things up way too loud.

I mentioned on Twitter that I was writing such a letter, and two people responded that they thought a face-to-face interaction would be better, that a letter may escalate the problem. So I've put it to my followers, and I put it to you too. Would I be better off knocking on their door tomorrow and saying hey, I'd really appreciate it if you'd turn down the subwoofer, or should I stick to my letter? Choose carefully.