Early Onset Senility
My Halting Steps Toward Curmudgeonhood.
It's 4:42 a.m. I'm fully dressed, cell phone in my pocket. I'd been pulled from a deep sleep by a rhythmic thumping, more felt than heard. I was all set to go pound on my neighbor's door and tell him to have his damn kid turn the music down. The only thing holding me back is the recurring mental image of one of my favorite KISS concert T-shirts from 10-15 years ago. You know, the one with "IF IT'S TOO LOUD, YOU'RE TOO OLD" printed on the back? I'm just having a severe crisis of conscience over making my first complaint to a neighbor based on Houston's noise ordinance. Can it really have come to this??
Still, it DID wake me up. The *thump...thump thump...thump...* followed me down the hall. Echoed back & forth amidst the ceramic tile in the bathroom as I offloaded last night's 44 oz. of ice tea. Kept going as I tried to go back to sleep, finally swelling to a crescendo... *thump...thump thump...thump...thump thump...thump...* Faster & faster. Christ, the kid's a Goth, how in the world could he be playing John Bonham and Led Zep? I thought 70's cock-rock was to Goths like crosses and garlic to a vampire...
I finally said to Betsy Cat "Enough is enough", and wandered into the living room to find my shoes. Glanced at the clock on the way. Shit. It's not 4:42 a.m. It's 9:42 pm!!! Damn! I thought I'd slept all night!
The thumping has stopped too. As my brain slowly kicked in to gear, I put it all together. It wasn't the kid next door making all the racket! It was the Memorial Day fireworks show down at the mall, 2 miles away. As humid and still as it is down here tonight, the fireworks had enough punch to carry all the way and rattle me out of sleep.
Well, I'm up and dressed. Maybe I'll go wake up my neighbor, just to screw with him.
It's 4:42 a.m. I'm fully dressed, cell phone in my pocket. I'd been pulled from a deep sleep by a rhythmic thumping, more felt than heard. I was all set to go pound on my neighbor's door and tell him to have his damn kid turn the music down. The only thing holding me back is the recurring mental image of one of my favorite KISS concert T-shirts from 10-15 years ago. You know, the one with "IF IT'S TOO LOUD, YOU'RE TOO OLD" printed on the back? I'm just having a severe crisis of conscience over making my first complaint to a neighbor based on Houston's noise ordinance. Can it really have come to this??
Still, it DID wake me up. The *thump...thump thump...thump...* followed me down the hall. Echoed back & forth amidst the ceramic tile in the bathroom as I offloaded last night's 44 oz. of ice tea. Kept going as I tried to go back to sleep, finally swelling to a crescendo... *thump...thump thump...thump...thump thump...thump...* Faster & faster. Christ, the kid's a Goth, how in the world could he be playing John Bonham and Led Zep? I thought 70's cock-rock was to Goths like crosses and garlic to a vampire...
I finally said to Betsy Cat "Enough is enough", and wandered into the living room to find my shoes. Glanced at the clock on the way. Shit. It's not 4:42 a.m. It's 9:42 pm!!! Damn! I thought I'd slept all night!
The thumping has stopped too. As my brain slowly kicked in to gear, I put it all together. It wasn't the kid next door making all the racket! It was the Memorial Day fireworks show down at the mall, 2 miles away. As humid and still as it is down here tonight, the fireworks had enough punch to carry all the way and rattle me out of sleep.
Well, I'm up and dressed. Maybe I'll go wake up my neighbor, just to screw with him.
posted by El Capitan | 11:17 PM
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