save me from myself

 

I'm at my wit's end with my upstairs neighbors. It isn't their fault, so I don't take my frustrations out on them.
I hear every little footstep they make. All of them.
I hear when they sit down.
I can tell when they step into their micro-sized kitchen (where I wish they would go more often) because I can't hear them walk in there.
I can tell when they step into their shower.
I can (I kid you not) hear them roll over in bed!
But like I said, it isn't their fault. They aren't elephants and they don't stomp around heavy-footed.
Instead, the problem (according to the landlord, maintenance, and others) is that carpeting was put down over old parquet flooring. And the flooring has now come loose from whatever goes below the parquet. The neighbors don't hear it, because it is muffled to them by the padding and carpeting.
But down here? Under all of that?
Holy hannah, you have never heard such an annoying sound. Every single step they make sounds like they are jumping on a trampoline, or possibly a pogo stick, with constants creaks and springy squeaky sounds. It reminds me of a Mickey Mouse haunted house read-along record/book I had as a kid, where the haunted house had creaky floors and doors.
If it wasn't a non-stop, never-ending, incredibly loud noise, I would find it funny. It was comical at first. But now? It makes me want to cry half the time.
From the minute they get home from work (about 30 minutes after I do) to the minute they go to bed (about an hour before I do), it's non-stop squeaks and creaks coming from the ceiling.
And don't get me started on what it is like to wake up in the middle of the night to realize it was the sound of your neighbor rolling over in bed that startled you. (And I am a very sound sleeper.)
The landlord informs me that the only thing they can do is pull up all of the flooring upstairs. Last week they had the head of all maintenance for the property company come out. He declared it a safety issue, and pointed out some cracks in my walls that were not there before.
So they don't just sound like they might fall through the ceiling, they really might actually do that if this doesn't get fixed.
However, this safety issue (not to mention my sanity) isn't a pressing issue and they are dragging their feet on getting it fixed. I do feel sorry for the neighbors upstairs who will have their lives horribly disrupted to get this fixed. But not that sorry- every single minute they are at home, my life is disrupted.
My guess is that the landlord is going to try and push this off into January to fix so as to put the expenses into the next year.
Fun sidenote- noise blocking headphones don't block out creaking footsteps. (Or other noises emanating from above.) And I can still hear them loud and clear no matter how loud I turn up my TV or radio.
Right now I am pretty sure there must be 10 people practicing on pogo sticks up there. It's the only logical explanation. Or possibly 5 people doing jumping jacks?
Funny thing- I have never, not once, heard them talking, singing, yelling, etc. I've never heard their TV either. But I know many intimate details about their lives, like what time they shower, (how much hot water they use- but that's a different rant for a different day), go to work, go to bed, and what they do in bed. These are not things you want complete [annoyed] strangers to know about you.
Because that annoyed stranger just might finally hit her breaking point and decide to retaliate.
Which brings me to my point- who wants to post my bail?

DC Girl

Once upon a time there was a girl from the City. She left the City to go try states with much smaller cities. But her hometown kept pulling her back and one day she found herself back in her City. She parked her car at Pentagon City and hopped on the Yellow Line. She was headed to 11th and K. At Chinatown she made a mistake and forgot to switch to the Red Line to Metro Center, and exited the building. Doh! So wearing 3 inch heels, and her favorite suit, she walked 8 blocks in 95 degree weather to her interview. Ay yi yi.
After the interview, she was smart enough to get back on the Metro at Metro Center. And just like she had been doing her entire life, she got on the Orange Line to Vienna. It was at Farragut West that it occurred to her she wasn't going home. She was going back to PC where her car was- off the Yellow and Blue lines. So at Rosslyn she switched trains to Blue, and took the long way back.
To add insult to injury (the injury being the blisters from walking so far in freaking tall heels) someone told her she had that "nice, homegrown, Utah/Midwest look," on a day she was trying very hard to look and feel like a DC Girl again. 
But two Metro mistakes in one day? She hadn't made a Metro mistake since she was in high school - if then! (Now don't get me wrong, she gets lost all the time when she comes back above ground and starts walking the wrong direction. But underground? Never!) She wasn't feeling much like a DC Girl. But after 2 positive job interviews, dinner with friends at her favorite place, hanging out with a cousin and an old roommate, and just being in her city again (even if it did take her nearly 40 minutes to drive from Pentagon City through Ballston to 66), she misses her home.
And can't wait till the right opportunities take her there. Whatever those opportunities may be!

The Numbers Game

$500- deductible paid by me on my car this week
+ $216- for damages not covered by insurance or the deductible
+ $2750- how much insurance had to pay on my car this week
+ $114- how much I pay in insurance monthly (don't judge- I freely admit I speed- a lot!)
+ $150- for the ticket I owe Nevada Highway Patrol for speeding
+ $284- how much Arlington County, Virginia claims I owe them for having a car there 2 years ago for 2 months (I say BS!)
+ $305- monthly car payment
+ $15- weekly gas (let's hear it for the 4 mile commute to work! w00t!)

= Erin missing the DC metro system (and don't even try and tell me to try Trax. it's not even close.)

more ways utah is different from dc

1. There's a nativity set on the front desk. Obviously, I have no problem with it. It's just strange to see it there. And that no one is threatening a lawsuit.

2. Today we got an order from SAIC. And nobody else had ever heard of them. Now, granted, half my readers aren't in or from DC, so that won't mean much to them. But in DC, it's impossible to have not heard of SAIC.

3. It snowed 3 inches. And no businesses, schools, or work was closed or delayed. (That's mocking DC, not Utah.)

more ways utah is different from dc

1. There's a nativity set on the front desk. Obviously, I have no problem with it. It's just strange to see it there. And that no one is threatening a lawsuit.

2. Today we got an order from SAIC. And nobody else had ever heard of them. Now, granted, half my readers aren't in or from DC, so that won't mean much to them. But in DC, it's impossible to have not heard of SAIC.

3. It snowed 3 inches. And no businesses, schools, or work was closed or delayed. (That's mocking DC, not Utah.)