Well, at least I have my office to myself... sort of...

I regret spending much of yesterday out, although I did take advantage of the reliable quietness below my office to do some of my Spanish homework until I had to leave again. Today was the first day that I had my office all to myself, and this morning, just as I was headed toward my office, I heard emanating from it;

Baaaah, baaah, badda badda badda badda baaaah, baaaah...

Thus heralding the arrival of the roommate below my office back from jail -- is it sad that I am kind of bummed by his freedom?

It's true that his stereo and TV can barely be heard from the room next to his -- because of the thick sound insulation that Lou Ryan has installed in the closets of both rooms -- but although it can be heard more from the common room, it is still far louder through his ceiling and my floor, due to there being an empty space between the floors. In fact, when there's no music, I can hear clearly enough to follow his conversations if I cared to.
` However, as he would rather just keep it down rather than allow Lou to install sound insulation tiles on the ceiling, this is rarely enough, especially when I'm trying to listen to something through my noise-isolating headphones.

In fact, for years I have been telling myself that I just have some sort of anxiety problem associated with watching videos before bed -- even Cosmos with Carl Sagan! -- but I have found that if I watch them in the living room when there is no one watching TV downstairs, I actually relax instead of becoming so worked up that I can't sleep.
` And so, a couple of weeks ago, I got this crazy idea to actually try to use my Netflix service that I pay for each month. I'm out of control! However, movies being more than a few minutes long, this same roommate has also made this very, very difficult:
` Literally every few minutes he would come up the stairs to get something to eat, which generally would make a lot of noise, being that the living room and kitchen are not separate. Each time, I'd have to stop the movie and wait until he left (and usually have to get up and turn off the light again, too), and then rewind the movie a couple of minutes in order to 'get back into' the story.
` No sooner would I get to about the same place in the movie or so, when he would come back upstairs and do it again!

So, each movie would literally take me about four or five hours just to watch -- I am not joking! -- and while I would be listening to the microwave in between movie bits I would think to myself, "How is this man not obese!?"
` By the time I would get to bed, it would be about two in the morning, and then instead of getting up early in order to have a productive morning, I would be either struggling to wake myself up all morning or sleeping in.

So, all this is just preamble to explain to you why I've spent my past two non-tired evenings watching movies -- with no interruptions at all whatsoever! -- instead of blogging. In fact, I'm here in the living room, and after determining that I'm not going to be able to finish my Spanish homework (which involves both speaking and hearing) in here, due to the fact that other people live here, I began this blog post at about noon.
` During the three hours I've been at my computer off and on, the aforementioned roommate has been through several times, which hasn't really bothered me since I'm wearing my earplugs, but the fact that this is the only room in which Lou can get cell reception, and part of his job is being a phone jockey, it's been pretty impossible to do much other than type here and there.
` And of course, our dysfunctionally-neurotic roommate, who now actually now has to use a timer to make sure he doesn't spend an hour in the shower, is now in the shower, and the 1960's bathroom fan is so loud that I should really go downstairs if I want it to be quiet -- and I would if I didn't think he might watch television next.
` Instead, however, I have discovered that there is no noise at all in my office, so I have moved the radiator in here, in anticipation for the bathroom fan going off so that I can go into my office.

You know, I once started a blog like this, using Lou's computer, when I lived in "the noise house" -- a condemned house through which there was literally loud noise coursing 24 hours a day.
` I could never sleep at night, do homework, or any normal thing, or think, or remember who the hell I was or what I was doing at any time, I was constantly sleep-deprived, weak, sick and suicidal because I couldn't escape this nightmare, plus there was some new crazy crisis every week, and so I would try to do homework or sleep out in my car, but still the earplugs didn't block out the noise from the TV, which could be heard halfway down the block, so eventually I started driving around for hours, looking for a house to park in front of that didn't have a dog that would freak out and bark at me -- I only succeeded twice out of dozens of tries, though, and I would go down literally every single street looking for such a space!
` I wasn't able to really blog actual content at all because of that, besides two or three paragraphs, but, over the course of many interruptions, I could rant at length about whatever was aggravating me out of my mind at the moment, including times when three or four people would rush into the room with Lou's computer, yet not use it, and instead have a conversation and tell me to "relax"!

Well, that's basically what this blog has become, which surprises me, since I now live in the quietest, least stressful place I've ever lived. In fact, I am now in my office, however the aforementioned roommate is back in his room, watching TV.

So now, it's a while later and I've somewhat heated up Lou's downstairs corner with the radiator. No one is watching TV, which is handy, and I think that if the living room gets cold, then the heater fan can be brought upstairs. It's still freezing in here, and I haven't vacuumed in here for a while because usually there's no light bulb in the socket and it's pitch black because the window has sound insulation over it, but it's not bad otherwise! Besides, it has a surge protector like the one in my office!
` You know, since my neurotic roommate has a different job and isn't up watching cartoons down here at two in the morning anymore, I think I'll be watching movies down here instead of upstairs. I'll just put the noisy heater fan that heats the house at night upstairs and put the radiator down here -- and bring a blanket!

I just realized something else -- I could have just come down here to begin with and be done with my ranting in a half hour. As it has actually gone, it's been five hours, and I haven't gotten anything else done!
` Seriously, my day has begun with attempts to be productive and do what I'm supposed to, and failing and ranting about my failures instead, and now it's five in the evening! What have I actually done with my day except complain?

Well, now I know better! When in doubt, I should just come down here -- it's like my cold office-away-from-office! -- which was actually not something I'd considered before because there used to be a lot of noise down here, especially when we had this roommate who literally lived down here without even real walls, right up against Lou's corner partition!
` Of course, failing both these places, I can just take my laptop out into my car and I won't even have to drive away in order to get away from the noise!
` Unless, of course, the noise is coming from outside, which it does every day for some time during the warm months when people are mowing their lawns and things, and that in itself often drives me out of my office because my windows are single pane aluminum, so it's like having permanently-open regular windows!

Maybe I'll have to block out my windows with sound insulation? Or maybe it will not be so bothersome in Lou's corner? Oh well, can't be thinking about that yet -- I'll get to it when it needs getting to. As it is, I'd better get to the gym with Lou so that I can come back and hopefully get something done today for once!

Edit: After coming home from the gym, the neurotic roommate was watching TV, so I took my laptop back upstairs to find that my office was quiet! I began to do my Spanish homework but didn't get it done because Lou called me to dinner and by the time I got back there was music coming from under my room.

I just gave up and went to bed. Being constantly annoyed all day is really draining -- so I'm very glad that each day of my life is no longer ten times worse than that!

All I can say is, I'm sure glad Brianade, who is awesome to begin with, does not interfere with my homework and everything else!