Enjoying the Silence?

Last week my neighbors were loud enough to warrant action on my part.  I live in an apartment that doesn’t necessarily meet the 2013 upgrades of insulation.  In fact, I’m pretty sure my place doesn’t meet those standards from 1990.  I live in a slightly crappy complex in a big city suburb.  I pay a bit more for a lake view and covered parking.  Some might think this sounds classy, but to actually see the lake you have to sit on the very edge of the couch and really lean to the right to see the tiniest bit of brown water.

I am a model neighbor, or I think I am.  I don’t have huge parties and when I do have people over I am aware that others live below me.  If we watch a movie with the surround sound on, I make sure the stereo isn’t too loud.  Many stereo systems now come with an obnoxious sub woofer, but I usually keep mine on the lowest decibel setting. 

I also know how to control the decibel level, unlike the ignorant, punk-ass neighbors below me.  I decided to go to bed at 10:00 on Wednesday as I had to be up a bit earlier the next day.  I don’t know these people below me.  All I do know is that they are in college and apparently don’t have morning classes.  Around 10:40 PM, the vibrations of the sound system below me woke me up.  I could tell what movie they were watching because it was so loud.  Saying, I was pissed was an understatement.  Saying I was lazy is also an understatement.

After about 45 minutes of trying to get back to sleep I decided I had a couple of choices.  One, I could get-up, get dressed, march downstairs like a grown-up and demand that they turn down their sound system.  Or two, I could fight fire with fire, or sound with sound.  I decided to go with choice number two because I was lazy and really didn’t want to go out in the cold.

To start things off, I took a book from nightstand and threw it flat against the wall.  Just an fyi, I do not usually throw books unless they are physics books which I feel is justified.  And, yes, I am a huge nerd and have a physics book on a shelf by my bed.  At any rate, throwing this book made a huge bang and, for a short moment, I thought it made a difference.  Not sure if I imagined it or not, but I am pretty sure they turned up the volume. 

At this point, I probably wasn’t thinking straight.  I got up and went into the living room and turned on my stereo and took the decibel level from a -6 to a +6.  For a couple of my math challenged friends, that is twelve levels higher than I had it.  Next I turned it to my Pandora station, and the universe was on my side because the song that was playing was Depeche Mode’s “Enjoy the Silence.”  I promise this is true.  I love irony.  As a bonus, I cranked up the volume, just to let the walls and floor vibrate a bit.

I completely understand that this was not a grown-up move, but it worked and I think they got the hint.  Granted, I still worry about waking up to flat tires or maybe Vaseline smeared on my car windows, but it hasn’t happened yet.  Maybe they understood the irony and appreciated the song choice as much as I did…