Apartment Living...

It's a rainy, dark Spring morning. The temperature is balmy but it's just dark and damp out there. It's another one of those days where staying in bed and listening to the rain would be a treat.

Yet, here I am, early into the office, ready to start the day anew. I'd say I'm fresh-faced and all that but, truth is, I'm probably not too many steps away from being a zombie. I used to not be a morning person at all; preferring to sleep late and stay up late. Nowadays, though it takes me at least an hour or two to fully wake up, I'd rather be up early and get a lot done then go to bed at a reasonable hour.

Of course, living in a college town, that can be difficult. Though my apartment building is supposed to be for grown-ups, no college kids, the rules seem to have been relaxed lately. Or perhaps I'm just getting older and they're graduate students and adults and they look like kids to me. Oh, I hope not though.

Now that the days are getting longer, there's often a game of Frisbee or ball-throwing going on in the open field behind my apartment building. It's like something from one of those CW-Gossip-Girl-One-Tree-Hill type shows except, you know, not. So far, these boys keep their shirts on. Mostly, though, they like to stand around and drink beer in the field. I'm not quite sure why the field seems like a good place to stand around and drink beer but who am I to question the ways of students?

For the most part, these frisbee-playing students don't both me. The only time they do is when their girlfriends decide to come out on their balcony and carry on a conversation to the boys who are drinking beer in the field. You see, these girls have very loud voices. The topics of conversation that they like to shout are not particularly intellectual. I did learn yesterday that one of the girls had her tarot cards read and was now a little freaked out. Poor thing; if she hadn't been shouting her conversation to the girl standing next to her on the same balcony, I might have a little sympathy.

Then there's my downstairs neighbour. Remember when I complained about the man shouting at his girlfriend in the middle of the night? Well, it turns out that the shouting wasn't coming from above, it was coming from beneath. Now he's taken to standing out on his patio and shouting at his girlfriend. It's nice to share his relationship problems with others. While, overall, I would prefer him to perhaps break up with his girlfriend instead of shouting at her on the phone, I'm a teensy bit relieved that he's no longer only bothering me.

Still, I will say that there's something about living in an apartment building that keeps life interesting. There's always something going on. In case you were wondering, my stray is still around. Usually, once a week, he asks for a ride. I still wonder why he hasn't got his car fixed but since I sort of go his way each morning, there's no reason not to give him a ride. He did buy me dinner once as a thank-you.

Now it's Spring, I expect to see more of my neighbours now that we're not just dashing from one place to another to get out of the cold. I'd say that's a nice thing but sometimes I don't like having people around, especially on days like this where I'm a little crabby because I need more sleep. However, I'm trying to be positive and maybe it's a good thing; it's a sign of the season I suppose. Spring is officially here, if the daffodils don't confirm it, the frisbee games do. I'm wondering if they last all summer or, as in the case of Spring Break a couple of weeks ago, the apartment complex empties out and it's just us permanent-livers, the grown-ups who don't depend on school semesters to determine our living arrangements. I'll just have to wait and see.

Happy Wednesday.