There is something about me lately that has made it so certain sounds are extremely irritating to me. Or maybe it’s just that they are irritating and it has nothing to do with me. Who knows.
First there is the cat. You know, the one I mentioned a while ago? Fortunately, the cries of either "i’m dying" or "i’m in heat" have gone away for the most part. But occasionally, I’ll hear it.
Then there’s the construction that has been going on in our neighborhood since day one. I’ve actually never seen it, but I hear it constantly throughout the day.
But the thing that has been driving me crazy the most is loud walkers. Our neighbor above us just happens to be one–a loud walker. I always know when he is home because I can hear him walking around. It’s confusing to me because he is constantly walking from one end of the apartment to the other. I don’t know why and can’t figure it out for the life of me. Maybe he is super forgetful and when he goes to the kitchen to get five things, he forgets four of them. Thus, requiring him to make four subsequent trips back and forth until he has achieved his goal. And when I say loud, I mean loud. We hardly hear anything else from any of our neighbors. No toilets flushing. No showers running. Just him walking and his occasional blasting of "Beat It" at 10 at night. Devin and I joke that they are raising elephants up there and we should report them.
Then there are the loud runners at the gym. Granted, I understand that not everyone can run elegantly like an experience marathon runner–I certainly can’t. But there are mirrors right in front of you. Look at your sloppy posture and flailing monkey arms. Straighten up and use some form! You’ll get a better workout anyway! There is this geek of an Asian man that always comes into the gym around 9am. He likes to get on the treadmill with his skater-style sneakers and run as fast as he can for about ten minutes. Nothing about that (starting of course with the shoes) can be good for your body. Sure you can hear other people running but when you have headphones on you can hear maybe one or two people down the row. But not this guy. He can be 10 treadmills away and you can still hear him pounding away on the machine. Occasionally I’ll hear him when I’m on the opposite side of the gym stretching.
But I’ve learned to deal with all of this. I’ll leave early to pickup Devin if the elephants are out above me and I now try to finish my cardio workout before 9 to avoid the elephant on the treadmill next to me.