Weekly Banter: Guess what happened to me this week?

Last week of Aril 2023

💩 Dealing with my neighbor’s noise

For the last few months, my wife and I sometimes heard a scream through the far end of our bedroom wall at night. I slept through most of the time when it happened, so it didn’t bother me. Also, according to my wife, my snoring —which I never hear— is more annoying than our neighbor's noise.

Anyway, I avoided talking to them for a while because Reina still doesn’t sleep through the night, and my wife and I would feed her between two to three in the morning when she cries. So I didn’t feel comfortable complaining about the noise. After all, they might be just as annoyed at what they must hear at night, too. Besides, it wasn’t that frequent in the beginning. I’d listen to the noise probably once or twice every other week, even though this might annoy us from time to time.

However, things have worsened over the last few weeks; I would hear raging outbursts. Some nights Reina would wake up from the stomping noise as well.

It went on over the weekend, and it finally got to me on Tuesday. I got woken up by Reina around two in the morning, and while feeding her, I heard all sorts of banging and screaming. It sounded like they were having a party because I also heard laughter. I assumed they were heavily drunk.

Ann Arbor has quiet hours from 10pm to 7pm, so I called the local police and made a noise complaint. From my experience, avoiding confrontation when people are drunk has led to a better outcome.

I called the police around 2am, and the person on duty transferred my call to the dispatcher. I explained the situation and left my address, the phone number to contact, and the adjacent unit number.

“we’ll be there soon.” The guy on the phone said.

30 minutes went by, and no sign of police. The noise was getting louder, so I called them again. The same guy answered. I asked when can I expect them to arrive, and he said.

“we’ll be there soon.”

Around 3am, I gave up waiting and went to bed. Coincidentally, the neighbor also went quiet.

🤬 I’m going to f*** you up

On Wednesday morning, I wasn’t sure which one I should be more upset about; the noise that kept me up or the police who never showed up.

I spent the day thinking about what I should do. I also looked up “AAPD” on Google Maps; what a surprise, people gave them two stars. I should’ve known they would ignore calls like this.

So I decided to visit the neighbor the next time I heard the noise at night.

Around 11pm that night, it started again. Loud banging and screaming.

‘I’m going to fuck you up.’

I walked up angrily, rang the bell, and banged on the door several times. I could hear the sudden silence on the other side, and finally, someone opened the door.

At this point, I was imagining the worst-case scenario. A drunk asshole coming out and rudely asking what the problem was, and you know, shit hits the fan.

To my surprise, a much younger guy came out, holding a PlayStation console in his left hand, all shocked to see me but knew precisely why I had come.

“I’m so sorry, sir. Is this about the noise? I’m so sorry. I really didn’t know.”

I calmed myself down, talked to him briefly about how the noise had been waking us up, and he sincerely apologized with the Playstation console in his left hand. We introduced ourselves, shook hands, and I went back to bed.

Definitely, not how I imagined it.

📝 On Friday morning

On Friday morning, I saw a package outside my door after I dropped off Joanna at the daycare.

‘It’s too early for a delivery,’ I thought.

I opened it, and there was a handwritten letter from our neighbor apologizing for the noise he and his roommate caused and some cat toys. He also left me his phone number so I can contact him if we hear them again.

I replied with a text message to his number and thanked him for the kind gesture.

I also felt guilty for thinking the worst about them, and maybe this could’ve been avoided if we had introduced ourselves a little earlier.

So I ended this week with thoughts about my community and how disconnected I am from the nearby people.

How was your week?

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🥷🏼 My productivity hack: Audiobooks

Millennials love being productive for no reason. I do, too.

Since you’ve patiently read through this far, I’ll share one of the productivity hacks that work for me.

Have you tried Libby? It’s an app you can borrow ebooks and audiobooks from your local library. You only need to download the Libby app and register with your library card.

This is available in the United States or Canada.

Audiobooks can be borrowed for two weeks; if there’s no one behind, it can be extended for another two weeks.

You may have to wait for a few weeks to months to borrow popular books, but in the meantime, there are many books without a waitlist, and in my experience, novels are much easier to borrow than non-fiction.

For example, this week, I’m listening to The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson, the second book in the Millennium series, while I’m waiting on Justice by Michael J. Sandel.

I became a big fan of audiobooks because I don’t need dedicated time and space to listen compared to reading; I can listen to them while I work out at the gym, drive back from Joanna’s daycare, or even when I’m waiting at the barbershop.

Besides how it fits between idle time for entertainment, recently published non-fiction audiobooks are read mainly by the authors, conveying the author’s message clearly.

If you live in North America and haven’t tried Libby, I highly recommend it!

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Thank you for reading, and let’s catch up next week!

Seongwon