So, I recently moved back in my old neighborhood and it got a LOT noisier in the almost two years I spent elsewhere. Music pumping out of every third car which passes through, and it’s by no means a main road. Either that, or the neighbors using thin walls as an excuse, in that we just have to sit there and take it from their perspective. A lot of younger people, students and fresh graduates by the look of things.

I started trying to limit it a bit by assertively (just that, although I will admit that it takes some effort to keep things polite in many cases) approaching the mix masters and asking them to tone it down a notch, or take it elsewhere. I still have good relations with a few of the old neighbors, some people with well-behaved kids who do their best to keep to themselves, and many others who are elderly and have essentially given up on trying - not judging, but I’m pretty much alone in doing this.

Yesterday afternoon, a rando pops into the neighborhood, music thumping out of her car like it was the main stage. She parks, exits, music still thumping. I ask her what’s the deal.

“Oh, pardon me! I didn’t realise we were in the rich part of town!”

It was then that I experienced my first flood of intrusive thoughts, “there was blood everywhere… splashing…”

I could only reply with “no, it’s a residential area, and besides a basic sense of decency, there are clear regulations about pumping techno for the full three blocks of town we’re in,” as I didn’t trust myself with going off script while my brain was boiling with pure rage.

I’m fucking reeling still. It’s all coming out as a nonsensical jumble of half-started sentences, my frustration and anger have become nonverbal.

And I hate that I have to pull out the “it’s fucking illegal” card, too, but it’s the only one which has any sort of traction. Otherwise, you get laughed off at best.

*I’m genuinely not exaggerating about this. I spend most of my day with headphones on, so I couldn’t care less if my neighbor’s washing machine starts taking tapdancing lessons, or if someone else’s TV can be heard if you sit and listen quietly. I’m not the type to complain about footsteps in the night, but rehearsing porn lines in the AMs or trying out one’s new trunk subwoofer’s max volume tends to set me off. My rule is, if I can hear you clearly through decent-ish (Sennheiser M3 in-ears) noise cancelling, you’re being too fucking loud.