When it Rains, it Snores

Most of you have heard of our trials and tribulations with the upstairs neighbours. They sing, play guitar, open their patio door every five minutes to have a cigarette, stay up late, and set their alarm clock for way too early each morning. We can't figure out why they set the alarm for 5:45 am every day, because it takes them until 7:30 am (at least!) to get out of bed. (And usually, it's more like 8:30 or 9 am). Of course, the worst part about the upstairs neighbours is that during the time between when the alarm first goes off and when they finally think to wake up and turn it off, the beeping stays on. Constantly.

Nothing could be worse than having your sleep interrupted every. single. morning by somebody else's alarm clock. We've complained about it numerous times (to them directly and also to our landlord), but to no avail. The alarm clock rings on! So Marty and I have had to strategize. Our plans have ranged from moving our bed into the dining room to sneaking out in the middle of the night and ringing their (very loud) apartment buzzer to give them a (granted, pretty immature) taste of their own medicine. However, practicality has kept our bed in the bedroom where it technically belongs, and plain old guilt has prevented us from ever ringing the apartment buzzer at 3 am. Sigh... What to do?

Just last week, Marty tossed out the rather ludicrous idea of beating them at their own game. He reasoned that if we just got up earlier than them each morning, the alarm clock wouldn't even have a chance to bother us, because by then, we'd already be awake. I was skeptical, nay-- dubious. Even though I used to wake up insanely early every morning many moons ago to go work out, that was exactly the problem: it was many moons ago! Besides, with 10-hour workdays during the week, I wasn't about to cut back on my sleeping hours. I need every minute I can get!

Anyway, fast forward to last night, when I tucked my (lonesome!) self into bed and prepared to doze off into a blissful sleep. Then I heard it: the unmistakable sound of snoring! It came from right above me, and because I'm such a conspiracy theorist, I swear it was just an annoying recording that was being played right on the ground above me-- speakers face-down. The upstairs neighbours probably muffled their laughter as they imagined frustrated little me, downstairs and cursing them for the nth time, popping in my worn-out earplugs and lying agitated in my bed. Bah. So I did what any reasonable person would do: I opted to sleep on the couch for the night, and then I set my alarm early (for 5:15 am!), woke up, held my ringing alarm clock right to my ceiling, kept it there until even I got annoyed, and then pranced off to the gym for my first early-morning workout in a very long time. Let me tell you: it felt great!!

I can't say whether I'll be able to keep up this early bird schedule for very long, but this morning at least, I felt more empowered and energetic than I have in a while. Nothing seems to beat the rush of a workout mixed with childish 'na-nana-boo-boo' nose-thumbing antics! Take that, rotten upstairs neighbours! Granted, I'll probably be falling asleep around 8 pm today, but if that's what it takes to have a semi-decent sleep in these parts of town, so be it. Two can play at this game...



PS: Betcha thought this post would be all rosy, what with pictures of pretty flowers and all. Nope. I want revenge!!!