The blue pickup pulled up in the street and honked at 10:15 last night. What? They gotta honk to announce their arrival? They can’t just go up and ring the doorbell? The pickup stayed till around 2:30 AM.

There was a car parked in front of our house which left shortly after he went to work. I don’t know if this car was connected to next door or the rental. As he was going to work, the white van that visits the rental pulled up and Black Dots got out. See, that dog doesn’t live there (fortunately). If it did, it’d be barking round the clock. The red car and the blue car are there full-time, so I’d guess they’re the ones that live there, but does anyone in this neighborhood work? As we were returning from the bookstore in the middle of the afternoon on Friday, I noticed that several blocks’ worth of driveways all had at least one vehicle in them.

The city letter’s going in next Monday for damn sure. No more chances for next door, waiting for them to settle down, or assuming/hoping they’ll be quieter. They’ve long since pushed me to the max. So far, none of the music’s been loud enough to wake me up yet, and the ranchero and the white car haven’t been back, but what’s it gonna take to get it through their thick skulls that I don’t want their music passing the walls of this house?! I don’t want to hear it! Last night I could hear soft music coming from the house while Tom was showering for work. They stopped just as he got out. Tom said it was dark and quiet over there when he left for work. It’s almost always dark over there at night no matter what the little freeloaders are up to. Anyway, I told him last night that they were testing me and that it’d escalate and get louder. I’ve been through this before with a certain black bitch and her boy toy. He said no, they’re not even thinking of you. In other words - they’re just another one of Arizona’s selfish, not considering those around them. That’s how it started off, but I tell you, she’s testing me. I know the patterns. I’ve been through it before. They back off for a few weeks, then they slowly test you to see how much you’ll put up with. They think that maybe things have changed and that you’ll put up with more of their shit. Wrong, Deb. Wrong.

I was right. Today the music did get louder. There were no cars over there either, so it was coming from inside the house. I was about to have Tom go over and tell them to shut up, but then I changed my mind for a few reasons. 1. It won’t do any good but only for maybe 3 weeks and we’ve got about 10-12 more to go here. 2. Tom said that he thinks it’s the kids doing it cuz the parents are out and that if we complain, they’ll just make sure to do it all the more when the parents are out. True. You ask people out here to turn down their music, you’re pissing them the fuck off. 3. God will get me for it. He’s already gonna make me pay for the city letter as it is.

Why me, though, huh? Why does God do this to me and why do these city bums always have to be next to me?! Doesn’t God ever get sick of the same old, same old? Oh, those fucking freeloaders! I figured out why I have respect for Indians, but none for the Mexicans and blacks. The Indians and the Jews both got shit on way back when. The Indians got their land stolen, the blacks were slaves. However, the Indians have gone on to make a life for themselves. They don’t live in the past and use the past as an excuse to do wrong like the blacks do. They don’t cry racism every time they’re caught doing something wrong or they don’t get their way. Same goes for the Jews. How many gang-banging, drug-dealing, lazy Indians do you know?

Anyway, I pity the next people in here, but maybe, just maybe, the city letter will be doing them and me a favor. I don’t know, though. I get the impression the city’s just about given up on their bums that don’t follow the rules and on those that complain about them. Some people are like that; when things get too out of hand, they just say "What the fuck" and they give up. But if the city does talk to them and if anyone from next door comes over asking why we went to the city and not to them, we don’t know anything about it. We don’t owe them any explanations and we don’t need to waste our time getting into a 20-minute discussion with them over how I already told them that if they didn’t shut the music up we’d go to the city, etc. They were already warned about what I’d do if they didn’t settle down and shut up.

Later...

The blue pickup’s there now, but I was too lazy to check and see if the van’s deep in the carport. The music spell last night and today only lasted a few minutes (there’ll be more), but the point’s the same - I don’t want to hear it, I’m sick of them and their shit, and there’s no stopping the city letter from going in now. It may not do me any good, but it’s going in. No ands, ifs, buts, or what-ifs.

I was also right about the CD-making being a bust. Tom says when we move he can do it really easily from his computer. Uh-huh, right! I’m not meant to have any more CDs made up than I’ve already got. I don’t know why, but this is just the obvious case here.

I forgot to mention that Leona, the woman at Palm Harbor, had a nice southwestern picture hanging in her office. I jokingly, yet seriously since it was a nice picture, said I’d take that as part of the deal, and she said I could have it. I’m sure she was kidding since most people don’t mean half the things they say, but I was still surprised by her response.

Later...

The blue pickup left and no vehicles are there now. When do these people sleep?! Well, just because I see the van going in and out during the day and the night doesn’t mean they’re all going out at once. Remember, there are 3 adults over there. They could be sleeping in shifts.

Tom’s masking the back room and bathroom now.

Later...

Tom just hit the sack. I might still be up when he gets up. He painted the bathroom, the hall closet, and the back room. But before he could finish the back room, much less hit the utility area, he was out of paint.

I just did something I never did before in my life - caught a spider with a tissue as it was coming down on its web. If it had been any bigger, though, I wouldn’t have had the guts. I was reaching into the kitchen to turn the light off so I could spy on next door easier when I caught a small movement out of the corner of my eye just a few inches above my head, seconds away from landing on it. At first I thought it was a mosquito, but as soon as I realized what it was, I grabbed a tissue and squished it. Or so I thought. When I went to open the tissue to check, it scurried away towards my finger, then I panicked and dropped the tissue and the spider. Once I found the damn thing on the floor, I permanently put its lights out.

I thought that the only two places it leaked were by the alcove and through the wall heater, but nope. Tom said it did leak along the back wall cuz the carpet was all wet. Thanks, God. Thanks for letting us move on and thanks for helping us help ourselves. I mean, how insulting! He watches Tom slave his ass off from up above and what’s he get for it? A roof that continues to leak. I told Tom from the get-go, though, that this roof was hexed. That means it cannot be fixed. Maybe God will let someone else fix it, but it ain’t allowed while we’re here. The question is, though, how will affect the sale of the house? I told Tom we better not tell anyone about it, but he said we could be sued if we don’t and that it’s still OK cuz the kinds of people that’d buy this house wouldn’t have a choice. Why not? There are other houses within the same price range and size. Why not get one that doesn’t leak?

Talk about people not meaning half the things they say - well, Melanie lied. Why, I’ll never know, but the more I think about it, the more I don’t buy it when she says she has naturally curly hair. Not that it matters what she has, but it takes one to know one. Her hair was curly all the way to the roots which isn’t natural. Also, I know how hard it is to straighten hair that’s naturally curly. You can curl hair easily enough, but you can’t straighten it unless you’re stripping out a perm. I really think the curls she used to have were permed and that she had the perm taken out. And she said it was “permanently straightened.” Well, that’s not possible. Hair grows. Even if she did straighten her hair, it’d grow out curly. It’s just like with dye. You can die brown hair blond, but it’ll grow out. You can get root fillers, but I’ve never heard of any such thing for straightening. And like I said, curly hairs don’t really start to curl till you get 2-3 inches down the hair. Maybe I’m wrong, though, and maybe it’s a case of it being meant to be for her and not for me. Just like some people could have invitro and have a baby and others could have it and do nothing but miscarry. Tom said that maybe I took her too literally and maybe when I asked her if it was naturally curly, and she said yes, she was being sarcastic. Didn’t sound it to me. She said it matter of factly.

A silver pickup’s been out on the street next door for several hours. I agree with Tom at this point about our very loud 5-minute concert earlier - it was the kids. So what are they gonna do? Blast us out every time mommy and daddy step out? Well, they were in and out as usual and that was the only time so far today that we heard any music. Maybe all 3 of them were out during the time the music was blaring, but someone stayed back during the rest of the ten million trips.

I have a theory as to why I haven’t seen the white car or the ranchero since I blew up on them. It’s just a theory. Anything can happen when it comes to these freeloaders, but I think that they told them, “Look. We don’t care, but our neighbors do and we don’t want to get evicted, so keep the music down.” In response, they reacted like a true Arizonan and flipped. They probably said, “Fine! Fuck it then! If we can’t blast our music, we won’t even bother coming over.” This is the type of people they’d attract as friends, too. People that are just as selfish as they are.

Like I said, anything could happen over there at any time, but during the week there should be less company and there might not be any music at all from their house. Or if there is, it should be really soft like what I heard late last night.

I thought of the perfect name for the woman I think is Deb’s mother - Fanny. After the way she mooned me when she bent over to stub out her cigarette, Fanny’s the perfect name for her. Just like I dubbed Joebitch’s father Bill, cuz he looked a little like Bill Cosby, I now have the perfect name for her. I forgot the husband’s name. It was something like Chester, so I’ll just call him that.

The renters still haven’t had a rambunctious housewarming party (although they might be acting up any minute now). Only a subsidized group of sick fucks would have that. Housewarming parties are for selfish, greedy, assholes that’ll do anything to get something for nothing from people.

Later...

Black Dots is going off now, but since he’s more than 3 feet away, he can be drowned out by the sound machine. I looked out to see what was stirring him up and saw a woman get out of a car across the street and head into the house. So, they are having company tonight. I think that last night and tonight they may’ve had friends over to see the house, but they did it in a civilized, normal, respectful way. There’s been no music or screaming at least so far. Just the dog. Not that I’m complaining, but why is it that I hardly hear the dog? Is it not here most of the time? Or could they really be letting it stay inside the house most of the time? This is only the third outburst of barking I’ve heard since they arrived 10 days ago.

Later...

Here we go again with the stunted metabolism. I woke up at 112 pounds, had nothing but a TV dinner and a bag of popcorn all day, and I still weigh 112 pounds. It shouldn’t be that way unless my metabolism has stopped up, so I did a little jogging in place which I can do for a surprisingly good length of time. I have to be either talking to Tom, watching TV, or listening to music, though, when I do it cuz it’s so boring. Sometimes I still contemplate enjoying life and the food that’s in it and not worrying about my weight, but I still hesitate to let go cuz of the expense and hassle it’d be to have to keep getting bigger clothes till I stopped gaining weight at God knows where. I kind of like to be flexible too, if I can help it, so I don’t need a huge belly in the way.

It seems the silver pickup’s all next door’s having for company tonight. So far, that is.

That car’s parked in front of our house again, and yeah, I’d say it’s definitely visiting across the street. There are about 5 vehicles there now.

I’m trying to look at this place not as the house where we live right now, but as just a place we’re staying at temporarily till we can go home. I’m trying to see it as a bad vacation. We’re temporarily held up in this sometimes noisy, too old, too small motel, but we’ll be going home soon to our big, modern, quiet home. This is just a house. As far as I’m concerned, it’s always been just a house. But when we move, we’ll be home.