I’m sleeping worse here than I was at the duplex, believe it or not. If it weren’t for these fucking stereos, I’d sleep better than I slept there once the dog entered the picture, but here I’m being woken up every 2-3 days. I worry that I may not be able to sleep late at night either because that’s when she’s the bangiest with her car doors. She slammed in with that guy at 11:30, then they took off a few minutes later. They just returned not too long ago, and when they do, they often take something out of the trunk which they slam pretty hard. I don’t know what it is they’re doing, and while they may not blast music or have wild dogs/kids outside our windows, they’re still so the typical rude neighbors. You wouldn’t slam your doors like that so late at night if you weren’t, since most people are asleep at those hours. Of course, once that house gets occupied on the other side, it’s going to really be a nightmare around here, so I guess we’ll be moving in March. The question is, where the hell do we go? It’s a noisy world out there and there’s no place to go where there’d be space around us unless we go to the outskirts of the city where we can’t afford to go. Not with the way gas prices are. I swear something wants me in the city! I’ve always believed that. There just doesn’t seem to be any doubt about it. If we were smart when it comes time to buy a place, we’d not only get the shittiest piece of shit we could find but the noisiest, too. That way we’ll be sure to never lose it. It’s only the good places we can’t hang on to.

Anyway, I fell asleep at 8 AM and was woken up by God knows what at 2:30. I contemplated getting up then, but was too tired. Meanwhile, every time I’d be on my way back to sleep, a stereo would go crashing by, bass pounding like someone hammering their fists on a door. There was also this quick, strange shudder that the house made too, much like a sonic boom, and I could’ve sworn I heard a dog bark, too. Perhaps the one next door where the old lady lives was out front? Or maybe someone was walking one down the sidewalk? When I finally fell back asleep an hour later, I slept till 7 PM. So where I would’ve gotten up around 4:00, my schedule’s been pushed ahead a few hours. It’s probably a good thing, though, as I have a feeling that the more I sleep at night, the better off I’ll be.

We still may have to bomb. The exterior treatments only help so much. So far tonight I’ve found two small spiders and one horrifyingly large one. Who knows if they’ll reduce all that much come October when the cold really starts setting in?

Tom taped the edges of the square attic door that’s in the kitchen ceiling to seal it up better. If anything, we don’t want to be losing heat through the sides of it.

He also put up my brown shelf in the living room.

I rearranged the bedroom. I figured that if they’re going to wake me up no matter how I arrange it, I may as well arrange it in a way that’s most convenient for me. Besides, I know I have to pay for the next decade or so for the one or two times I may’ve woken the fat bitch up at the duplex.

We’re back on with Netflix so we’ll have 3 movies every few days or so to look forward to till poverty takes that away from us again. I’m sure we’ll have poor spell number 10,000,000 soon enough. As it is, they dogged us on our deposit. It’s still enough to do a $50 wholesale oil order and get a new vacuum, but they took a ridiculous $125 to clean the carpet of the old place. I can’t believe it could cost that much to clean the carpet, even in a place that big. I think they just got a little greedy. I told Tom he should demand to see a receipt and try to find out why it cost so damn much, but as usual, he doesn’t want to make waves. He should make waves, though. They work for us. We’re the ones paying them hundreds of dollars a month, so why should he hesitate to speak up? Maybe they’re not such a great company after all. I mean, we shouldn’t be paying $450 for such a tiny, tilted dump like this, house or not.

I just wish it would rain! This summer’s been way drier than last summer. Last summer we had a handful of rainy days, but it hasn’t rained but maybe a few drops since June. My skin and hair are very dry, though I attribute most of that to age and dye.

Later…

They allowed me to sleep yesterday, so that’s good.

The fish died last night. It must’ve suffered brain damage when it jumped out. I guess I’ll get another one soon.

Oddly enough there’s been no mail today and yesterday, but the first of the DVDs should be here tomorrow!

We’re bombing Sunday for sure. There was not only one other spider after I last wrote, but in less than a minute, the kitchen was jumping with spiders before Tom went to bed. There were three of them.

I was grateful to her next door a little while ago for remembering to put the trash out. We totally forgot. I guess she can put it out and we can take it in. She’s up way later than Tom, and he’s up way earlier than she is. They collect the trash real early here at 4 AM and he leaves just before 7:00. Her car remained put until I crashed yesterday at noon. She’s no early bird. She went out at 11:00 when she put the trash out and returned a half-hour later with that guy. This time they only shut their car doors and they did it in a less jolting manner. I am so glad she hasn’t done anything to force us to have to meet, though I’m not going to bother complaining when she gets replaced with trouble and when trouble moves into the house. It simply doesn’t do any good. If people cared enough in the first place to be respectful and considerate of those around them, then they wouldn’t bring in the barking dogs, the screaming kids, the loud music, etc.

Here she goes again. Yeah, I thought she may have one more trip out before turning in for the night. Where in the world could she possibly be going so late at night for just a few minutes to an hour each time around?

I just checked and the car’s still there. Maybe she was getting something out of it since no one else parks close enough to hear. The houses next door have their driveways on the other side, and they park on the other side of the houses across the street, which is something I like. It’s a weird setup, but it’s kind of like the backs of the houses across the street are what face the street.

Other than minor annoyances with the barking and music from across the street, the only major annoyances are the car stereos till the house next door sells.