A couple of apartments ago I happen to have the unfortunate luck to live below someone who decided it was alright to play music incredibly loudly at night, often *starting* at 1am. I often asked him to turn it down and he would, though it would just happen again a week or two later. Just before leaving that apartment to go to Warsaw I had been very stressed one night and music played incredibly loudly. It was a Saturday and only 10pm, but from the week before of another loud night and being very stressed I went upstairs in a somewhat confrontational attitude to tell the person it was loud and to turn it down. Granted, I was a bit angry, but he responded by saying he could do what he wanted and he had every right and threatening me that we could take it to court or some nonsense like that. Anyways, I was livid and told him off and left very angry, which took a long time to get over. If anyone knows me, they know I am generally very laid back and will let most everything go and I generally just don’t get upset over much, but that situation really got me going.

After that night, any time I would remember it, it would get me angry again and I really did not like that at all. It took maybe a whole year to not think about that person and that night without being upset. I realized in the end that getting upset and not having control over over those emotions were not worth it. So a big lesson learned in terms of controlling my reactions to things, even though I still feel very wronged by it.

So, back to now. I could go downstairs every day and ask to turn it down, but I doubt that would do much good considering what I went through with that experience from a couple years ago, and considering that the restaurant people are that much more “explosive” with their arguing. So rather than have uncomfortable and bad relations, I can see them and say hello and all that and be comfortable with that as they are pretty friendly in general when not arguing.

Also, the apartment has other issues of just being on a busy street so lots of sounds of cars during the day (and the music coming from some of those), as well as foot traffic at night with loud conversations by not so savory folks, and reports of petty crimes, etc. are other factors involved. Granted the loud music from the restaurant is the primary issue, but the other issues are also contributing factors, and something I think will all be improved by moving.