The neighbors, part II.

As you may recall, my neighbors have an issue with volume control. The other night at 3 a.m. I was woken by a sudden burst of exotic music, reminiscent of a busy market in a movie set in the Middle East. You may also recall that I have a special hate for anyone who wakes me up. So, I get out of bed and march next door, and remembering how terribly my last encounter with my neighbors went I take a deep breath and knock on their door the way I used to knock on doors as an RA. 

"Hey, it's 3 a.m. and I'm trying to sleep, my bedroom is right next to your living room - could you please keep it down" (I think I can count that as a +1 for my new year's resolution of trying to be nicer to people in general)

The neighbors proceeded to apologize, tell me they were celebrating someone's birthday, and then repeatedly asked me to join them for a drink since I was already up. I told them "no" probably 5 times before I gave in and joined them. A glass of Baileys (mmmm, Baileys)  a shot and a broken shot glass later I finally left and went back to bed, with earplugs and the neighbors keeping things at a reasonable level.

So now I am in a quandary about whether I continue to despise my neighbors for repeatedly interrupting my sleep at the most early hours of the morning or I get over it because they seem like relatively decent human beings. I mean, they did apologize profusely about being so noisy, but they were also drunk and drunks do just about everything profusely. I guess I'll just have to KCCO, and if they get really awful I can always tell management that they're smoking in the apartment.

Tick tock

By the time my mom was my age, she was married with two children and in another year would be pregnant again! And I guess I just grew up thinking that was how things were supposed to happen. You meet someone in your early twenties, get married and have babies. At least that's the message that my uterus got, and so she's pretty upset since I'm at least two kids behind in her opinion. 

At Christmas last year I was sitting at the table with my cousin Daphne, who was 7 years old at the time, and she turned to me and asked me when I was going to - then she held her hands out in front of her belly in a big circle, and then held them up like she was rocking a baby. It was cute, and pretty much the only person in the family I would accept that question from. A lot of my friends (particularly the ones in relationships) get that question from their family, it used to be a fairly common topic at the lunch table with my girl friends actually. And as it turns out I'm about the only one whose mother isn't hassling me about kids. She's happy just being a mother rather than a grandmother, happy to hang out with me and go on trips without having to factor in a mini human. Not only is my mom supportive of my lack of children, the rest of my family is on board as well. I never have to answer the "When are you going to meet someone and settle down?" question, or defend my life choices, which have simply led me to 26 sans family.

Don't get me wrong I love children and I absolutely want to have them someday, but I am so thankful that I don't currently have any (that I know of). My life is full of uncertainty, I know that there are so many different paths I could head down from here - and I'm happy trying to figure out which one is right for me. However that sort of personal exploration and inward focus is just not compatible with having a child. So, why do I turn into a green monster when I see a pregnant woman and her partner? I know in my brain I don't want that right now, couldn't handle it right now, but somehow there's nothing I swoon over more than a baby. I guess it's my biological clock reminding me that I just can't escape the tick-tock.

Happy New Year!

Well, clearly my new year's resolution was not blogging more frequently. Or if it was, I've failed miserably already. Actually, I haven't made any resolutions yet. I mean, were they due on January 1st? Who were we supposed to turn them in to? I didn't see it on the syllabus. I hope they weren't worth too many points. 

The New Year is worth celebrating as a milestone of our trip around the sun. It's a time to look back on the year behind us and think about what we would want to do differently. I would have to say on the whole 2012 was just okay. A lot of good things happened, a lot of good people came into my life, and a few really awful things happened. No one close to me died, my family and friends are healthy and safe, we've had a lot to be thankful for in the past year.

When I think about what I want to change for this year I am reminded of the Serenity prayer. "Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference". I'm going to make 2013 the year I have courage to change the things I can. I will get a job, I will meet my fitness goals, I will think kind thoughts about people (and maybe tone down the road rage), I will smile more and I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country... oh wait, nope, that's the Boy Scout Oath. 

The most important thing to remember though, is that yes - New Years is the time to make your resolutions about how you want the upcoming year to be, but just keep in mind that every single day is the first day of the rest of your life. Every single day you have the power to change your outcomes (unless you believe in determinism, but we can go over that another time).