In my defense

There is a part of me that feels like I need to defend and justify my post from a couple of days ago. You know, the one where I was complaining about our upstairs neighbors. But, after reading comments left, I really felt like more explanation was needed. Call me egocentric, but I sort of thought maybe I get some "Oh, you poor darling" and "Yes, apartment life is a sad thing" responses. Oh well. It wasn't meant to be.

But, in my defense ... here are some additional thoughts and comments.

• I'm not naive to think that my children (or any children for that matter) won't be loud and noisey. I wasn't trying to say that children should be perfect little angels. Or that my hypothetical kids will be. Kids will be kids. They have energy. They like to bounce and jump and run and hop and skip. Wo zhidao.
  
• I've lived with and spent enough time with my own nieces to know that they make lots of noise. The eldest niece likes to run everywhere she goes and I think it's adorable. Living here, many times I pretend that Mer is upstairs -- isn't she precious -- but then truth makes its way known and I remember that it's not her ... and that makes a huge difference.
  
• Loving your own kids makes for a much more patient person when it comes to situations like this. When it's complete strangers being annoying, the frustration is only that more intense because there is absolutely nothing you can do about it.
• Most of my friends are kind, considerate people, who would hate living in a 2nd floor apartment, knowing that there are people living below and would do everything in their power to not be annoying.
  
• These folks are not kind and considerate and quietly contemplating ways in which they could be a tad bit quieter. I'm sure their mentality is, "Girl, this is just as much my home as it is yours. Get a life."
• For example:
  
• They vacuum at midnight.
• They sit on stairways that are literally outside our front door and smoke, depositing their used cigarettes on our mat and entry way.
  
• When I said their kids run constantly, I meant it -- from 6:30 am to 11:30 pm. Most normal people put their kids to bed at 8pm. 'Nuff said.
• Their tv is on all day long.
  
• The 2nd floor apartment I lived in during my senior year of college had very squeaky floors, especially a large section that was in between the two bedrooms. As hard as we tried to be sensitive to the guys underneath us, we couldn't get to our bedrooms without walking on that squeaky spot. Knowing how much that noise irritated the hygeebees out of me, I can only imagine what it was like for those underneath. I understand about trying to be quiet and at times, being terribly unsuccessful.
  

And that's my defense. I wasn't trying to be mean or unkind. Well, not really. I was just saying how annoying it can be to live in an apartment and be surrounded by folks who aren't overly concerned with the well-being of others. But, in all honestly, such is the life of apartment dwellers and living.