Someone else out there understands what it means to have noisy neighbors. They made a CD you can play that has annoying sounds on it. It comes with earplugs so that you don’t get bombarded with your own stuff.
As fun as it may sound, if your neighbors are that noisy, it’s unlikely they’ll hear whatever noise you throw their direction. Either from the hearing loss or over their noise, this may just frustrate more. But it may be worth that one time you get on their nerves. 
I had eggs for breakfast today. Three of them. Until I cracked the third egg to find this (lower left egg).
This one is a first for me…
Sabrina has posted something that every person who thinks that playing in the mud is a good idea should read.
Remember the people who clean your clothes (which may very well be yourself)!
For the last two nights, my neighbors have been playing music late at night and rather loudly. Loudly enough that my knocking on their door or on the shared wall is unheard (or ignored).
Last night, they went until at least 3:00 a.m. with me sleeping only a few minutes until then.
Today, I stopped by the apartment manager to let them know about it. They’ll be doing whatever they do, probably anonymously.
While I’m fairly confident this will work, at least for a while, I’m saddened and see it as a defeat. I don’t know details, but I think my neighbors are having a hard time in life right now. The only reasons I didn’t call the police were because I wanted to go through the management first and I wouldn’t have wished a visit from a police office on anyone who is having a hard time in life to begin (even more so when it could be resolved without the police).
That said, it’s also a victory. I gave my neighbors their due diligence in trying to get them to quiet down last night. It didn’t work. The simplest next step is the one I took and it should have a positive effect on the situation, though perhaps not a positive effect on neighbor relations.
I’m looking forward to the vastly increased potential of a good night’s sleep tonight. We’ll see what happens next, though.
In the neverending quest to get a better shave, Lifehacker has posted three videos about traditional wetshaving. While I probably technically wetshave myself every other day or so and some earlier tips have helped improve the business of shaving in the Yocum Household of Redlands, it could be better and more comfortable. If I can get up to shaving once a day without pain, it will be a good day.
Besides, are there any women in the world that aren’t a sucker for their man shaving in the bathroom in a Paul Newman kind of way? I’m still working on finding a woman that will call me her man, but the shaving bit should bit a hell of a lot easier.
Last week I asked for projects to do and got some really good responses. Among them were learning a new language, learning to cook new dishes, and sand art (which I still don’t know anything about…). I have podcasts on my iPod to learn Spanish, French, and Italian, though I’ll take them one at a time given my track record with languages. I have food. I’m sure I could get sand. What I don’t have at the moment is time.
This will be the second of two weeks where every night of my week is spoken for in some fashion. I scheduled these events myself and all of them will be enjoyable. But I’m looking forward to next weekend and next week when things will (conceivably) calm down a bit and give me time to get caught up on some stuff.
First off, cleaning my apartment. I’ve gotten a reputation among my friends for cleaning every week. While that is always true of the bathroom (where my weekly hair cut creates the necessity), the rest of my apartment has slipped to an every other week cycle that doesn’t work for my sanity (a pile of dirty dishes and disorganized living room do not help me clear my head after a day of work).
Next, read a book. Then work on my Spanish. Then do some photography (there were tons of rainless lightning strikes last night that I would’ve loved to have a camera that does long-term exposures for). Then work on getting more sleep each night.
In the meantime, I plan to get as much sleep as possible while maintaining the fun factor of the week ahead. Tonight, Superman Returns with good friends.
I’m a busy guy and I have a life. During any given week, I tend to be out of the apartment at something at least half of the seven evenings available to me. This is almost always fun stuff with wonderful people and I enjoy it. It leaves me with rather empty time every other night. I’m good at taking time to relax and do things that I enjoy. Lately, though, I’ve been sitting in front of the TV more than I’d prefer (yes, it’s my own fault) during the off time.
So, I’m looking for a project to do. Probably short-term, but I’d consider something longer if it was fun. The problem is that I have no idea what to do. So I turn to the few, the proud, my loyal readers.
What kind of projects/hobbies are you doing? Do you have any ideas for me to ponder? Better still, do you have ideas for group hobbies that you’ve been wanting to explore? Share them in the comments section and maybe we’ll get a ball rolling. And be creative. 
It isn’t nearly as hard as you think.
All you need is a Red Paperclip.
See a similar trade up string at the first episode of the new Rocketboom. For background, Amanda Congdon hosted until not too long ago. With some drama from the blogosphere and a situation we’ll never know all of, she left suddenly and is on to other things while Rocketboom continues with an interim host with a great voice.
Last night I took part in a group Lectio Divina activity. I’ve done lectio before on my own and in a group, but it’s been a while. The group last night was perfectly suited to each other; very open and responsive to the ebb and flow of the mood and atmosphere of the room.
I shared about feeling like a spectactor watching epic events happening around me, mostly in the form of life-changing events in my friends lives. I pictured myself walking down a corridor. As I walked, I passed scenes that had little affect on me; my life insulated from the pains and the joys happening around me nearly to the point of not caring aside from the guilt of being so insulated from my friends and people I care about.
As the sharing and silent reflection continued, the scene began to change. Instead of being insulated and helpless to interact with the epics around me I saw myself as a spectator of another drama altogether. The joys and pains were not what I was meant to be seeing. Rather, in these events I was given a special seat to see the good happening in and around and because of these events, something that would be hidden to me if I were in the whirldwind.
Something I learned what seems like a long time ago is that perspective is everything when it comes to dealing with stressful situations. 99% of the time, the outcome of a given situation doesn’t really change the bottom line of our lives, though it may change temporarily. Spending less energy worrying about how things will change overall and putting more into the situation at hand works wonders.
I walked away last night seeing the insulation as a gift of having a perspective outside that of the epics I saw/see around me. From this point, I can calmly and peacefully search for God’s finger writing His signature onto the world and offer a better helping hand to those within the whirlwind.
Is it arrogance to ask for prayer in help with the problems of people aroud you when it seems like you have none of your own? Or is it a blessing to be in such a position? I certainly have my own problems, but those are minute and quiet for the time being. That said, I’m not sure which case is more true.
This was an odd Thursday evening as we didn’t have worship rehearsal (a good chunk of the worship team is out of town this weekend by chance, so we all got this Sunday off). I decided to take my iPod and walk up and down State St. a bit to take in the sights and scents of Market Night.
The first thing I noticed, nearly all of the teens are doing the goth thing. I remember that being a thing to do over ten years ago. Will it ever get old?
I also heard a musician by name of Marianne Keith who does acoustic guitar, mostly. She was performing and the music was fabulous! I decided to stop and listen along with the now forming crowd (I’m a trend-setter, what can I say) and found myself talking to one of her entourage. Turns out that everyone there helping this 18 year old singer and songwriter were her family; parents and grandparents. They were selling CDs for $10. Her sound was getting to me, but the fact that her family was there supporting her sold me, so I bought the first CD I’ve bought in years. I later downloaded U2’s How to Disarm an Atomic Bomb as my first iTunes purchase, incidentally.
The best part of Market Night, though, was listening to Van Morrison while walking through downtown Redlands with the people mulling around you. It’s a taste of heaven, my friends.
Technorati Tags: redlands, van morrison, ipod, market night
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