Filed under: General
So even though I went through all that effort and money to get rid of my Rock Band stuff, today I got talked into going over to Jake’s to play Beatles Rock Band. Again. Well, at the very least, I put off of his invite to come over until the end of the week. After all the numerous times we’ve belted out Beatles songs, it’s hard to believe that we’re not awesome. But somehow we are not. Nonetheless, I enjoy trying to figure out the harmonies to the songs.
But before going over to Jake’s, I felt I had to do something productive so ran a few errands. The most pressing was finding some insulation for the gaps in my doorway. My apartment building is a circus. At one point, I could hear a barking dog, a crying baby, and an opera singer. The barking dog is the worst. The sound just echoes through the stairwell and into my room. And there are multiple dogs in the building. The worst is the one dog below us who howls and cries all day when the owners aren’t home. I feel like I shouldn’t be mad at the dog and direct it towards the owners for torturing the poor animal.
It’s gotten to the point where I looked up what to do about a noisy dog. Predictably, there’s not much I can do. I can confront the owners who would most likely do nothing and I look like a total prick, I can complain to the cops who won’t do jack-shit, or I can do nothing and go slowly insane.
Well, I’m hopeful that I just tune out the exterior noises over time. In my apartment in the East Village, there was a heating pole right next to my bed that would clang incessantly. During that first noisy night, I mentally decided that I could let it drive me crazy or I could deliberately decide to block out the sound as I slept. Surprisingly I was able to muster the willpower to shut out the noise and slept comfortably. I’m hoping I can repeat this effort.
Back to the errands, I found some door insulation but upon installing it, I noticed that the door itself is hollow metal. Thus sound would just reverberate through it and make my insulation useless. Serenity now!
Daily Panic Level: Normal
Financial Outlook: Better (I got my last check from BBDO finally)
Job Scorecard (Interviews – Freelance Work – Freelance Busts): 8 – 8 – 40
Last Night’s Meal: Pepperoni pizza
More work on the app. I was a bit frustrated because today’s work basically nullified half of what I did yesterday. Oh well.
Then I got derailed a bit by sorting through bills and paper records. It was way overdue to organize but I was too lazy to ever get to it before. I still need to get my tax stuff in order. That’ll be the next thing I put off for as long as possible.
I had also decided to mail to my cousin all of my Rock Band equipment. I no longer have a console to utilize them and space is an issue in my new apartment. I’d spent a bit of money on this stuff so was hoping to be able to sell them on Craigslist to recoup some of the cash. But my little cousin in California was interested in it so I decided it’d be better to give it to her than make a few bucks. I didn’t realize at the time that it would cost me $75 to ship it across the country. So not only did I not make any money but I had to funnel more cash to get rid of them.
Still, it’s family, y’know? I was thinking a lot about family while on my last trip. It’s funny how strong and primitive those bonds can be. I have relatives that I don’t ever see that often but feel a definite love for. From high school on, I had always put more of a precedence on my friends, thinking that this is the family I choose not the one I was born with. But over the years, I see how friendships come and go. They can be more intense but can also fade away. My family has always been constant.
You have that circle of people who you chose to have near you because of commonalities. Then you have another circle of people who you have no choice but to be connected to. I always got the merit of creating families out of friends. But it’s only recently that I see how you also need people who you have nothing in common with. They’re there to balance you and challenge you. I like the idea that my cousins and I share little to nothing in tastes but I can still feel a strong bond with them. I’d unquestioningly do things for them that I wouldn’t for friends.
And y’know… I can bum off them if need be.
Daily Panic Level: Normal
Financial Outlook: Good
Job Scorecard (Interviews – Freelance Work – Freelance Busts): 8 – 8 – 40
Last Night’s Meal: Braised halibut with fennel, shallot and mushrooms (leftovers)
