My New Neighbor

Some of my favorite things about living in Uptown Minneapolis are:

-Relatively safe neighborhoods
-Easy access to coffee shops, bars and good food
-Many friends within walking distance
-Pretty progressive environments
-Lakes that offer a number of 5K runs or walks
-Good rental options

I usually really enjoy living where I do. My apartment is affordable, nice looking and comfortable. But the last few weeks a VERY sexually active new neighbor has been waking me up at night. Girlfriend is BUSY! It's an odd situation because I usually am awaken to "love" sounds any time between 2:30 and 5am. I'm used to living in the city. I'm used to hearing things. But this one is funny because I am woke up from a dead sleep (as early as 5am in the morning) to hear my neighbors love life.

When I vented this to a group of male and female friends I couldn't believe the response. Most of the ladies said, "Ohh God that's horrible. You should leave a nice anonymous note, letting her know it's a little noisy in the middle of the night. She probably doesn't even know they are loud." Then almost immediately the dudes replied, "don't you dare tell her you can hear them. That's rude and YOU'RE the one who's uncomfortable."

REALLY? If she was watching TV too loud at 4 in the morning I'd tell her. If she was vacuuming I'd probably storm up the stairs and demand she stops. What wouldn't I tell her this is waking me up?

This response was interesting to me. I got to wonder about the guys point. Then I wondered about the girls point. Then I got to wondering why it was so split down the middle of the sexes that girls would tell the sexually active (and noisy) neighbor "I can hear you at night and you might want to keep it down..." and the guys would rather put a pillow over their head and try to ignore it.

Last night I didn't know what to do. I decided to get up and make noise in my apartment because perhaps it would scare my neighbor if she heard someone moving around. It didn't scare them. Nothing stopped. Thumping, talking and love sounds kept flowing...

This story is to be continued...