Kill the noise
I DON’T LIKE PEOPLE. That’s why I live by myself, even though I’m in the dorms.
Trick is, I don’t exactly live by myself. There are three other guys who live in adjacent rooms. I share a bathroom with them, and leave them de facto living room privileges.
Despite the barest of crossover territory, there’s a bit of ongoing drama among all of us here in Aspen 219.
One of us likes his music.
The rest of us complain about it to each other.
Rather than actually approach the ghetto-blasting truant with our grievances, we’ve banged on walls and left a note.
What I find hilarious is that I’m that inconsiderate roommate.
I know exactly why they think it’s too loud. It’s not because it’s actually too loud.
Sure, sometimes my low-key Manhattan Transfer somehow segues to the ear-splittingly loud Back in Black — curse you, indiscriminating Party Shuffle — but the volume is usually very reasonable.
Two or three wall-bangings into the semester, I even turned my subwoofer down.
All the way.
At this point, I’m not actually too loud. It’s just that I leave my window and door open for ventilation.
My roommates, convinced I haven’t bothered to improve and in search of silence, shut the living room door in frustration rather than ask me to close said door or window.
I have a feeling that my infrequent overnight playlist habit is more amplified by their assuredly constant complaining than by any sound system I’ve ever owned.
I’m not worried about it — I leave them well enough alone otherwise. If they don’t make the attempt to talk to me, it’s obviously not that big of an issue.
I figure that the only kind of roommate issues that matter are those that culminate in some kind of conversation.
If I or some jerk like myself ever becomes your roommate, you’d be well-advised to keep that in mind.
I don’t even know them that well, myself.
If I know that one of my roommates is named Travis, it’s only because some R.A. garished up our names with construction paper and taped them to the front door.
I’ve said just about as many words to them as I have noise complaints. I’m at about seven for each.
I keep a tally.
Between the five times I’ve heard walls or doors banged on, the one surreptitious note left on my desk and the sole actual human interaction at the beginning of the semester, I’ve said “Hey” twice and a casual yet friendly “How’s it going?” once.
The note, though, was the funniest bit. I found it on my desk after I got out of the shower.
I had been listening to “Rubber Soul” straight through for the first time in a long while. I left my room — with the door open — and headed to the shower in anticipation of “Norwegian Wood.”
I hate that song.
The note, on the other hand, was nicely written and lacked stupid accompaniment, yet double-underlined in places I’d never have considered.
My kinder, more positive half wanted to praise the author’s marvelous printing, ignoring the grammatical errors.
That didn’t last long.
My other side, an anal-retentive grammar nazi, viciously strangled it.
“Keep Your Music Down,” the note said. In smaller lettering, it continued, “Thank you from all the other that live here.”
Even ignoring that individual people are a who and not a that, I’m really confused by the “all the other” phrase.
All the other what?
Gerbils?
Laptop computers?
Functional illiterates who forget plurals when Microsoft Word can’t fix it automatically?
Puzzling. I’m not sure how to react. Maybe the next note will tell me that, too.
Related Content
A verified e-mail address is required to post a comment.
Views expressed in the comments section are not representative of The Collegian unless so specified. Comments must be approved by a moderator before they are published. Comments that are inflammatory, profane, libelous and/or posted under a false name may be removed at the discretion of The Collegian. Comments may be used in the print edition of the newspaper. Be sure to pick up next Friday's issue of The Collegian for featured comments.
60 Responses to Kill the noise
Leave a Reply
Connect with us »
Recent Posts »
- Year in Review: The Collegian sits down with President Welty
- Thrower McKee is a rare breed
- Sprinter perseveres through injuries
- Wrightful departure
- The “udder” truth about campus milk production
- Year in review: The Collegian sits down with President Welty
- What the future holds
- Student volunteer’s rough childhood fuels passion to give back
- Head Softball Coach Margie Wright announces retirement
- Shots fired in ‘Sin City’
- A final farewell: Seven seniors say goodbye
- Piercings represent independence and fashion for many
Travis hates you
Travis hates you
This is to whatever…
You have a flaw in your argument against Baxter. A news article is supposed to inform people… An opinion or “BLOG” if you may is supposed to give the reader a little enjoyment and cause the reader to think on their own.
As for the Baxter Gazette comment… I seem to recall a little amendment in our thing that our nation holds very dear to their day to day lives. Correct me if I am wrong here but it has to do with freedom of speech. Right? He properly placed his article under the correct column as a good columnist should.
Okay, as for the irritainment comment…. Let me sit and laugh at you for a lil bit… just a min… im laughing… here i’ll even show you that I am laughing… hahahaha… see there ya have it… i laughed… How can you consider this irritainment. Obviously you don’t know the definition of irritainment. Well… let me enlighten you, irritainment is something that people will be bothered or “irritated” by but can’t withdrawal from the impulse ot continue watching/reading/doing it. Sorta like the chain letter dudes that i mentioned before… You know they are irritating, you know they aren’t true… but you still have the mental disorder that causes you to naturally continue to read…. now that we have the definition (with the bonus example) go read Ben’s article again… go ahead… ill wait
…
K, now that you read it again, lets see if this particular piece actually irritainment or entertainment. Ask yourself this, does it bother you that Ben’s roommates are mad at him for playing music? If you say yes, you need a life and i can’t help you. I hope you are normal and said no for the reason of “why should i care about that?” and i say “normal” lightly.
Now was this article bothering you on a personal level like a dog humping your leg or like does it bother you like a hand is reaching out and pinching your cheeks? I am curious… why would it bother you so much that Mr. Baxter character has to be degraded? It’s sort of like using your race as a reason why someone has placed a misfortune you. It is putting someone else down to bring yourself up…
But seriously, do you think this article was intended for you to be bothered by it? I don’t think so, I found it enjoyable to read and it gave me a bit of a chuckle to read about what goes on in the world or the dorms. There are people out there who don’t know what dorm life is like. (like me)
Now if i were his roommate, there would be serious consequences to having such loud music blaring at 6am, but i am the type of person who is always joking around and belives that payback is painful. (another words i would get up earlier then him and blast the Hamster Dance or some song of that annoying nature.) But thats just me. Its his roommate’s fault for letting Ben do that. If they truly disliked ben’s actions then there are ways to deal with it…
And ben, I applaud you for not stooping to the commenter’s level. You had many window of opportunities to retaliate back with quite mean comments. I know myself probably wouldn’t hold my tung. I think your next blog should be on people who post comments on your blogs. That would really be a funny article to read. (and yes Whatever… that article would be for irritainment… just so you can sleep at night)
This is to whatever…
You have a flaw in your argument against Baxter. A news article is supposed to inform people… An opinion or “BLOG” if you may is supposed to give the reader a little enjoyment and cause the reader to think on their own.
As for the Baxter Gazette comment… I seem to recall a little amendment in our thing that our nation holds very dear to their day to day lives. Correct me if I am wrong here but it has to do with freedom of speech. Right? He properly placed his article under the correct column as a good columnist should.
Okay, as for the irritainment comment…. Let me sit and laugh at you for a lil bit… just a min… im laughing… here i’ll even show you that I am laughing… hahahaha… see there ya have it… i laughed… How can you consider this irritainment. Obviously you don’t know the definition of irritainment. Well… let me enlighten you, irritainment is something that people will be bothered or “irritated” by but can’t withdrawal from the impulse ot continue watching/reading/doing it. Sorta like the chain letter dudes that i mentioned before… You know they are irritating, you know they aren’t true… but you still have the mental disorder that causes you to naturally continue to read…. now that we have the definition (with the bonus example) go read Ben’s article again… go ahead… ill wait
…
K, now that you read it again, lets see if this particular piece actually irritainment or entertainment. Ask yourself this, does it bother you that Ben’s roommates are mad at him for playing music? If you say yes, you need a life and i can’t help you. I hope you are normal and said no for the reason of “why should i care about that?” and i say “normal” lightly.
Now was this article bothering you on a personal level like a dog humping your leg or like does it bother you like a hand is reaching out and pinching your cheeks? I am curious… why would it bother you so much that Mr. Baxter character has to be degraded? It’s sort of like using your race as a reason why someone has placed a misfortune you. It is putting someone else down to bring yourself up…
But seriously, do you think this article was intended for you to be bothered by it? I don’t think so, I found it enjoyable to read and it gave me a bit of a chuckle to read about what goes on in the world or the dorms. There are people out there who don’t know what dorm life is like. (like me)
Now if i were his roommate, there would be serious consequences to having such loud music blaring at 6am, but i am the type of person who is always joking around and belives that payback is painful. (another words i would get up earlier then him and blast the Hamster Dance or some song of that annoying nature.) But thats just me. Its his roommate’s fault for letting Ben do that. If they truly disliked ben’s actions then there are ways to deal with it…
And ben, I applaud you for not stooping to the commenter’s level. You had many window of opportunities to retaliate back with quite mean comments. I know myself probably wouldn’t hold my tung. I think your next blog should be on people who post comments on your blogs. That would really be a funny article to read. (and yes Whatever… that article would be for irritainment… just so you can sleep at night)
wow… i didn’t realize how much i wrote til i posted… and i hate writing… thanks a lot!… i am not much a writer but i am just as opinionated as Ben is.
funny how i can write this much but when it comes to a term paper, i write very little….
wow… i didn’t realize how much i wrote til i posted… and i hate writing… thanks a lot!… i am not much a writer but i am just as opinionated as Ben is.
funny how i can write this much but when it comes to a term paper, i write very little….
I hate many of these loud, lazy, dimwitted college students as well. Some of these young punks need to “cut it out.”
I hate many of these loud, lazy, dimwitted college students as well. Some of these young punks need to “cut it out.”
Well I’m glad we all crack each other up!
Well I’m glad we all crack each other up!