Neighbors...

I have these faint memories of the couple who lived next door to us as I was growing up. They were nice, helpful, and hospitable. I remember their little fluffy dog named Muffin. I also remember their garden, of which my sister and I would water when they were away.

Ah, how I miss them...

We've had interesting neighbors come and go from our complex. There were the twenty-something musician types who changed their apartment number from "6" to three 6s. There was the guy above us who was an in-home tattoo artist who had visitors at all hours of the night, plus two large dogs. We have the family across the way who barbecues and invite extended family to eat with them on cardtables in the driveway (wouldn't be a problem if the smoke wasn't flooding into our apartment). But I think our most recent addition is by far the oddest.

Currently I'm having an allergic reaction to incense. This neighbor apparently received a large package of incense, and although it's put away, our whole complex smells like sandalwood. Yuck. Our livingroom smells like aromatherapy gone wrong. Even with our windows and doors closed, the aroma has wafted it's way into our home seeping into everything we own.

This same neighbor is also living in his van in the garage. We suspect that "he's in the doghouse." I haven't seen hide nor hair of his pregnant girlfriend or 3 year old son in the past few days.

A couple of nights ago, there were these strange noises coming from the direction of his van. It sounded like a loud radio being turned on every once in while. We found out that he's putting together a studio in his van (although I'm not sure what that means). He has a cable line running into the van from upstairs as well as a power cable running out of the van.

Our other neighbors have called the police on him twice. We only know this because the "van man" asked Matt if he was the one to call the police.

Every time we leave our apartment he's out there, hanging by his van, eating his meals by the dumpster, pacing up and down our driveway, yelling at the handyman who is fixing the 2 empty apartments...

At this rate, there will be 3 empty apartments.