Laundry Woes

When Lizzy took down laundry, she got accosted by NOLD and New Bad Mom Mandy. Mandy introduced herself. She said that she first saw Lizzy when she looked at the apartment, and she thought she wanted to live here because Lizzy looked cool. NOLD agreed that Lizzy is "cheerful and bubbly." Mandy came closer like she wanted to shake Lizzy's hand, but Lizzy wouldn't let her. Mandy said she is new here, doesn't know how things work, and doesn't want any problems. Someone has already called the landlord on her three times, so she wants Lizzy to knock on her door if she has any problem with her. Lizzy said okay and ended the conversation as quickly as possible. She then heard Mandy remark that she needed to check on her two year old, who was alone in the apartment.

Later Lizzy needed to go put the laundry in the dryer, she told me to listen if she was gone for more than five minutes, so I could save her if she got sucked into another conversation. I obliged. I opened the door five minutes later, and I heard nothing. When Lizzy came back, I learned that I listened too late...NOLD had intercepted her on the way to the laundry room and taken Lizzy into her apartment. NOLD wanted to talk to Lizzy about Mandy. First, she said that Mandy's mom is really nice, but she's really sick. (This random bit did not connect to the remainder of the content.) Then she talked about how Mandy is trying to "change things." She has been propping open the back door because she doesn't like the locks on the outer doors. NOLD is going to call the landlord tomorrow because she wants the locks to stay on the doors. NOLD also complained that Mandy opened the laundry room window. She told Mandy that she had better close it because there is a reason why it is nailed shut...because people were stealing electricity from it when it was open.

NOLD said that she did not call the landlord (yet) because she keeps to her own business (WHAT A JOKE!). She knew it couldn't be "the college girls upstairs" (us) because we keep to ourselves. She knew it couldn't be Amy because Amy's crazy (we agree). Thus, she does not  know who it could be. What a mystery!

NOLD also wanted Lizzy to know that she is having surgery for cancer on the 9th and been going to the doctor frequently. As Lizzy was leaving, NOLD remarked that she liked the smell of the dryer sheets. Lizzy said they are just Bounce. NOLD said she will have to get some.

Our plan when Lizzy goes to get the laundry is for me to text her every 1 minute, so she will always have an excuse to leave any possible conversation.

Drama Mommas

Setting: Our apartment.
Time: About 20 minutes ago.
Who: Originally just Lizzy and I. Then Crackhead Gina came on the scene.

Lizzy made an awesome dinner, and we were loving it when there was a knock on the door. It was Crackhead Gina who apparently stopped by to share her feelings with Lizzy. She appeared to be very high on something. She could barely stand and had trouble stringing words together to make sentences. Below is what she shared, as best Lizzy can remember it. I have retained as much of the original wording as possible. It is essentially a free association about her conflict with NOLD. Here's the monologue she provided:

NOLD told New Bad Mom to stay away from Gina because Gina does and sells drugs, which Gina denies. Gina found out because she was sitting on the steps trying to get it together, and New Bad Mom told her about it. Gina doesn't understand why NOLD doesn't stay out of her business. NOLD always sticks her head out when she hears Gina, and her face is all twisted up. NOLD also opens the front door and pretends to be the mailman several times per day to tease Gina. Then NOLD and Tamera (Dog Lady) call each other and laugh. They also stole her Publisher's Clearinghouse, and she was the winner. She wants her stamps back now because she was sending entries for one and a half years. She's going to be moving soon, within the next month or two. She was trying to wait to get a car, but now she can't wait. It's too much for Gina to ride the bus. She has a car service, and it costs her $86 even though she doesn't go that far. She doesn't understand why NOLD is playing these kid games, making fun of her and laughing. NOLD also goes into her house and moves her stuff because she has a key from the previous owner. She wants the landlord to change the locks and they won't do it. She heard the little girls of New Bad Mom screaming and hollering today, and she went right up and gave them some balloons, so they could stop hollering. We also need to be careful of NOLD. Gina wants to go ahead and let them have it because she's moving.

Here's as close to the truth as we know:

NOLD probably did warn New Bad Mom about Gina because Gina is definitely on drugs. If she's selling, she's not very good at it because she doesn't have any money. NOLD does appear to relish in her conflict with Gina, but we seriously doubt that she pretends to be the mailman or steals any mail from Gina. We further doubt that NOLD even has a key to Gina's apartment. Lizzy reminded me that Gina also accused the maintenance man of entering her apartment and ejaculating on her bed during an earlier incident. We also doubt that Gina will be moving anytime soon. We are afraid of any world where she is behind the wheel of a car. The little girls were extremely loud today, and I support giving them balloons if that will shut them up. Lizzy also said that she believes NOLD will probably share her side of the story soon. That just more reason for me to hide.

Delivery Diversion

Now we all have to take special measures to avoid having Amy steal any additional packages.





This is our note. (I cut off our names at the end.) We have our packages sent to a friends' house to avoid problems.



This note was located on the outer front door by "Dog Woman." She wanted her package delivered to NOLD. Normal Guy and Normal Girl apparently have their packages sent to NOLD's apartment too. NOLD also offered to accept our packages, but we do not want more involvement with her.

I hope to someday live in a location where our packages can be delivered without fear.

Floor Plan

I decided to treat all of you to a VERY ROUGH floor plan of this apartment building, just to provide more context for various posts. The proportions are definitely off, but the placement of various areas is correct.

 

Crazy Amy: shoe stealing, unmedicated schizophrenic, no job, grown kids

Crackhead Gina: crazy, emotional, generous, no job, grown kids

Dog Woman: stays out of drama, goes to work in the morning and returns later in the day

NOLD & Husband: Nosy Old Lady Downstairs is overly involved in everything, husband is rarely sighted

Bad Mom & Ryan/Rylin: moved out...I don't know if anyone else is in the apartment, but the place is quieter and less smelly since they left

Normal Girl and Normal Guy: their names tell you everything, they have jobs and/or go to school and stay out of everything

New Girl: I've only seen her once

Lizzy could provide many anecdotes about most of the people.

"Has anybody gone to jail yet?"

So today I was sitting on the bus at the downtown transfer waiting to go the rest of the way home when two 20-ish year old women got on the bus. They appeared trashy and high and very happy. They were loud and rambunctious. They settled down a little bit until one of them called someone. She was a very loud phone talker. One of the first things she said was "Is the police still there?" (Of course she pronounced it as poe'-lease.) She then asked, "Has anybody gone to jail yet?" It was unclear from her reaction if the police were still there or if anyone had been arrested. "She did announce that they would be there in "2.5," although that time measurement is unclear to me, as the entire route takes less than 2.5 hours, and I was on the bus for about 10 more minutes, and they were still one. They were on the bus the rest of the time I was on it, and they appeared happy and without a care in the world. I can't imagine being that happy if I was on the way to a house where the police were possibly arresting someone, but I wouldn't be 20, trashy, or high either.

Something to Say to Everyone

As my faithful readers know, I often observe unusual/uncomfortable/illegal activities during my evening walks. I often take similar routes because there are a couple of places that I like to stop and drink water. This means that I often see the same people around.

There is one house near a water-bearing park where I once before saw a man and woman on the porch. The woman was apparently having some relational difficulties, which could be attributed solely to the other involved parties. (Read: None of this was her fault.) I had no interactions with them.

Today I was on the other side of the road walking parallel to where one woman and two men were sitting on this porch. I heard them shouting as I approached. They were trying to stop a passing car (by shouting from the porch) because they believed that the ladder on top of that car belonged to them. They seemed briefly really worked up about it, but this emotion was not sustained.

As I got close to them (but on the other side of the road), one guy shouted to me, "Is that tattoo on your leg real?" It was the same tattoo that the man in the previous post commented on. I debated but decided that responding briefly was the best response. I just shouted, "Yeah." He shouted, "Seriously?" I shouted, "Yeah," and he shouted, "Damn." I was still walking, and I turned the first available corner to get away from them.

So many questions arose for this guy:
1. Did I do anything that sent the message that I wanted to talk to you? I was on the other side of the street, did not look in your direction, and walked continually.
2. If it was clear I wasn't interested in talking to you, why did you talk to me?
3. Why did you need to know if my tattoo was real?
4. Why did you doubt me after I said it was real?
5. Just why?

"You sure are pretty cute."

Tonight I was on my walk, and I was only a few blocks from home. I saw some cops with their lights on and realized that they were setting up a "sobriety chekpoint." I found this odd because it is Thursday, we are far from the university, and that area is not known for having bars or anything. A similar checkpoint near the college bars would make a lot more sense.

I was almost home when I turned into an alley. A 50-ish year old man on a moped (not uncommon in GL) was approaching the same area. I began to feel very special when he removed his ear buds. He asked me what was going on and gestured toward the police lights. I told him that was a sobriety checkpoint. He said, "That sucks." I thought, Only if you are planning on driving drunk down that particular block. He was checking out the tattoo on my leg and commented that he liked it. I told him to have a good night and started to walk away. I heard him say something, but I didn't catch it. I asked him to repeat himself, and he said, "You sure are pretty cute." And, that marked the end of our conversation.

I can't remember the last time a dude hit on me, and this was a much older dude on a moped who thinks that sobriety checkpoints suck. Talk about a self-esteem boost!