The Partyers Are Gone, I Can Sleep!

My rather idyllic lifestyle got abruptly disrupted this past Thursday when four 20-something people connected to my friend/host arrived for Spring Break. They were all very nice but were also clearly on a mission to P-A-R-T-Y while they were here!

Their evenings generally started around 11pm at night and ended about 5am in the morning. Quite a bit different from my operating hours. :-) So when I woke up at my usual 8/8:30am and stroll into the living room, instead of turning on the morning TV news instead I'd find two of the guys lying on the pull-out couch. But I didn't see why I should completely disrupt my life to accommodate their party lifestyle so I continued on with making my morning coffee. The first morning I was out of ground coffee and had to grind some more beans. Out of consideration for them, I took the coffee and grinder into my bedroom. Since the little grinder is louder than a sneezing elephant I wrapped it inside of a pillow.

Can't quite say the same consideration was shown to me. Some mornings I gained an informal alarm in the form of loud voices sitting outside on the patio and reminiscing on the great fun they had the night before. On their last night, the young woman in the group decided it was crucial for her to do her laundry, knowing fully well that the washer & dryer were just on the other side of a thin door to my bedroom. With three of them being just 21 years old, perhaps they thought that people start to dramatically lose their hearing once they hit 35!!! "Ahhh, it won't bother Robert. He's old so must have removed his false teeth, toupe and hearing aid. Don't worry, he won't be able to hear us."

The funniest thing of all had to be the 2nd morning they were here. I walked out to make my coffee and ... there was a fifth!!! I had no idea who the hell he was but later found out he was another buddy of theirs. I started to wonder if the next day #6, #7, & #8 would be sleeping in the kitchen! Wouldn't have stopped me from making my coffee though!

All in all, they were good people, but just kids, many of them recently gaining the privilege to drink alcohol. I distinctly remember what it was like to be that age. Though I was only rarely a party-to-all-hours kind-of-guy, I undoubtedly pissed off some past hosts of mine too. And ultimately it's not even my own place so I should feel grateful to have a place to stay in the first place!

But I cannot deny that it feels great to have an apartment free of guests this morning. The sky and ocean looks bluer, the sun seems brighter, . . . . :-)