Damn You, Jiminy Cricket!

Last month I blogged about paying a visit to my perpetually complaining neighbor, Ms. Fossil. I mentioned various elements of our conversation, but neglected to go into detail about 2 particular elements. This is one of them. I'm still working on blogging about the other one.

So, while we were talking I bitched about how, since my house is at the end of a street, where there's a stop sign, that at night time, it's really annoying when people deliberately sit there and shine their lights directly in my windows (den/computer room). I know what you're thinking "Um, it's a stop sign, they HAVE to sit there. Duh." This is true. HOWEVER, there is one car in particular (I assume it's the same person, I can't be for sure) who deliberately sits there and shines their lights into my windows. It may sound paranoid, but I know it's deliberate. It's a long story, but trust me, it's deliberate.

So, before I can finish bitching about it, she interrupts me and says "You know what?" And I, thinking she's going to tell me something about the people who sit at the stop sign, so I bite and say "What?" Instead she tells me: "You know when you leave at 3 o'clock in the morning? Whenever you do that, the headlights from your car wake me up every time." My response: "Really? Hmm." Then I proceeded to finish telling her what I was talking about. You may think this sounds mean-spirited, but allow me to explain my side of the story.

First off, yes, I do occasionally leave the house at all hours of the day and/or night. I am a night owl and therefore I am often awake and doing things when most people are asleep. This means, checking my P.O. box, grocery shopping, mailing things, going to get something to eat, etc. I prefer to do my grocery shopping at night, since the store is not so crowded and I don't have to be potentially "datelicious."

Initially, for a while, I tried to watch when I left the house. I even tried to back out of the driveway with my headlights off. However, since my driveway backs directly onto a busy street, this proved to be way too dangerous and also way too dark. However, when I came home, I did turn off my headlights before I pulled into the driveway. My point is I made an effort.

Here's the crux: Ms. Fossil's bedroom windows have both curtains and mini blinds. Both of which she never chooses to close. I could kick myself for not having the forethought to ask her if she'd tried closing her blinds, when she initially mentioned that this was all a big problem. So, my standpoint is if my headlights are so terribly disruptive to her, why not reach out that frail lil' arm and let down/close the mini blinds/curtains? I've been living here for going on 8 years now and this is the first I've heard of it. Personally, I think she thrives on finding things to complain about (i.e. my tree branches, my leaves, etc.) I know it's uncharacteristic of me, but it's kinda bothering me as to whether or not I'm being unreasonable. Sometimes I can't tell. Let me know what you think.