My downstairs neighbor moved out in December.
Yesterday someone finally moved in downstairs, so I have go back to feeling guilty everytime I walk around in my creaky apartment.
Seriously – the creakiness of this apartment is louder than a vuvuzela. I’m sure it would drive me crazy if I lived below me.
But I can’t very well not walk around so…
Anyway – about the neighbor. It’s a man, about my age I think. Seems super friendly. Which, because I’m antisocial, makes me nervous. I don’t actually want to interact heavily with my neighbors. Saying hello once a month because we meet in the hall or whatever is the extent of how much I want to chat.
But he strikes me as an extravert who will want to get to know the neighbors. I could be wrong. Today was his first day. You always want to seem friendly when you meet people.
He has a pot of flowering plants already on the balcony – which seems like a very positive note.
I don’t think he is deaf, which was my only real hope for the new neighbor. Hopefully he won’t be driven to distraction by the cats and I walking around. I’’m up 3-5x a night. So. sigh.
I really don’t think deafness was too much to ask for. I didn’t want total deafness, just someone with hearing aids, who would be unlikely to notice me or the cats stomping around. Of course that would mean loud TV, so maybe it’s just as well.
I’ll just deal with the ongoing guilt/shame of living in my apartment and bothering someone with my very existence. Welcome to the crazy corner of my mental state.
It's a Thought 
I don’t think you should feel guilty. Unless you do square dances it’s normal living and certainly not your fault if there isn’t enough sound proofing. Do you know that it’s noisy when you walk? I doubt the cats make that much noise either. Creaks are a lot different from thumping music sounds.
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I hope you are right. I kind of wish I knew what it sounds like down there when I walk. But I might just cringe in mortification if I knew.
And the cats have no shame. They will run like a herd of elephants at 5am because I guess that’s the best time to play a good game of chase.
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5 a.m.? You’re lucky we have a cat train that goes through around 3.
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uugggh. I wish they would listen to reason when we discuss these issues with them.
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I can send them through your neighborhood next time the train comes.
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I had a def neighbor in the apartment next to mine at my last apartment… he was very nice. I had a nice enough neighbor above me (never met him/her). I got used to hearing him/her walking around and clanking dishes from time to time, but never got used to hearing him/her peeing… gross!
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OH MY GOD! That is too much. He better not be able to hear me pee.
I don’t mind hearing people above me as long as it’s not a party or screaming, but walking and creaking feels like background noise. But I know people get upset about it. And I hate to make someone upset in their home. And it really is a loud creaking.
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You sound like a dream neighbor. Unlike my real neighbors who do “Hotel California” karaoke at 2 AM. I had to go knock on their door and tell them to turn it off.
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I really cannot stand people who act like they live alone in the world and the rest of us are merely mannequins filling in the stage of their life.
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Yeah, that sort of entitled mindset is maddening.
There is another sort, though, that happens in our diverse neighborhood. Some of my neighbors come from more exuberant cultures and places, often with tremendous population density. They are so used to noise, they just don’t notice it. Like, they wouldn’t care if we did karaoke at 2 AM or had a lot of late-night parties. They think that’s normal and we’re so quiet it’s weird. 🙂
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