[rant] i wish i were in a hotel right now

1.03.2009 | I have a loud neighbor. He talks loud, he walks loud, he slams his door loud, he plays his music loud. It's the music, with its endlessly thudding bass, that pushes me over the edge. We share two walls, between our kitchens and between my entry, which is where I've set up my home office, and his living room. I've written him two letters, I've pounded on his door, I even called the police once. (And they came. It was six in the morning.) This time, I called the front desk. Carolyn, my friend and neighbor, said she'd call and ask him to lower the music, if he had a proper phone line. But he's only got a cell phone, and he didn't give the number to the front desk. Get this: He claims he can't turn down the bass, that there's no button for that. What? This guy should be charming. He looks like Sean Penn. And he works on the Iraq desk at the State Department. (Part of me wonders how he passed the Foreign Service exam.) But he is loud. And unresponsive. Anyway, right now, I wish I were in a hotel, say, the Ritz-Carleton Georgetown. I bet it's lovely. And not loud.

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