AND STAY OUTTA THE YARD!
Sep. 15th, 2006 04:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
revenaI have become the crotchety “hey you kids get off my lawn!” guy.
There’s a charter school in the warehouse/party space/bane of my existence thing across the alley from my little house, now. The kids from it often go and sit on my parents’ front wall in the afternoons, presumably after school lets out and before their parents come to collect them. I can often hear them clearly at my house as they get up to rowdy kid shenanigans, but it’s even worse over here at Mom and Dad’s. They sit out there for almost an hour, sometimes, and it can be maddening to try to get anything done during that time. The noise is impressive. Last Friday, I thought about telling them to go away, but didn’t. Today, one or more of them amused her/himself by shouting obscenities for several minutes without cease. It was, not surprisingly, especially difficult to concentrate on writing through that.
So I stepped out on the porch, barefoot and in old jeans and a t-shirt, hair in a messy knot at the back of my head, glasses no doubt askew, and shouted:
“Hey! If you kids are going to shout obscenities at the top of your lungs, you need to GET OFF MY WALL!”
They looked at me nervously, and two of them stood up.
“I mean it,” I yelled. “This is private property. I don’t care if you sit there quietly after school, but this NOISE has got to stop!”
They stared.
“GO.”
“It was her,” one of the boys, baby-faced, possibly twelve years old, said, pointing at a girl with long, dark hair. “She was the one yelling. If she –”
“I don’t care WHO was yelling, you all need to GO.” I pointed dramatically, and they started moving.
“You can try again when you have some manners!” I called after their sullenly retreating backs.
Goodness. I can be such a mean grown-up.
Although, I did almost the same thing the other night to a bunch of college students (sitting on the wall right in front of the house, talking loudly, at ELEVEN AT NIGHT. Do people have no sense?), so I think I can conclude that my crotchety tendencies are brought out by obnoxious noise, and not by some strange jealousy for childish exuberance.
There’s a charter school in the warehouse/party space/bane of my existence thing across the alley from my little house, now. The kids from it often go and sit on my parents’ front wall in the afternoons, presumably after school lets out and before their parents come to collect them. I can often hear them clearly at my house as they get up to rowdy kid shenanigans, but it’s even worse over here at Mom and Dad’s. They sit out there for almost an hour, sometimes, and it can be maddening to try to get anything done during that time. The noise is impressive. Last Friday, I thought about telling them to go away, but didn’t. Today, one or more of them amused her/himself by shouting obscenities for several minutes without cease. It was, not surprisingly, especially difficult to concentrate on writing through that.
So I stepped out on the porch, barefoot and in old jeans and a t-shirt, hair in a messy knot at the back of my head, glasses no doubt askew, and shouted:
“Hey! If you kids are going to shout obscenities at the top of your lungs, you need to GET OFF MY WALL!”
They looked at me nervously, and two of them stood up.
“I mean it,” I yelled. “This is private property. I don’t care if you sit there quietly after school, but this NOISE has got to stop!”
They stared.
“GO.”
“It was her,” one of the boys, baby-faced, possibly twelve years old, said, pointing at a girl with long, dark hair. “She was the one yelling. If she –”
“I don’t care WHO was yelling, you all need to GO.” I pointed dramatically, and they started moving.
“You can try again when you have some manners!” I called after their sullenly retreating backs.
Goodness. I can be such a mean grown-up.
Although, I did almost the same thing the other night to a bunch of college students (sitting on the wall right in front of the house, talking loudly, at ELEVEN AT NIGHT. Do people have no sense?), so I think I can conclude that my crotchety tendencies are brought out by obnoxious noise, and not by some strange jealousy for childish exuberance.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-15 11:14 pm (UTC)Nope. Most of them don't. ~grin~ Of course, most of them are far too self-absorbed to realize that there's anyone else in the world besides themselves. And the few that do believe they are not, in fact, the only person in the world seem to believe that they are the center of the universe and that the people they do acknowledge should be awed by their radiance. /cynic
(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-16 08:35 am (UTC)I threatened to get the youth hostel closed down that let their kiddies sit outside drinking till the early hours. And ooh, they got a warden to come round and keep an eye on them.
Sometime's it's really fun to be a lawyer.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-16 08:43 am (UTC)threateningserious conversation with the guy who owns that building. Noisy school kids during the day, even noisier parties and events at night... It's all bad.(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-16 09:51 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-16 08:41 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-16 03:30 am (UTC)I hate people like that.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-16 08:44 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-16 05:31 pm (UTC)Hmmm. I wonder if you could electrify concrete. Or even better, just run a cable with a strong enough emf to fry their cellphones and ipods. YEAH.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-16 04:52 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-16 08:45 am (UTC)...I'll keep your number handy, for next time!
Off the Wall.....
Date: 2006-09-18 12:45 pm (UTC)Good luck!
Re: Off the Wall.....
Date: 2006-09-18 05:37 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-25 12:11 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-25 02:02 am (UTC)I have a student in my martial arts class who, when she was a little younger, used to scream for a minute or two after washing her hands every time she went to use the restroom. I guess she liked the acoustics or something, but the adults who heard her as they passed by the closed door did not, understandably, think it was so fun.