Thursday, August 26, 2010

The Power of the Post-It!

I’m sure I’ve mentioned the neighbors who scream and throw things at each other all hours of the night? The woman has a high pitched, piercing scream, like a banchee in a blender, and someone is always throwing things at our adjoining wall, shattering an entire plate set by now. They fight so fiercely, I seriously felt relieved to learn Korea has a no gun policy, except for the military officers, so phew, at least I wouldn’t wake up to gun shots, that’s how intense they fight.

From time to time I reconnect with the foreign teachers who taught at Sky English before me, and both of them confirmed that this couple had been fighting like this long before I came. Also, on the gossip front, my ‘my-neighbor-is-a-prostitute’ theory was also confirmed. Anyway, I had little hope that anything would change. If the fights got particularly impertinent, I’d ask Mr. Shin to call the landlord and complain, but there’s no way to know if that happened.

And then I bought a pack of post-it notes!

Okay, we’ll back up a bit, I have a new co-worker, and she’s a complete weirdo, like, seriously, don’t-leaver-her-alone-with-children weird, but that’s a whole other blog topic. So, in one of the creepy conversations we’ve had, she told me the owners of the building live on the fourth floor. Well, there’s no going back when armed with that kind of information, right?

On a seemingly unrelated note, I purchased a pack of post-it notes at the local Office Depot, (I should get paid for the plug :) and ever since, I’ve been marveling in the handy-dandyness of them! All of a sudden, I have with me documented proof of my fleeting moments of genius! There are post-its by my bed, ranging from song lyrics to half-formed ideas while falling asleep. For example, why do toe nails grow so much slower than finger nails? That’s a gem if you ask me. I also have some brilliant schemes for wealth, but for now, I’m afraid those ideas are just for my bookie and me.

Anyway, my neighbors had a new battle to fight, now that I am armed and ready to go! For the last 2 weeks I’ve been walking up to the fourth floor, and knock on the owners door. Equipped with the number 206, I made it clear that whenever I couldn’t sleep, they wouldn’t be able to either. (Admittedly, I wasn’t always asleep when they started fighting, and it could be 5:30am and I'd be wide awake, but still, I went up to her.)

And can you believe it? VICTORY!!! As of Monday, the occupants in apartment 206 are officially gone! I woke up to a whole lot of commotion on the stairwell (my apartment is on the lowest floor, and everyone who lives in the building has to walk pass my door, footsteps echoing the whole climb) but there was an inordinate amount of noise. So I popped my head out the door and saw them moving stuff! I was so excited I started involuntarily clapping. They scowled as they carried a heavy looking box away, and no, I didn’t offer to help! Oh, sweet victory!

This made me think of a random experience I once had. The comment I posted on my facebook page was, ‘Once, I was fired on a post-it note. Just sayin...’ because, yep, I have indeed been fired that way. It wasn’t intended for my eyes, but, well, there you go.

This also reminded me of an episode of ‘Sex in the City’ where Carrie is dumped on a post-it note which eventually becomes her get-out-of-jail card. The thing about that show is, I’ve never seen it until I moved here. I know right? Me? Who completely adores anything HBO does, not see an episode of ‘Sex in the City?’ I think I’ve seen maybe 3 different episodes, but I’ve seen them like 5x each, so I never appreciated the scope of the show. It’s funny, I’ve seen more mainstream American television since I moved to Korea than ever before. But well, do I need to say I'm hooked?! It’s clever and witty and makes me laugh and say hmmm all at the same time! Ah American television, thank goodness you’re here!

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