
Too many short and somewhat nasty posts… Trust me, the Craptastic SapMaster is in here somewhere and looking for his moment to break free, come back and smother you all with warm sticky, gooey happy hugs!. In the meantime…
My tolerance for people with no tolerance is diminishing daily. What happened to the law of ‘tight spaces’ that used to apply to us folk living in extremely dense places? – Even after all the scowling, bitching, fighting and complaining, after letting off the steam of the day, most civilized people usually retreated to their respective corners, got on with their own lives and returned to the detant of live and let live… all little bending here, a little bending there.
I’ve been having a bit of a problem with my neighbor here at the studio… over my smoking. As I’ve said in other posts; I’ve capitulated on the public space folks… I’ve bent! I do not smoke on Subway platforms, inside or out, in foyers of office and apartment building, in movie theaters, coffee shops, bars or restaurants… Think about it, you’ve left me outdoors, or in my apartment. NO think about IT. I DO NOT SMOKE ANYWHERE I COULD POSSIBLY BE SHARING THE SAME PHYSICAL INDOOR SPACE WITH YOU! – And, I’m fine with that. Honestly, yes I am.
Now I am being asked NOT to smoke in my studio. A place YOU will never be without my explicit invite… my personal space… Be, just a little empathetic here. Can you NOT see where I might see this leading? Can you not see that this next and near final step is one more step towards YOU coming into my apartment, wrenching open the bathroom door and yanking that deeply comforting smoke I smoke while sitting on MY bowl while taking a slow luxurious dump, one of life greatest little pleasures; a pleasure I so deeply enjoy mixing with the pleasure of having a smoke. THIS IS WHERE IT IS HEADING! Isn’t it?
I’ve pretty much been given every signal that when you finally DO enter my bathroom; I’ll have been put in the exact same position I am in now. I have absolutely NO right to tell my studio neighbor to get the hell outta my studio. He has every right under the law to dictate to me what I can and cannot do in this space. No arguments, bitching… NO BENDING. In the world of thousands of small annoyances, the slightest wiff of trouble coming from MY space allows him to come over AND tell me to stop. I tried smoking with my head out the window… NO compromise, NONE, nadda… He is entirely within his right…
Exhale… Just for a little context here folks, this studio sits at the vortex of a major transportation junction between at least five major intercity thoroughfares, one of the nations busiest urban highway and two of its busiest bridges. In any given hour at least 10,000 cars and trucks slowly idle by our window… Yet my few errant puffs…
I have never been closer to being a prick, ever in my life. Since he likes to keep his door open, I will whistle as loudly and as out of tune, every time Iim in the hallway… I now slam my door; and I now play music constantly at a volume that will not alarm my landlord, but at a level which I know he can hear. Instead of moving away from the door outside, I now smoke right in the doorway but JUST off the property; waiting for those moments he comes in or out; not only so I can smile and say, look; “I’m smoking outside”, but also, so that I can exhale directly into his smarmy little “I’m carrying all the cards” face.
Next week, even though I love dogs; I am going to start passing around a petition to ask the landlord to enforce regulations that keep dogs out of the workplace… I might even complain about the children playing in the hallways. I am going to go on a ZERO TOLERANCE rampage! Every last little thing that bugs me; IS going to get mention; and action. STOP standing in the SUBWAY DOOR! – Excuse me your iPod headphone are leaking sound; Eh hem, I’ve called the police as you’ve been idling here at the curb for more that 45 seconds. Hey waiter can you please tell that lady to either shut her crying kid up; or get out… stop smacking your gum and slurping your luke-warm coffee. Please make up your mind before you get to the front of the line at the counter at MacDonalds!
OK
…ah, just blowing of steam… back to my corner of the world. Live and let live. Oh, I’ll bend, AGAIN. Just one favor, when you do come to break down my bathroom door; knock politely, tell me you’d like to speak with me when I’m done… We’ll work something out.




