War Victory (...i think)

My parents came up this past weekend to visit and for a late birthday celebration. It was good to see them and do some Seattle exploring. We rode the bus downtown and went on the Underground Tour. It was very interesting and was probably the first history lesson I retained. We also walked around Lake Washington a bit at Magnuson Park. I can't wait until summer here, being outside will be so much more fun. Given-- it is eight thousand times more fun here than it was in Chicago, but it's still chilly and rainy.
Preparing for my parents arrival was something else. I have been quite the worker-bee. I worked the 21st, 22nd, and 23rd, then had the 24th off, then worked the 25th, 26th, and 27th. My parents arrived late on the 29th. My '6 out of 7 days' stretch was all on the night shift, so after working the night of the 27th, the 28th was absolutely shot. The 28th, I had to force myself out of bed at 5pm to play in a soccer game that evening. It was a good game, we won. Afterward the team I played with decided to go to a bar to celebrate/socialize. I was SO excited-- finally some socialization outside of work! I had carpooled to the game with a girl I went to college with and her friend. We got to the bar and they obviously asked to see our ID's. I handed mine to the lady and prayed the expiration date (printed in red right under my picture) wouldn't be an issue. Unfortunately it wasn't a stupid woman checking ID's, so I was asked to leave. I hate to be a kill-joy, so I insisted my carpoolers stay and enjoy while I sat in the car. I called my mom to figure out their schedule in coming up here the next day, and texted about everyone in my contacts list (not REALLY, dad, calm down). A good two and a half to three hours later my carpool compadres came back and I finally got home around 10:15pm-- freezing (never thought to turn the heat on in the car...) and starving.
Over the previous seven days, my apartment turned pretty ugly. Cinnamon still lined the baseboards, dishes consumed the sink and surrounding counter space, the garbage was smelling quite rank, vacuuming was needed... everywhere, the bathroom was an issue of its own... etc. Lucky for me, I had slept the whole day and purely out of habit had taken my stimulants when I woke up that afternoon. So, I was AWAKE. I first tackled the dishes because they were grossing me out. They took a good hour and a half and then after wiping down the counters I moved to the floors. Cinnamon, while a great ant repellent, is a beyotch to clean up. My plan was to sweep then dust bust what I couldn't reach with the broom. First of all, as I was assessing the situation I saw THREE ANTS trying to break through the cinnamon! Oh, hell no! I thought. I needed to RAID the place stat. I swept that cinnamon up so fast! When you sweep cinnamon across a white-ish linoleum it leaves a brown smear. It's really gross. I put a LOT of cinnamon on the floor so, even after it was swept it looked pretty icky. After swiffer sweeper-ing like crazy and getting on my hands and knees to get some spots with a Clorox wipe... I got the most of it up. (I also felt like a meth addict at this point-- It was 3am by now and here I am crawling around my kitchen trying to make the floor SHINE!) Once the cinnamon was gone I busted out the RAID and doused the baseboards. I was/am troubled by the sound it makes when it hits the surface... it sizzles for like three seconds. It's a good thing these floors are in sad shape to begin with because I'm pretty sure the RAID damaged them. Whoops. All this is to say-- at the risk of sounding overly confident and looking like a fool later-- I think I won the war. YES. I cleaned some other things half heartedly and finally surrendered at 6am and went to sleep.
I woke up at noon and decided to go get my drivers license figured out. The embarrassment of being banished to the car the night before PLUS the anticipation of a lecture from my law abiding father motivated me to find the documents that I didn't have during my last attempt and give it another go. It took awhile (the DMV is apparently the place to be at 3pm on a weekday afternoon!), but I got it and got home in time to finish cleaning before the 'rents arrived. Phew. Not long after they got here, my downstairs nemesis started his antics and I flipped out. It was almost midnight when he STARTED his noise. So, I impatiently waited for him to realize the error of his ways and turn it down himself. When he failed to do that, I did what any mature young woman would do. I sent my dad down. They exchanged words, and from my understanding their interaction went very differntly than the times I have gone down there. But-- he turned it down and my dad was the hero. He also confirmed my suspicions that they are "stoned out of their minds!" Oh Reefer, just leave me alone. About an hour after my parents left on Sunday he was back to intolerable volumes. A trinket fell off of the bookselves from the vibrations. I emailed the apartment manager who affirmed my complaint and said he'd post something about the noise rule on the offedners' door. Lets see if it does any good. I looked for said noise rule in my lease and this is what I found: "Tenant, faimly, and guest shall have due regard for the peace and enjoyment of other tenants in the Building. The level of noise within any unit whether it originates from television, stereo, conversation, or any other source must be such that it cannot be heard in any adjoining unit." Evict the clowns.
I'm now enjoying significant time off! I don't have to work until Friday night. It will be another long stretch, but I'm grateful for the time I have now to catch my breath.