I live in Los Angeles, and everyone is sort of fenced off from each other. I have lived in apartments for the majority of my time here, and most people sort of ignore everyone else here.

Living next to me is Mr X.; Mr X. has a peculiar friend.

The friend is prolly 60 or so. Everyday, and pretty much all day, the friend is standing in front of the door, knocking, speaking through it, or just standing off to the side like he is waiting for the Mr X. to come home. And nine times out of ten, this guy has food waiting for him.

I've never spoken to the friend, even though he may say "hi" to me, I just ignore him. One day, I left a bag of grocieries in the front door, because I had to run downstairs and get a key because I locked myself out (happens like once every 2 weeks or something). I am coming up the stairs, and unlocking my door, when the friend -- who has been standing their the whole time knocking on Mr X.'s door -- says to me, "You shouldn't be leaving trash outside your door. They will try to evict you for that."

I only looked at him and almost told him to mind his own ****ing business, but I apparently was having a good day.

There is one problem: Mr X is very quiet, I never heard him through the walls, and to be honest, I never seen the guy.

Only time I ever met my neighbors in L.A. was when we'd congregate outside after an earthquake.

... I don't think Mr X exists.

I like all my neighbors a lot, but I live in a bland suburban subdivision.

I had 2 or 3 previous wars over dog barking, and I went to the mat, figuratively. Man, I was at my wit's end. I was screaming at people face to face, etc. I wasn't mad at the dogs, but the idea that these people weren't considerate enough to control their outside dogs' barking drove me straight up the crazy wall.

I'm so glad they moved. I have nothing but great neighbors now, it's a blessing.

I live in L.A. I hate neighbors. And that goes for their little dog too.

My neighbors on my left have a dirt track in their backyard where their sons ride dirt bikes/ATVs. The neighbors on my right are their son plus his wife and kids (I forget how many). There's regularly drama going on with them and they may be separated. In fact, they may not even be living there anymore, I don't really keep up with it.

I have no idea how many people live in the house across from me. I wouldn't be surprised with anything from 1-10. I'm pretty sure the house belongs to an older gentleman, but there's always people coming and going with any number of cars and trucks out front. They own a pig, a goat, one or more cats, three or more dogs, and a handful of chickens, most of which have been in my yard at some point.

FWIW I actually like all my neighbors.

I hate other people's dogs worse than I hate their kids.

One of the last places I lived in had a kid driving one of those ultra mini motorbikes up and down the driveway for hours and hours a day. They're loud as hell; it's really disruptive. Man I wanted to kill the parents and drop them in barrels of acid.

I've had so many disruptive neighbors of every variety. People are savages.

Sometimes it seems that there is no such thing as being a good neighbor anymore. Not in the traditional sense, anyway. Today being a good neighbor consists in not complaining when your neighbors make an assload of noise.

Blarg, a 3-bedroom house next door to me is for sale, for several months. They don't keep up their wooden fence, but they've spent big money on the front yard and improvements.

Just keep the wild parties you're famous for to a minimum.

All I want is a cool dark place to suck my thumb. Do you maybe have a big trunk with air holes?

The last place I lived in San Diego was in the corner of the 3rd floor. Within 2 months everyone in my corner died, and a person moved in and died 2 weeks later. If I was feeling more social, I would likely know the EMTs by name. The front desk guy asked if I would like another room, cause apparently Death moved in and I was next.

I live in an apartment building. Below me is a mentally disturbed man (theory, not confirmed) that chain smokes. He's been living here for a while and the landlords said he's grandfathered in, so there's nothing I can do about it. I don't smoke, my clothes all reek of smoke.

The man will be up at all hours of the night swearing very loudly (possibly on a phone, cause there's never any response) to someone (possibly daughter) about how "**** that ******, i cannot believe you sucked a ****ing ******s dick" on and on and on and about the most odd things.

The other week my friend dropped his key in the building, and neighbor left a sign on the door saying he had found it. Friend met the dude and said smoke poured out of his apartment when he opened the door.

I am moving in a month, good riddance.

The neighbors have a Buick you can live in, but I'll have to slash their throats first. Gimme a couple of days.

We just moved out of a five-plex (five apartments in one building) where we lived for just over two years. We knew all of our neighbors. The youngest one was 25 and the oldest one was 34 or so (I'm 28 and my wife is 25). We were friends with all but one of them (who we were still friendly with) and had backyard barbecue parties together on a semi-regular basis. About a year ago, my cameraman, who is also one of my best friends, moved into the building next door with his wife. Our apartments were on the same level and we could literally talk to each other through our open windows. Late night Wii sessions were a regular occurrence and our wives started playing tennis together. There was always someone cool to socialize with and/or borrow tools/eggs/milk etc from. It was a fantastic living situation -- probably the best we'll have for a long time.

Sorry it's not a horror story...this thread makes me nostalgic.

The couple who live above me weigh in at a good 700 pounds between them. Thankfully, they don't move around too much. But when they do . . .

When I'm back home, I know (and like) all of my neighbors...I live in a circle and all of us know each other/have block parties every now and again/etc.

When I was at school, I didn't really know any of my neighbors in the apartments. I kindve regret not going out there and meeting some people, considering it was a mostly college-aged population. Oh well...

Thoreau, after talking about how much it cost to build his cabin, says someone could do with even less.


Board's: $8.03 1/2, mostly shanty boards
Refuse shingles for roof and sides: $4.00
Laths: $1.25
Two second-hand windows with glass: $2.43
One thousand old brick: $4.00
Two casts of lime: $2.40. That was high.
Hair: $0.31. More than I needed
Mantle-tree iron: $0.15
Nails: $3.90
Hinges and screws: $0.14
Latch: $0.10
Chalk: $0.01
Transportation: $1.40. I carried a good part on my back.

In all: $28.12 1/2
These are all the material excepting the timber, stones and sand, which I claimed by squatter's right.

And then he complained that he still couldn't get far enough away from his neighbors.

I moved in to a new home last Saturday but am yet to meet the neighbors. We plan on doing this this weekend.

But at my old apartment I would get to hear my neighbors having sex 3-4 times a week, which was nice. The bedrooms were back-to-back and the way the rooms were laid out meant the beds would be up against the wall.

I only saw them a couple times, she wore Muslim garb and was very demure. Her husband was also Muslim-looking. lol. She would howl in the bedroom.

Yeah it sounds to me like you actually are mr x or some weird twist like that.

Once I lived in an apartment complex where there were 4 apartments to a building. One was empty, the other two had college age kids like us and a couple a little older. Being such an hermit, im surprised I ever caught anyones name, let alone became friendly and **** with them. I was drinking a lot at the time, that probably accounted for my friendliness. Having neighbors that I knew and everything, people that would say hi from their balcony as i came home was an incredible experience.

It would suck to have a really irritating neighbor. Always borrowing stuff and asking dumb questions and ****ing your wife.

Also John Cole were I in your situation I would be terrified. Id know it was ok, that the building was sturdy, but it would cross my mind all the time. Is this the last time I ever sit on my couch because a whale comes crashing down on me and kills me? Will the whale just fall on my legs paralyzing me? If im paralyzed will it be the kind where you can still get boners? How does that work anyway? They dont even have elevators at my apt so Id have to move. Idk, you may be less neurotic than me. They should put fat people on the bottom floor anyway. Im surprised they didnt request the bottom. Stairs are tough when your 350 lbs or w/e.

No. I am not Mr X. If I was I probably wouldn't exist either. I would probably think I went completely off the rocker and killed myself from beating my head against the toilet trying to get the voices out, all while attempting to flush them away. If Mr X does exist, he is very good at ignoring his friend, and is oddly nice because at some point a logical person would have to get a restraining order.

prohornblower: A+ !

There are times I do believe he'll come dropping through the ceiling. He's already broken his shower, which leaked through into my condo. How? I have no idea, but I do know he doesn't need to run around in the shower to get wet.

All these years and I have never once pictured Thoreau's cabin as being made of brick.

We live on 5 acres surronded by large lots. On one side the coke addict with the excavator and 100 ft fires moved out and was replaced by the male hair stylist from the city and his wife with health issues. Sounded better

Then they got the dogs.....then chickens.....then sheep.....then cows.. Cows are noisy and smell.

Then one day...a shot rings out. My GF looks out to see a cow down and a guy with a gun walking up to #2....bang. ..... Then they hang them from a backhoe in the backyard and skin and clean.

On the other side we have the guy with the teenage son that wants to be a x-games motorcycle jumping guy. Rev the motor. Wide open...engine screams for 20 seconds......hits the ramp....7 seconds of quiet as he does the jump.we see him at the top over 50 ft trees...bang as he lands...rev.....repeat..repeat. for a hour. This has improved. The last accident(of many) was soo bad he missed 4 months of school. Now the ram just rusts.

The neighbours behind are just bears, deer and 100 ft trees. Much quieter.

What if Mr X. is the man standing outside all day?

My neighbors are all kind of ****ty in their own ways. On my left is a family of 5 who don't do a good-enough job keeping feral animals out of their garbage and it usually ends up in my yard.

On the right there is another family of 5. The husband is in the militia. The kids pee in my garden and throw rotten apples at my garage.

Across the street 2 houses down there is a man who I think used to beat his wife. He's also kind of crazy. When his wife is gone I can hear him yelling at himself. In the house next to him is a viet-nam vet who spent time in a mental institution in Virginia for burning down a church.

Directly across the street from my home is a funeral home. It's kind of quiet over there.

For the most part, we all kind of get along, although the militia guy used to keep hound dogs and chickens in his back yard. Fwiw, I live within city limits where free-range chickens are not allowed.

Here is a picture of militia-guy using his light personnel carrier to remove some shrubs from in front if his house.

That's some action, hilarious.