Two years ago, there was a crazy fire in the house across the street from me. I stopped by the apartment in the middle of the afternoon to find my entire street blocked off by policemen, and I was all “BUT I LIVE HERE” and proudly skipped past the yellow tape like the very important individual I am. I spent a solid half hour watching the house burn, thinking how glad I was that I ran home for a diet coke. The kids that lived there were the type to go out in the street at 2AM in a snowstorm and toss around the ol’ pigskin, so I assumed that someone left a candle lit or a joint burning or something like that. But apparently it was an electrical fire, so I’m just a mean and horrible person.

Anyway, the house was screwed six ways to sunday, so they moved out. It was really an eyesore for the better part of several months, with burned-up books and a papasan chair and a couple of toasty mattresses strewn across the lawn, and then one day there was a lot of noise and the house was gone. Hey!

Then the lot sat empty for like, a year. Empty, that is, until construction workers showed up in the dead of winter and started putting in a foundation! Empty until 7AM two days ago when five 18-wheelers clogged up our entire street with house parts! The new, grotesquely large, building went up over a 14-hour period, and when Katsumi and I sat down to our dinner of pizza and salad on Wednesday night there was still a massive generator truck parked outside our house making quite a bit of racket.

Katsumi is generally a delicate, sensitive soul, but sometimes he just up and loses his shit. For at least half an hour I listened to him berate the construction guys, the contractor, the universe, whatever, until finally I was like “HEY! You know what? LAY OFF.” and went on to explain how this wasn’t so bad, and that after awhile it just fades into the background. Like the renovation guys that have been whacking away at the house next to my office since just about the beginning of time. It’s been going on so long, I don’t even notice the rotating crop of very loud men coming and going six feet from my window.

I came into work today, and the fuckers were running the band saw. again. I’m beginning to think i was too tolerant too soon. I’m also wondering how long it will be before my head explodes.