Apartment life

Living in an apartment complex has been a [good] adjustment, and you get used to noticing the comings and goings of your neighbors. There's the guy across the way with skulls in the rear window of his car. There's the neighbor two doors down who sits outside to smoke and play guitar. There's the cat lady (every apartment complex has to have one of those). There's the row of Korean families at the other end that eat their meals together. There's the lady that likes to dig through the trash and claim bent bad-mitten rackets, used candles, empty boxes, and broken lampshades for her own. There's the old man whose favorite past time is tinkering under the hood of his truck. And every day after school you can't miss the twelve-year-old girl with curly hair and braces who wobblingly but bravely rollerblades, regardless of the weather. The list goes on and on.

Around here there are fewer secrets. People know if you're having a party, if you're out of town, if you get new furniture, if parents are visiting, if you have cable installed, if you were out late, if you go on a walk, how often you deposit your trash (and what kind of trash you normally drop off).

I'd be curious to know how our neighbors identify us. Maybe we're the couple with the cute baby. Maybe we're the couple without any blinds (we took the blinds off our windows... hate blinds). Maybe it's something good, like - that family who jumped my car. Maybe it's something not so good, like - that couple with the wife who always seems to be in too much of a hurry to stop and chat.

How do you think your neighbors identify you?