How well do you know your neighbors?

So I was checking my livejournal :shame: and on the front page there was this "writers block" question. It asked "how well do you know your neighbors" and I thought to myself, 'That'd be a good topic for general discussion'. Used the search feature, and didn't find anything, so here goes.

I find it rather wierd that I am less acquainted with a person who lives on the other side of a foot wide brick wall than I was with the people who lived half a mile away down a dusty gravel road. When I still lived in rural Manitoba, I knew everyone who lived within a 10 mile radius. I'm not talking about a "pass them in the store and simply say hi" kind of acquaintance either. This was a "hey, I heard you were sick the other day" and "how's your mother doing after that horse kicked her?" kind of acquaintance. Everyone was friendly, and we all knew each other. Now, I live in a 3 floor apartment building, with about 20 apartments per floor. I know that there is some blonde chick with a kid, and some old lady as well. Also, there is a partially balding man that owns the old rusty truck that is always parked outside. But I'll be damned if know their names. It's not even for lack of trying either. I'll say good morning as I hold the door open for someone or simply pass them in the hall. I'll say "hey, hows it going?" if they happen to say hi as I pass them. But they just avert their eyes and keep going. Everyone in my apartment building seems to be afraid to be friendly. I know some people in the building across the street better. This one guy who always sits at the same bustop as me during the winter on the way to school. Me and him have alot of conversations. His name is Brent.

So how well do you know your neighbors? Do you try to meet your neighbors? Do you hang out with your neighbors much?

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Not too well except for one family a few houses down. It's hard to get to know people in our neighborhood though since the houses are pretty far apart. I know the aforementioned family because I walk our dog in the morning at the same time they do so I see them around a number of times a week. Come to think of it though, I don't think I know what almost all of my neighbors look like.

Here's our neighborhood from Google Earth. This makes it easier to understand why I don't usually see our neighbors since you can see the distance between each house.



How ya doing, buddy?

I only know one of my neighbors. His name is Keith, and he is an exceptionally kind and gentle man, very insightful, and also curious and eager to learn about all things. I wish I knew more people like him in my neighborhood.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I know all my neighbors and out of 9 houses on the blocks around us, I really only get along with one and that's because he's actually a really good friend of mine.

I mean, just on one street I have a nursing graduate who believes that she is somehow better than the rest of the "poor Mexicans" on this street and rather than move out of this neighborhood to improve her "quality of life" she actually built a house too big for the land it's built on; nevermind that she still lives by...

...some crazy cracker who has probably mugged more people in this town than anyone else and his cousin routinely comes out to visit him with a few cases of Budweiser. They then fire off shotguns in the backyard as casually as one would say good morning.

After him we have this really weird guy who's been on "disability leave" for 8 years from his job () so he just spies on everyone from his front lawn and then gossips to his next door neighbor about the happenings of the neighborhood.

His neighbor is actually kind of nice but I once fixed her computer and we agreed on a price of $80 to fix the thing and so far the only thing she's paid me with is a six-pack of Natural Light cans (which I threw in the trash in front of her house), so I don't really like her much anymore.

Next to her is your standard-issue gangster family. This kid is basically a ricer and an L.A. gangster rolled into one. He removed the catalytic converter from his car (a SIX-CYLINDER MUSTANG with a painted black hood in a pseudo-carbon fiber hood gesture and an aerodynamically enhancing wing that just screams, "I have a small dick so this here SPOILER will make up for that") so it always makes the most obnoxiously loud noise when he rolls down the street listening to Snoop Dogg (I'm not even kidding on this; it's all he listens to) on his even MORE obnoxiously loud stereo. His girlfriend used to be hot and were this 8 years ago I totally would have fucked her but now I'm sure she's anatomically similar to Grand Central Station with a hot dog in the center of the lobby. (She's the local hood rat.)

Next to me I have my cousin. He's an asshole. Let's just leave it at that.

Then next to him is really the only neighbor I like. I've known him since I was 10 and he's always been a really good go-to cat for advice and actually a good role model. This guy is honest, a hard worker and goddamn he just loves to invite his neighbors for little birthday or odd parties he throws for his family regularly. I'm the only "neighbor" that actually shows up to said events. :/

So yeah... I know my neighbors. But I really wish I didn't.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

I once knew the neighbors that were around my age. I didn't know them well, but at least I knew them. We'd play sports and video games, and on occasion actually talk about stuff. It was fun. As I grew older and went to a different school, we didn't hang out much anymore. Some of the families moved away.

As it is, I know few to none of my neighbors. Oddly enough, short of the neighbors with an adjoining driveway, we haven't really known many without kids. We were once fairly well acquainted with the people across the street, but the boy over there started getting into various forms of trouble and the granparents started having health trouble.

I don't currently know many of my neighbors. The ones I do know, I don't know well.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Honestly, I only know the couple next door to us and only barely. I know their names, that they're newlyweds, that they have chameleons in their backyard, and their dogs' names. That's it.

I know of several of my neighbors. There's a comatose lady that lives two houses over and a fat guy down the street that thinks he's some badass because he's a prison guard and has a jacked up truck that he blares music from and squeals the tires when he turns the corner. Next to him are some Pentecostals that had a meeting at another neighbor's house a few night ago where they ran around in the front yard yelling gibberish. The man down the street, who is some president of the subdivision or some crap like that, is having an affair with my cousin's friend's sister but he doesn't know she's married.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I know my neighbors on either side of me and a couple on the other side of the street. For anyone else I ask my neighbor in the house right next to me, as she is the neighborhood gossip who knows everybody's business.

Most amazing jew boots

I've lived in 3 different apartment complexes in the past 10 years, and can't say I knew any of my neighbors in more than a casual nod in passing. In college, my complex was mostly populated by gangstas and latinos who didn't speak English, so that precluded me getting to know them. When I moved to DC, I lived in PG County, close to the District line, so I generally just got stared at for being the only young white person in the neighborhood (there were some retirement age white folks who'd lived there from before the area went downhill).

Where I currently live, I've just never made the effort to meet anyone. The folks in my building seem nice enough, but in 2 years, all the apartments have turned over except for the guy next to me. The Todd, as I call him, enjoys toking it up, playing loud music, and having his friends over to play video games or watch sports. By mistake, yesterday I got his summons from District Court for failure to pay rent, so he might be evicted soon.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

This is the first neighborhood I don't really know a bunch of people in.
Thats probably because I avoid actually being home as much as possible, and when I am here I'm inside. Summer is too fucking hot.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I know my neighbors pretty well. Most of them go to the same church that I go to. My neighborhood is rather small anyway, so it's one of those tight knit communities. Everyone knows my parents because my parents own the only restaurant in this small town, and they know my dad because he's always helping people in the community. If there's a family that needs help cleaning their yard or something he's always the first one to help them out.

How ya doing, buddy?

NEIGHBOOOOURS


My neighbours? Woman to the leeeeeft is a call girl. Her place has been broken into three times in the space of six months. She also has cats. Very INTERESTING. People to the right? Shruggin' mah shoulders. Their car burst into flames one night, that's about all I know. They can officially be the Car Fire family. Directly across the road is a pretty nice old couple, I collect their mail and stuff for them whenever they're away. And they seem to be away a lot! Next to them is a bunch of wankers that steal from the donation bins down the road every weekend to go try and sell what they can at the markets. They also own a truck that's been the cause of two accidents because they refuse to park it in their own driveway, instead leaving it parked on the blind corner so people can slam into it for lol.

There's a fairly mental lady a few houses down, she always calls out for Sam (my dog) when she passes our house. If Sam happens to be out the front she'll start yelling some more, fuck I can never understand what she's going on about most of the time. Almost across the road-ish from her is some mystery rubbish dump house that druggies get sent to. I don't think the lawn has been mowed. Since the dawn of time.



This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

oshi--

The place next door to mine is a collection of houses in one block...I forget what you call those things. Naturally I don't know any of them. Although I do like the lady who threw my football over the fence one time; she didn't say a word, so for all I know there could have been an aptly placed trampoline on the other side of the fence. Oh well, regardless, I like whoever/whatever lives at that place. As for the people with the yappy dog...I say GTFO to them. Seriously, it seems like they've had that dog forever. And it's as if they never feed it, and that's the cause of the barking. But they might not feed it because it does bark. What a perplexing circle of yappiness and stupidity. =O

The elderly lady who used to live on the other side of my house went and apparently died a year or so ago. I remember the days when I'd be returning from school and see her waiting outside her house. She'd talk to me for 5 minutes straight, she would; it irked me very much, so occasionally I would hide from tree to tree in order to not speak to her! She was very annoying for an old person. (owait is that redundant...lol jkz)

Ahh, rest in peace, old lady.

How ya doing, buddy?

I live in a colony and knowing my neighbors isn't the issue here. I practically know the entire block I live on. All my friends are here, even my damned boss... Which is a lot more than I can say for my time in the States.

I was speaking idiomatically.

I live in an apartment complex and I don't really know my neighbors very well at all, really.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I live in a rather small apartment building (~34 units), and have lived here since I was born. I don't know everyone, but I do know most of the people here; some of them have actually known me since I was a baby! I don't think anyone here is actually a douchebag or anything; at the very least, I like everyone I know here.

FELIPE NO

A lot of the neighbors I did know as a kid have moved away (and I dont blame them at all).

I live in a three-family apartment building. Our newest landlord lives downstairs right now, he's actually a really cool guy. Upstairs, where the drug dealers used to live, is now a middle-aged guy named Tim, who I think has Parkinsons... very shaky hands.

Next door is an elderly woman who I always used to hit up for fundraisers when I was younger, and across the street is a young couple with an adorable dog, as well as a middle aged woman with another adorable dog. Other than that, I dont really know anyone in the neighborhood, and I'd like to keep it that way. This place has changed a lot since I was young. No longer the neighborhood a kid can just be let out to play in.

How ya doing, buddy?

I don't know my neighbours all that well. The ones to the right of use I get on okay with, enough to help each other out when need be. But the ones on the left are a pain, and the sooner they move away the better. They always have to know what we are doing. They also have a dog that is always yapping away, I think it must either be hungry or lonely or both.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Well considering my mom's sister, and brother in law live next door, i think i know them pretty well.

Otherwise, we live in a neighbourhood filled with young families. As such, the little kids all want to play together, thus drawing the parents into the mix. Everyone on my streets pretty familiar with each other.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I do my best to avoid most of my neighbors. They're loud, uncouth, and inconsiderate, and more and more are moving in. "Bringing the ghetto with them," one could say. My immediate neighbors are great and we do our best not to annoy one another, but they're all moving in a few weeks.

How ya doing, buddy?

I've lived on this street for four years, and I still don't know my neighbors.

I'm not sure if I'm the problem, or if it's both of us.

I will admit, I don't go out of my way to start a conversation, but if one does start, I'll happily talk. It just hasn't happened yet, I don't think.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

I grew up on my street and still don't know my neighbors, and still don't care to know my neighbors. I just don't click with them, I guess, or I just don't even try. Their kids are brats, and I also don't connect with whatever conversations they're having or whatever.

I was speaking idiomatically.

I don't know any of my current neighbors.

I live in a culdesac so I figured I would be able to get to know my neighbors somewhat, but I was wrong!

When I was a kid I had quite a few neighbors. There was a black family to the right that had no children, some mexicans to the left and in front, a white family to the left of them, and heading out of the street there were some more whites.

The black family eventually moved away after being there for only a year or so because some angry KKK-like people came by and ransacked their house one night when they were gone, and left a bunch of racist comments on their house, along with much defecation. This house remained empty until an illegal immigrant stumbled upon it 3 years ago, and it has since become a temporary house for illegal immigrants to stow away in until they find another place to live. They speak no English and their Spanish is actually horrendous, so no one bothers to talk to them.

The white family moved out because they had no choice. One of the people in their household was a bit mentally unstable and he set the kitchen on fire and it burned their entire house down. They left and that house eventually got rebuilt 5 years ago and another white family moved in. However they too are moving out because their daughter dropped out of college and is marrying someone they do not approve of so they are selling the house. While they were living in it though their tree broke and fell on top of their house and pretty much split it in half (they fixed it though). There was much anger and panic when it occurred.

The mexicans on the left just disappeared for no reason, and a old family moved in. They never come outside unless it's to mow the lawn or get the mail.

The mexicans in front moved out just recently, and only because the husband got a better paying job so they were forced to move. It's kind of crappy because they were probably the only neighbors I got to know since their children were a few years younger than me, and we kind of settled in around the same time. The house is currently inhabited by some very mean people who feel like everyone is out to get them and constantly make complaints to the neighborhood committee.

There used to be some white folk near the stop sign where you left the culdesac, but they left when I was very young because their daughters were curious and decided to dial up a sex hotline and charged about $6000, last thing I remember about them was that they were trying to change their identities so they wouldn't have to deal with it.

How ya doing, buddy?

^^^You make a good case for not wanting/needing to get to know your neighbors. I don't really know many of my neighbors, if any. Everyone just keeps to themselves and for good reason. The minute you trust your neighbors, BAM... you're dead. Whats worse is that they might ask for sugar...if you give them that, they'll get greedy and ask for your nuts.

We have a Jewish couple across the street who look out the window with binoculars to make sure to call the cops if anyone is doing crack on the street. Luckily, I do my drugs in my house. This hasn't kept them from calling the police when they thought I had drugs. I had a cop come to my house...

"What seems to be the trouble officer?"

"Ehhh, do you have marijuana?" ...

"No officer!" ...

"Okay." /leaves.

(Pshew that was close)

My neighbors to the left of me are slobs. They don't cut their grass or take care of their house. I was about to get a restraining order against the husband. Mainly because his coughing was interrupting my ability NOT to be disgusted. It sounded like the guy had chunks of snot in his lungs. All he does is cough. I am pretty sure they sell their daughters for sex as well.

My neighbors on the other side are decent people but I am pretty sure they kill people and cut them up with a buzzsaw in the garage. Oh well, I've seen worse.

FELIPE NO

Neighbours are on the level of distant acquaintances to us. Our apartment is full of wheelchair bound residents and we extend the same amount of verbal exchange whenever we see them which usually consists of "hi" and occassionally some idle chatter. Strangely enough, we've been in the apartment for the last 15 years and we only acknowledge names and exchange "hi" rather than get into excessive small talk.

We know most regular people in the building by name, so our adjacent neighbours are not any closer despite being able to hear me practice piano.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

I don't know any of my neighbors, but they've never bothered me so I have no complaints against them.

My Mom knows the old Korean couple who live near us, but that's about it (I don't think I've even seen most of my neighbors). :/

Jam it back in, in the dark.