This seems familiar...

i seem to recall having neighbors downstairs who yelled at their dogs for barking, sent the dogs outside to bark, yelled at the dogs for not doing their business fast enough, and generally seemed to forget that their dogs were not heated stuff animals.

they moved out a while ago.

my neighbors who share a wall with me in the living room had that cat. the one who never got spayed but was loud enough to attract several toms in the area every month or so. they got an eviction notice for nonpayment, but it really didn't matter because they'd already moved out by the time the note got placed.

well, my new neighbor who shares a wall with me has either recently gotten a dog or is sitting for a friend, or is entertaining friends with a dog. has been for the last few days. he seems to think that screaming at the dog will be more effective than any other volume. he angrily yells at the dog to get the ball, to stop being lazy, to get off its ass, to stay where he commands it to, to get behind the line, to stop laying at his feet.

aside from the fact that i doubt a dog even knows what "get the fuck behind the line and stay there" means, i'm doubting that the volume is doing anything effective. especially since the "good dog" comments are all in the same exact volume and have the same level of "i'm going to beat your face in" sentiment attached if the tone is coming through wall as clearly as the words.

what i am sure of is that this dog needs to be taken away from this man, and there ought to be a fine that people like this need to pay in order to be able to disturb the peace of their neighbors like this. he's been "training" that dog since 6 or so this evening, and he's only now starting to get tired of yelling at the dog. i can hear softer voices in the apartment, so it's not like i'm just making any little noise into a problem. he's very clearly screaming where the others are the normal "you're in an apartment, what do you expect" sort of noise.

and not in the next apartment over, but in one of this complex's downstairs apartments, there is a new dog, a small one, that arrived what i think is probably tuesday. at this point in the semester, all the days are blurring into one large, long day with lots of light and dark patches, so i can't be sure.

this dog is well behaved enough unless one of the five or so other dogs in the complex get near it. then it starts that strangled growl/bark combo that dogs do when you can imagine the teeth in the fur and all the savagery of wolves packed into a rat terrier. there's lots of human yelling, the established dogs get pissed off and start up, and finally the new dog is taken back inside.

at night, around now, actually, this new dog is put outside. the dog spends from about 10 to about 1 am howling mournfully at this injustice, and i can only hope that the dog learns the schedule and accepts it sometime soon.

this all might not be so much of a bad thing if my futon were in a room that didn't share a wall with the abusive psycho next door. it really puts a dent in the amount of quality writing i can get done, and this thing is due tomorrow at an undisclosed time. i'm hoping, naturally, that this time is later than noon. around five would be great.

in other news, i've worked my last official day as an IT worker. i have volunteered to help train a replacement for two weeks at the beginning of next semester, for additional compensation. if, however, the new boss doesn't get his/her act together soon and there isn't a replacement, i really don't care. i'll be working the thrice-damned may seminar also, because in the summer i'll need all the money i can earn. hopefully, i'll be able to teach two summer sessions, though, and there won't be as big a drain on my finances as only being able to work the one session for a handful of peanuts.

and for the end-o-semester workload, well. it's looking like this:

- i need to grade my students' last paper, their extra quiz, and their final which is yet to be turned in

- i need to revise four essays for publication and get all the journals together to submit them to

- i need to finish this stupid POS frustrating fucking paper on the LotR for a class that's vital to my professional development interesting and eye-opening required to get out of here.

these things are all due soon. 11th, 8th, and tomorrow, in reverse order.

i did math. you know it's bad for me to be doing math at this point in a semester. not that i'll get it wrong. i'm actually a lot better at math than i let on. but if i'm figuring my grades and scores at the end of a semester with work left to be done, it's a pretty good indication of the level of effort i'm willing to put into that work.

the short side of the math: this class i loathe... given my past grades and the percentages of each assignment, i can fail this paper with a 40% and still get a B in the class.

i'm still going to produce the best damn paper i'm able to produce in the next 10 hours or so, don't get me wrong. and i've already got about half of it done, sans works cited. but really? i'd rather be working on the essays for monday night. and if i feel like i need a nap around 3 this morning, i'm going to take that nap. because i know i can still fail with a 40 and get an okay grade. so it's going to be good, yes. but not the publishable quality i'm supposed to be doing. that can come later, when i'm actually working to get a scholarly publication.

ah. and there goes the new dog. can't wait till that thing gets a feel for the rules and grows to love its time outside at night.

love and peace, all.