I finally called the police on my downstairs neighbors' noise. For those of you new to them (I've written about their noise a few times before), they frequently turn up their stereo(s) so loud the bass thumping is inescapable in our apartment and leave dozens of empty beer bottles on the lawn between the buildings. It started on weekends this summer and has expanded to whenever the mood strikes them, sometimes up to five nights a week. (Last weekend, they ran the music from Thursday through Monday nights.)

We went to bed around 2100 in hopes of being asleep before they started the noise, but I had no such luck, even after taking a melatonin. By 0330, visions of poisoned sugarplums were dancing in my head. In addition to dueling stereos, they were singing mariachi songs outside, howling ("ay-yi-yi-yi-yi") and imitating the noises made by passing cars, including one police car earlier in the night. Sadly, it was not for them; we live near a major intersection.

A half-awake Vogon told me that if I was going to call, to go ahead and do it or else I wouldn't get any sleep before the midget woke up, so I called 911. (I hate to do that, but a recent flyer distributed by the complex management stated that residents should call 911 and establish a police report for off-hours noise complaints instead of calling management.) Ten minutes later, the noise was gone and the responding officer let me know a second noise call will result in a report and a ticket. Afterward, I got a solid six and a half hours of sleep, which was rather nice for my immune system.

Hooray for the justice system working. (: