Assignment 1 - Amy McDonald

I. The need to control external forces leads to unintended consequences.

II. A young woman living in a small apartment building is forced to confront her insentient need to control what goes on around her when a couple moves in next door to her and she has to share bedroom walls with them. Through the old, thin walls of the building, the young woman hears the reverberation of couples late night talks that last hours. The young woman is consumed with how she can gain control of the situation by getting the couple to stop keeping her awake. Her tactics to rid herself of the couples' insensate talking and noises, results in a successful brief resolution but has an unexpected outcome.

III. Emma has always taken control of her life. When adversity arises, she does not whine and complain, but rather takes actions and seeks a solution. By all accounts, life is good for Emma. She has a loving boyfriend, a successful career, and her life experiences have led her to be a well-rounded person. However, when her new neighbors move in next door, her patience and ability to control situations are put to the test. Her bedroom wall is a shared wall with the neighbors' bedroom. This was never a problem with past neighbors; however, this couple has a habit of staying up late talking. For hours sometimes. This sometimes leads to fighting. And it never fails, it all begins around 11pm and can last for hours.

At first Emma was forgiving, thinking that it is just an old building and no way around it. It's not like the couple is throwing a raging party. No. Almost more annoying that a huge party is the constant mumble of talking at a voice level normally reserved for daytime. In fact, the more she thought about it and the more nights she endured only a few hours of sleep the more pissed she got. They should know better. Apartment living is completely different from living in a house. You must be conscience of your neighbors and aware of how loud you are being, especially between the hours of 10pm-8am. Isn't this common knowledge?

After living with the noise for several weeks, there had been no change; no softer voices at night, and no relief from their nightly conversing. Instead of confronting the couple, Emma devises many small plans in the hopes of forcing the couple to change their ways. She assumes she can control the situation by making an environment that is intolerable to the couple. She tries blasting her radio, speakers pointed at the wall, early in the morning. Soon Emma realizes that this has caused the couple to get louder by slamming drawers and dropping things on the hardwood floor. Emma then decides she must really take matters into her own hands by convincing her upstairs neighbor to move out so she can move upstairs. This would not be an easy task but Emma is up for the challenge. Knowing that her upstairs neighbor has expressed some interest in moving to a particular neighborhood, Emma goes on Craigslist and prints out several ads for apartments in that neighborhood. She then posts the ads all around the surrounding area where she lives. Emma had been posting ads for about week when she unexpectedly runs into her upstairs neighbor, who mentions that he has found a great apartment in the neighborhood he wanted and he will be moving this month! It worked! Emma can hardly contain her excitement. She rushes inside to call her landlord to arrange moving upstairs. Emma is so pleased with herself and is thoroughly convinced she can control whatever she needs to in her life.

Emma turns the key to open the door her new upstairs apartment. She breathes a sigh of relief as she goes into the bedroom... and there is silence. She pulls up the window blinds to check out her new view. As she does so, a group of people in the courtyard catch her eye. They are struggling together, trying to maneuver a large dresser to the street. Wait a minute, Emma thinks.. who else is moving? After they load the dresser into a nearby truck, Emma hears the group shuffle upstairs and then enter the apartment next door. She then sees them bring another large load of boxes down the stairs. Her heart sinks as Emma sees the quiet, single woman who she would have been neighbors with, holding one of the printed Craigslist ads. She is moving out. As this reality is setting in, Emma then sees the loud couple walk up the stairs with huge smiles on their faces.