People I Hate (one in an occasional series)

As the title suggests, there have been people raising my ire lately, and the great thing about "people" is that I don't know them and feel free to complain about their stupidity.

One such group that caught my attention recently was people who are neighbors to a high school who started complaining about the band practicing in the morning.

We all went to high school. We all had friends in the band. And we all heard the stories of the early hours and long days they put in for their craft. ("This one time, at band camp ...")

So, with school starting again, so was the band, out on the fields at 6:30 in the morning. That is until the neighbors called the city and complained about the band violating the city's noise ordinance. Now, they have to start at 7 a.m.

It's these kind of people, who move into a neighborhood, full well knowing there's something next door that will cause them some level of discomfort, and still complain, that drive me nuts. It's like the neighbors who got the Pacific Amphitheater at the Orange County Fairgrounds shut down because the noise of the concerts was too much.

Um, duh, dumbass. You moved in next door to the Orange County Fairgrounds. You think it was going to be a quiet little neighborhood? Oh, hey, by the way, you know you're right near John Wayne Airport, too, right? Where big jet planes are going to be flying over, rattling your house in the process?

I'm afraid that one day, somewhere in the future, people who moved into the homes along Interstate 15 out near the Glen Helen Pavilion are going to start complaining about the noise from the concerts at the facility that was there YEARS before their houses were built.

It's the whole "not-in-my-back-yard" syndrome (better known as NIMBY). The state of California is in the middle of a crisis with its prisons, and probably could use more ... but not in anyone's back yard (even if the back yard is 5 miles away). But we can't have early release, either.

Even worse to me is that the main complaintant has lived there for years. If the only problem you've ever had with the school is the band practicing in the morning, consider yourself lucky.

My parents' house is a mile from Loara. On most mornings, I could hear our band clearly practicing from our front yard. I can only imagine how it was for the people in the houses directly behind the school. Or how many soccer balls we lost in the back yards of the houses that were right up against our fields (might've been a few softballs, too). And how much trash and damage was left behind by the houses back by the gate by the football fields by visiting fans (or our own students). And that's not taking into account houses being toilet papered, cars being egged or the occasional "war" in the streets or extreme senior court trashing (I'm talking to you class of '88).

The worst part of the story to me was that some of the people didn't want them practicing in the morning at all. The person we talked to even went as far to complain on behalf of those who work nights or have small children.

First off, if you're the parent of a small child, you're already sleep deprived. The music might even help. And second, as someone who's worked nights exclusively for going on 10 years, the world is not built for us who work late into the evening (or overnight). You learn to sleep through the annoyances that are going on around you. You know, things like doors slamming, children screaming, car alarms going off ... sunrise.

Being a renter, I've come to deal with some realities. One such is that the landscaping crew will be outside your window every week making a racket no matter what time you get in bed. We had a one such group who started at 7 a.m. every week during the summer without fail. And when you work until midnight and go to sleep at 1:30 a.m., it's a pain. But there's nothing you can do about it - you deal with it. And I've lived near train tracks that were right next door to an airport.

So, "people," suck it up already. You'd rather the students not be in the band? Out on the streets with no extracurricular activities? Because I'm sure that can be arranged, too. And then you can complain about those damn kids being on your lawn.