pantera is mightier than the sword

Jackie and I are fortunate. Or at least we were, up until two days ago. Every once in awhile we can hear the two girls living next door through the wall.

Right now as I type this it sounds like one of the girls in question is getting the shit kicked out of her. She's letting out shrieks and yelps and he's saying something that I can't quite make out and then she's being thrown against the wall, or at least that's what it sounds like.

Anyway. Two nights ago, the same girl (I don't know that for sure, I'm just going out on a limb here) somehow got into a fight, probably with her boyfriend. More than once Jackie pressed her ear against the wall and listened in. Apparently the girl's boyfriend did or said something while drunk that upset her, or something along those lines.

Jackie: "That's why you don't hang out with drunk people."

Before I go on I should probably mention that my desk is on the opposite side of the room. And that that's where I was, working away on the next day's Japanese homework, when I heard this through the wall, loud and clear:

"FUCK YOU. FUCK YOU. NO. FUCK YOU. YOU BROKE MY HEART."

I could only hear her end. No rebuttals, no comebacks, no denials. Either her boyfriend was on the other end of the phone line, or he's completely spineless and didn't put up a fight.

This had been going on for like five minutes when suddenly I said to Jackie, "Let's play something." A song, I meant. "Something with explicit lyrics."

We spent a minute or two combing through Jackie's extensive iTunes playlist and eventually settled on "Walk" by Pantera. Then we turned it up nice and loud, and Jackie turned her speakers and subwoofer around such that they faced the wall.

RE-
SPECT
WALK
ARE YOU TALKIN' TO ME?
ARE YOU TALKIN' TO ME?
NO WAY, PUNK

Jackie and I just about died laughing, but by the time the song was over the girl was still carrying on, so we played it again from the top. Halfway through we paused it. By then she finally got the message, I guess.

Pat's advice: "You should just put your mouth to the wall and scream every word she does."

Last night I spent hours in the computer lab working on a re-write of a five-page philosophy paper, and while I was down there a girl came and sat down at the computer next to me. She found a MIDI of "As Time Goes By" (the famous song from the movie Casablanca) online and played it on repeat for at least like two hours. For some time I debated throwing myself down a fucking flight of stairs, let me tell you.

After about ten minutes I just couldn't take it anymore and I put on my headphones and listened to a Stone Temple Pilots CD, like holding up a crucifix or a clove of garlic to ward off a vampire, but alas, I could still hear "As Time Goes By" playing on repeat in the background.

I was chatting with Pat online at the time and he suggested I find a MIDI of "Walk." It's just like Jackie said: "Walk" has almost become a weapon.

Around 11 or 12 p.m., the girl turned to me and got my attention.

And asked me to proofread her paper.

As soon as I heard her voice I immediately remembered who she was. Weeks back I was in the computer lab, and she and a friend were there, and her friend was presumably proofreading her paper. She completely and utterly took advantage of her friend and kept her there in the computer lab for hours, and her friend ended up practically writing her paper before her.

I read through her paper once. It was on A Midsummer Night's Dream, which I haven't read, so I explained that I wouldn't be able to help, really. I gave her very general feedback about the organization of her paper, and she titled the computer screen towards me and highlighted a few sentences with her cursor and asked me if she should delete them or re-word them or or or. I knew exactly where this was going, so I apologized and said that I didn't know and that I had my own paper to write. Thankfully she gave up on me after that.

On a completely unrelated note, a week or two ago I was straightening my hair and getting ready for class and so forth when "Under the Bridge" came up on Jackie's playlist.

I said, "If I lived under a bridge I think I'd play this song on repeat, just on principle."

And Jackie said, "And make heroin faces at the passers-by."

And I said, "Heroin faces?"

And Jackie said, "You know. Suck your cheeks in and make your eyes really wide."

And I said, "You're going to hell."