Taking Action

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Greetings Steemians,

I hope you're all doing well today. I'm feeling better physically today than yesterday, luckily the fever symptoms are pretty much gone now.

Yesterday I talked about boundaries.



nile, pixabay

I mentioned that although the past is not an accurate way of telling what the future might bring, there are certainly "indicators" that when measured up to probability, might produce certain results, if you will..

At this point in my life, it is not likely anyone will convince me otherwise. Things just keep happening and I am far too good at "seeing it coming."

I had an incident (relatively minor I suppose) occur in my place of living, and I've had enough. I'm taking swift action to find a new location to live.

So let me tell you all about it, and if anyone thinks I'm being illogical, by all means let me hear it.


I was preparing to go do laundry in the morning, because of the fact that I am a bit paranoid about the neighbors potentially breaking in my apartment to supply their drug habits, I was installing a home security system.

I successfully completed installation of the home security system, which I was pretty satisfied and happy with.

As soon as I finished I heard someone creeping up the stairs. At 3 AM....

Then a knock on my door...

To say I freaked out would be an understatement.

I screamed insanely loud through the paper thin door, asking who was knocking on my door and if they had lost their mind.

It was one of the new downstairs tenants, asking if I had a smoke I could spare.

I screamed yet again NOOOOOO.

And away he went without another word..

Is this normal to anyone here? (not my reaction, it's probably not normal, and I recognize that, but some stranger knocking on your door at 3 AM, is that normal?????)

In my world it is not only not normal, it's highly disrespectful, and for a cigarette? Really???? A CIGARETTE?????????

I've lived in my current residency for over a year now, and things like this have been constant.

Prior reports of noise ordinance disturbances have been a joke. The police department here doesn't seem to care about documenting when a veteran with PTSD calls and says there is a potential for violence to occur. Nope, but they sure will slap some hancuffs on you when something does happen.

So, I got this documented through use of the veterans crisis hotline, as well as the lovely Steem blockchain!!!

And these have been my go to methods throughout the past year, because I refuse to be a victim of the court room ever again. The accused generally get railroaded, so you better have some documented proof, and/or video recorded proof if something goes down.

I am calling the VA at the start of business hours to see if they can assist me with finding a new place. The VA homeless program helped me to get this place, and I am so very grateful for their help and assistance, but I also explained in depth my triggers for relapse, my PTSD symptoms, and stated that I suffer from debilitation if I am not in a place where I feel safe and can live in quiet enjoyment of my personal space.

Since the knock it has been nothing but loud music and doors slamming, as I write this at 6 AM in the morning. It has been nonstop.

I just can't take it anymore and refuse to.

It was really so much work to get clean from the grips of alcohol and cocaine addiction. I have 3 years clean and I am housed with active drug addicted people. Of course I know what they are going through and feel for them, but that does not mean I want to be this closely associated to the people, places, and things which lead to death and prison.

Hopefully they will be able to help me with some kind of resources, I am not relenting this time. I've had enough.

I guess that's all I really have to say on the topic. The purpose of this post is both for venting/coping purposes, as well as documentation, because let's be real about something.... There is nothing logical about knocking on a strangers door at 3 AM, so I have to assume literally ANYTHING could happen, and I will have a ton of documented evidence to prove my innocence, should I be forced to defend myself against an assailant again.

If you are mighty with the sword, you better be mighty with the pen as well, because the pen truly is mightier than the sword. We all have the intrinsic human right to live, and it is my opinion that no human being has the right to harm another. When faced with the threat of violence, if violence is imminent, you must be able to prove you were in self defense for the protection of your life. (especially if the assailant sustains injury) I cannot stress that enough. Has anyone threatened me? No. Do I see a potential for violence? Absolutely. No sane individual knocks on a strangers door at 3 AM.


Thank you for stopping by.


I hope you're all having a wonderful day.


Much love,
@futuremind



Posted with eSteem Surfer



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15 comments
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Hi @futuremind. .. I hope you are fine now. It seems like your living environment is very uncomfortable. Drugs and liquor certainly have a big negative impact on the environment. All crimes start with alcohol or drugs. knock on someone else's house at 3 a.m. certainly not very polite ... except emergencies such as an accident at his home ... I think maybe you should move to a clean environment of drugs, friend.
I hope you can live in a comfortable place and have good and friendly neighbors. Enjoy your day, sir.

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Hi @elianaelisma,

I am not doing great at the moment, I feel very angry and anxious and feel very violated.

I am understanding and tolerant of emergencies and would definitely help someone no matter what hour for an emergency, but an emergency is pretty much the only thing a stranger should knock on someone else's door for, unless it's an expected guest.

I am going to be working very hard to get into a new place. I do not function well in this type of environment.

Thank you for the kind words my friend. Have a nice day miss.

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I wish you the best with finding a new house. I do think its likely that your neighbor heard that you were awake via hearing noise from the instalation you were completing with the security system.

That by no means makes it ok to knock on someones door at 3 A.M. for a smoke but those who are intoxicated don't exactlly think rationally and its very likely the person doing the knocking was intoxicated to some extent.

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Thank you @rentmoney,

Yes, I have very creaky old hardwood floors here, and the guy lives directly under me. For some reason this house has terrible noise reduction properties, so no doubt he knows the hours I keep even when not walking around much. (and I walk very softly avoiding the creaky spots as to be respectful even though he blasts his stereo at all hours)

Yeah, I think a rational mind would deduce that there is a very specific reason a person might keep such hours and know better than to knock for something like that at such an hour.

This guy did not seem phased by my bark, which is pretty surprising because I have quite a bark lol. He was likely definitely intoxicated. The non-stop traffic between the two new neighbors apartments at all hours is an indicator I think.

Literally every single tenant who has moved in here has been evicted for drugs, or has left because they did not want to be around the drugs.

The landlord says he tries to find clean and sober people but he only rents to people from housing assistance programs, and the majority of them have addiction issues. It's kind of a catch 22, in the sense that I came from a shelter through a housing program, and if no landlord will rent to people in those situations, then how will they find housing?

What I have going for me though is a solid year with him, never late on rent, and in all respects a very good tenant/landlord relationship, so I will likely have him as a reference, and will be able to find something in a better location.

I appreciate the kind wishes friend. I'll be making some phone calls in about an hour here and see what happens. I talked on that hotline with a VA rep for about 2 hours. She was pretty supportive and didn't seem to be giving me lip service. Said that my thought process was pretty logical in her mind. So we'll see what happens.

Thanks again :)

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Hi Jake. Oh Dear, That sounds like an awful place you are in. Yes, do get out of there as soon as you can. Best wishes, and good luck.
!trdo

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I've been in much worse places, but those were the days when I was a product of my environment.
I'm choosing to look at the positive aspects at this point. I have some leads on apartments, as well as some decent security now.
I think everything will work out ok Vince.

Thank you for the tip and kind words my friend!

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That doesn't sound like a nice neighborhood to live in my friend, and I hope you will be able to find a better place for yourself sooner rather than later. You've been doing so well with regards to staying clean for three years now, and it would be devastating of that track record gets broken by the community that should be there to support you. It was an act of pure selfishness to disturb your peace of mind with a knock on the door at 3 AM. I can understand your need to install that security system...

I hope you're feeling better now, but even more that you find a better place for yourself, preferably surrounded by people who give a damn for other people. Thanks for sharing, and stay strong my friend! 🙏🏼💪🏼

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(Edited)

Thank you so much for your uplifting words my friend.

That is a great point you bring up about it being an act of selfishness. It truly was, and it disturbed my peace of mind and influenced a negative state for about two days.

I'm very cognizant when it comes to respecting the neighbors. I'm very quiet, and keep to myself.

It's been a regular occurrence listening to loud music thumping all hours of the night, and although I'm a proponent of "two wrongs don't make a right", I gave him a taste of my 200 Watt sub woofer from 1 am to 4 am directly above his bedroom. Since then he has not blasted his music during noise ordinance hours. I guess he got the hint..

Things are shaping up. I have some apartment leads, and I'm feeling much better about everything.

You are appreciated my friend, thank you! 🙏

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Hi, @futuremind!

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