When my neighbors moved out in April, I submitted a list of demands for their replacements. Now that the building is full of students again, I can evaluate how well my demands have been met.

Demand #9 addressed whether or not it should be permitted to stand on one’s balcony and shout obscenities at runners in the Boston Marathon.

Although I will only be able to fully evaluate compliance with this rule in April, the outlook is already bleak.  The new people in that particular apartment have already developed two new hobbies to be conducted from their balcony.  One is conversing with people on the street or in other buildings, which is just stupid.

The other is dropping objects from the same balcony, with apparent hopes of hitting pedestrians or cars.  Besides breaking several laws, this tends to cause cars to then (also illegally) sound their horns.  Nothing about this is good.

On the way to a party for a coworker’s promotion last week, I commented that I was considering moving to a neighborhood we passed on the way there.  A coworker announced that he’d lived there recently, but that he didn’t like it because it was too quiet.  It’s now officially at the top of my “most preferred” list.