Over the last 2 years I've had quite an array of interesting (psycho) neighbors. The first noticeable problem were the elephants that lived upstairs for my first year and a half. My friends nicknamed them "The elephants" after visiting my apartment 10 minutes into their vacation. There was a guy and a girl that lived there, both in their early 20s. They constantly stomped when they walked and it sounded like they enjoyed throwing hand weights across the room. Every once in a while a Mustang with dealer plates would come over and there would be very loud sex noises on those nights. So I figured the car dealer guy was the girls boyfriend, but oh wait! There were also sex noises when it was just her and her roommate. So obviously she was sleeping with 2 different guys but they both knew about each other. Then there were the fights between the 2 roommates with lots of screaming, crying and throwing things. Oh and they had a cat (which isn't allowed) that would run back and forth across the room, sometimes while they were having sex. Early last fall I noticed that the girl wasn't around anymore, so they must have broken up and she moved out. So it was quiet for about 2 months, until the guy that lived up there (Lance) went out of town for a couple of months and let some friends stay there. They had parties literally every night until I was forced to call the cops on them when I heard very loud slamming noises and glass breaking. I talked to my landlord the next day and it turns out that there were holes in the walls the size of bowling balls and the broken glass was a huge mirror that hangs on the bathroom wall. The landlord had to take Lance to court to get his friends out of there and they proceeded to clean out the apartment over the span of a month. Now I'm not sure who lives there, because some people were moving in last month but I haven't seen them since. At least it's quiet, but who moves all of their stuff in and then takes off??? Next up, the apartment next door. The neighbors there have always been quiet, but I did have this problem last summer.... 
That would be a ton of junk piled up next to my back door. And a lawn chair covered in bird crap. 
This lovely mess led to a ton of flies getting in my back door every time I had to do laundry. I don't even remember what it took to get them to clean up, but they moved out soon after anyway. 
Then new people moved in in December. They are also fairly quiet, although most nights for awhile it sounded like they were body slamming each other. Which led to the entire building shaking over and over again around 9 PM. They too started piling up their trash. This is a picture of 6 bags of trash!! I figured I needed to nip this in the bud before the summer flies came so I left a lovely little note. 
After I posted this note, 2 more bags were added to the heap. So the landlord had to tell them to clean up, and it has stayed clean ever since. 
I'm sure I'm forgetting countless other stories, but I am certain there will be more to come. Like last week when one of my drunken neighbors backed their car into the gas meters. When I came home Ameren was there hooking up new pipes and waiting to relight my pilot lights. At least for now it's quiet and stink free, but we'll see what new vagrant will move in next.
It's that time of year again when I start recruiting you guys to help me out with our fundraisers and planning for the NAMI walk in May!! In case you've forgotten NAMI stands for the National Alliance on Mental Illness, and I am the team captain for the Adapt of Illinois walk team. The walk is at the Muny parking lot in Forest Park on May 28th. If you would like to join our walk team please go to this website: www.nami.org/namiwalks11/STL/AdaptIL If you would like to donate money under my name please go here: www.nami.org/namiwalks11/STL/Casey But, hang on! This year our team has designed an AMAZING t-shirt which I believe could win the t-shirt contest...if we can afford to get them printed. The cost to get 20 shirts printed will be around $200...so it would be much appreciated if anyone could offer us some cash/check donations to help cover that cost. Also, if you make a donation for our shirts and you own a business...we will gladly add your business logo to our list of sponsors on our shirts!!We also have two more upcoming fundraisers (that money goes directly to NAMI). The first one is in 2 weeks: a bake sale at our office in Belleville March 18-20th. If anyone would like to offer some baked goods to sell or want the address for the bake sale, contact me!!Our last fundraiser, which I will be sending out invites for on Facebook, is a dining out experience at Olga's Kitchen. We have flyers, and if you take one out to eat at either the Alton or Fairview Heights Olga's on April 30th, we will receive a portion of what you spend at Olga's. If you "Like" Olga's on Facebook you can receive notifications for upcoming fundraisers. Thank you guys for all of your help and support, and please let your bosses know about putting their logos on our shirts for any small donation!!
That would be a ton of junk piled up next to my back door. And a lawn chair covered in bird crap. 
This lovely mess led to a ton of flies getting in my back door every time I had to do laundry. I don't even remember what it took to get them to clean up, but they moved out soon after anyway. 
Then new people moved in in December. They are also fairly quiet, although most nights for awhile it sounded like they were body slamming each other. Which led to the entire building shaking over and over again around 9 PM. They too started piling up their trash. This is a picture of 6 bags of trash!! I figured I needed to nip this in the bud before the summer flies came so I left a lovely little note. 
After I posted this note, 2 more bags were added to the heap. So the landlord had to tell them to clean up, and it has stayed clean ever since. 
I'm sure I'm forgetting countless other stories, but I am certain there will be more to come. Like last week when one of my drunken neighbors backed their car into the gas meters. When I came home Ameren was there hooking up new pipes and waiting to relight my pilot lights. At least for now it's quiet and stink free, but we'll see what new vagrant will move in next.
