Le'Parc Life

Life in the Le'Parc apartments sure can be enjoyable. And frustrating. And scary. why if you weren't careful it could even give you a complex (did I just hear a rim shot?) During my stay I have experienced a wide variety of emotions. Like tranquility when I'm walking through the courtyard past the bridge that spans the koi pond. There's weeping willows hanging over the gently moving water. A view enhanced in the morning or in the dusk hours. Then there's the relaxing calm of my couch. It's the best place to escape the heat while the two living room a/c's lull me to sleep. But usually I'm woken up by a loud panging sound coming from those once silent a/c's. It sounds like they're on the verge of cracking in half. You get up and turn them off and catch a whiff of something, fishy.
It's dinner time next door and grandma's up to no good. I know this because my new neighbor keeps the front door open all the time. About a month ago new tenants moved in. It's a woman with her young son and her mother. Everyday when I leave or when I come home their door is wide open and I see grandma sitting on her mattress only a few feet from the door. One time she wasn't sitting in there and as I looked down trying to get the right key in the lock, I glanced back up and saw her standing in her doorway looking at me. I smiled and said Ni hao. She opened her mouth and hissed. It was a bit disturbing. My door popped open and I rushed in. Every night when they cook it smells like squid. And in the morning the kid and the grandmother yell back and forth, both throwing fits.
But I've gotten used to them and no longer have that fumbling key anxiety. It's kind of the same with the never ending noise of construction outside my window. There's a drill, or pump somewhere out there in dire need of oil and lubricant. It sounds off rhythmically day and night like a drunken trumpet player stuck on one note. And don't ever inhale when your nose is over the sink drain. There's some bad smells in there.
The only way to deal is to laugh at the ridiculousness of it all.
Like the little rapscallions that play in the lobby and in the courtyard. Twice I've gotten into the elevator and have been surprised to feel it going up instead of down. That's when I notice that all the buttons to every floor have been pressed. Or you step off the elevator into the lobby and hear the intercom ringing at full blast. Echoing throughout the large room. A security guard sits at his desk with his face resting on his hand while outside the opened front doors a 4 year old is pressing the page button over and over again. Nobody does anything. not even the guy I call the Chinese Hitchcock. He stands in the lobby everyday in his yellow Nike tank top. Hands clasped behind his back and his lower lip jutting out.

it's a quirky place