the dude who snores upstairs

the guy who lives upstairs from me snores. i shouldn't know this. the ceiling in between us should be enough to block out these sounds. but it's not. his snore breezes right through his floor, through my ceiling and delivered to my ears... usually at a time when i'm trying to sleep.

sometimes i need to play music or listen to sports talk radio real low to try and drown the sound of his snoring out. just so my mind can concentrate on anything... anything at all, besides this dude snoring.

and the thing is, when it comes to sleeping, i can usually sleep through anything. noises don't bother me. if my body and mind are telling me it's time for bed, there's almost nothing that can stop it from happening once i put my head to pillow.

but snoring... snoring is that one glaring objection. snoring is the only sound i know that can consistently keep me from sleeping. once i hear that snore, i can't concentrate on anything else... it drives me crazy, causes me to toss and turn and try and invent ways to somehow not let the snoring get to me.

and i can't fault the dude. from what i've been told, i snore on occasion. i don't think i snore as bad as this dude, but snoring happens. people do it all the time. it's not like he purposely snores to keep me awake. i'm sure if he had a choice, he'd choose not to snore. i know i would.

so here it is, this involuntary noise... and that's the one that drives me crazy. this dude has an army of children living upstairs. they march and run back and forth. i hear banging from above and i swear the sky's gonna fall (and for you long time joshaintfunny readers, you already know the sky has fallen before in my apartment). but if i'm tired... that won't keep me up. i can consistently nap a sunday afternoon away while the kids upstairs play cowboys and indians.

if it were any other voluntary sound, it probably wouldn't bother me. loud music, loud tv, loud shouting, loud sex... none of it can keep me up.

there's only one thing i know of in all of existence that can consistently stop me from falling asleep.... and the dude upstairs just happens to do it on an almost nightly basis.

guess it's time to start counting sheep.