A tribute to dumbasses, the world over..

Hi ya'll, back for another round..:)

So yeah, I know it has been a while since I've been in and posted but I finally felt inspired tonight so here I am. So what, you ask, has inspired me enough to jump into the fray again? Well, for one it was the not-so-gentle nudge from a co-worker that shall remain nameless asking me this afternoon why it has been so long since I've updated my blog. And two, I'm just in the mood to rant tonight and as my husband is conveniently sleeping, this seemed like a pretty good place to do it!

My beef is this: why does it seem to be lately that the world is inhabited by a larger-than-ever proportion of dumbasses??

Come on now..you know what I mean. I'm not sure why but lately they have just seemed to be crawling out of the woodwork, hellbent on annoying the CRAP outta me and intent on making their presence known. And not only is it bad enough that they even exist, but then they have to go out of their way to make it crystal clear to me as to why they could be considered nothing but a dumbass to begin with.

Case in point:

We live in a lovely little townhouse complex that I can honestly say I really, really enjoy inhabiting. For the most part, and by that I mean in 99% of the cases, I really like the people that own the other units surrounding us and I can say without a doubt that our immediate neighbours on both sides of us are really great. The townhouse that we live in is part of a row of four, with ours being the 2nd one in from the left side. And by way of explanation, our townhouses are different in that we don't have garages but instead have a small grassy area out front and then parking spaces in front of our individual units.

So, having said this about those around us and our immediate neighbours in particular, there is always a bad seed in the bunch. Unfortunately, this bad seed just happens to be the people that reside in the end unit of the row of four townhouses in which we live. So yes, that would make them the ones living in the townhouse two down from us.

Now before I go on, let me point out that the people living in that townhouse...let's call it the "End Unit From Hell" or EUFH, are only renting it and as such, had no real tie to the community, as it were. And as snobby as it may make me sound, I really believe that it makes a difference. Those of us that own our places, for the most part, intend to be there for a while and as such, try to make the best effort possible to be on good terms with those that live around us. The couple that lives in the EUFH have never made this effort.

They moved in at the beginning of the summer last year and the friendliest thing that could be said about them is that they had an uber-cute little boy that was more than willing to talk away any time that we would see him. But for a full year now, we have never even had so much as a hello from the boy's parents even though we see them ALL the time. But okay...I understand that not everyone is of the friendly, sociable types so I can let that pass.

But a couple weeks ago now, I was on my way out the door and to my car when I ran into my right-side next door neighbour, Darlene. Now Darlene is a wonderful lady, about 50 years old with a 20 year-old son that lives in her basement. And Darlene and I hit it off right from the very first day when we moved in. She was also more than understanding about our dog-ownership struggles from this past winter, which I love her for, so when I can get a few minutes to chat to her, I take it. So upon seeing me, we exchange greetings for a minute or two and then she suddenly turns all serious and leans in toward me.

"Did you hear those two fighting the other day?" she whispers, nodding toward the EUFH and raising her eyebrows dramatically. Now this is one other thing that I can say about the townhouses we live in. They may not have been the best in construction but they certainly ARE rather soundproof. So, having heard nothing, I tell this to Darlene. She goes on to tell me how the inhabitants of the EUFH started fighting one night at about 1 a.m. and it lasted all night. Finally at 6 a.m., Darlene had to go over, knock on their door and tell them to cool it. And wow...was I flabbergasted! This sort of thing just doesn't happen in our complex and I can't honestly believe that I didn't hear a thing! But Darlene told me that she would keep me posted with any further developments.

And so a week and a bit pass and one Sunday morning, I get up semi-early to take Jasper for his morning walk, only to walk out on the pavement to find that some dumbass has smashed a few beer bottles on the ashphalt. And not only that, but they were smashed quite effectively into billions of shards and the scene of the crime just happens to be in one of most high-traffic areas of the entire complex. And wouldn't you know it...right outside of the EUFH! So of course this mess makes it rather difficult as I discover that I am the proud owner of a beer-loving beagle and so it is a struggle to keep him from stepping in the glass and cutting his paws all to shit. But I thought that it wasn't a big deal because surely the culprit would be out to clean it up that day...you can't just leave something like that there, can you??

Apparently, you can. Because there it did stay for days. And for days I painstakingly made sure that Jasper didn't step in any of it and then grimaced every time I would have to drive through the carnage with my car. Yes folks...it had been there for almost a week by the time I saw Darlene next and she quickly informed me that it had been the gentleman from the EUFH that had smashed the beer bottles, while in the throes of an argument with the lady of the house. Now keep in mind that they have a little boy living with them.

Anyway, by the time last Friday had arrived (Canada Day), I had deduced that there was obviously about a snowball's chance in hell of this man ever cleaning up the mess. So Friday afternoon found me outside in the driveway, with my broom and dustpan, sweeping up the glassy remains of the broken beer bottles because frankly, I really didn't wish to entertain the prospect of having anyone step in it, human or canine. So I worked at this for quite a while and while I didn't get all of it, I got a lot of it and was pretty happy with myself. So, gathering up my tools of defense, I made to make my way back towards our house, looking up at the front window of the EUFH as I passed only to find the beer-bottle smasher standing there and laughing at my efforts.

Yeah, okay so that makes me a sucker. But even more than that...it makes HIM a DUMBASS!

Since then, I am happy to report that a UHaul showed up one morning not long ago and took all their stuff away. The unit is presently up for rent and while I am going to miss the little boy's shouts of "Doggy!!" every time he saw Jasper, I am crossing my fingers that the next bunch are a little more...normal and less dumbass-ish.

Case in Point #2:

I forced myself to indulge in one of my least favourite activites tonight after work. I picked up the mail from our super-mailbox thingamabob. Yeah...it is only ever bills and most of the time, bills I can't afford to pay, so that is why it is one of my least favourite things to do. But this time, it contained a lovely little envelope emblazoned with the logo of our mortgage company. Hmm..I wonder what they could want. So upon entering the air-conditioned coolness of our house, I rip open the envelope to find that it is our annual statement of property taxes paid and property taxes owed for next year.

Now being a relatively new first-time home buyer (we moved in last May), these kind of things excite me a little. I like to see how the money we have paid is actually going to something other than to pay someone else's mortgage, like our rent was. So looking closer, I can clearly see the amount of taxes that we paid for last year and below that is supposed the amount of taxes that are to be due for this coming year, starting August 1. But wait...that can't be right. If I'm reading that correctly, it says that we owe $18,536 in taxes for the coming year. Pardon ME?? Holy Crap!! That is about a billion percent increase over what we paid last year!! Seriously...it says that our taxes for the coming year are going to be approximately 10% of the property value of our home!

Honestly people...don't they have someone responsible for checking these things before they are sent out?? Clearly someone missed a decimal place somewhere...or at least that is what I am hoping. And if not, this place is going to be up for sale pretty damn quickly. But yeah, so the person at the mortgage company that is responsible for sending out the hopefully erronous property tax statement would also qualify as a DUMBASS in my book for almost giving me a heart attack.

And really, I could go on from here but this post is already too long. Lets just say that the dumbasses are rampant as of late and maybe they come out with the heat. Now there is a theory that merits some thought..:)