I am part of the second generation MTV experience. I was born shortly before the debut of the network, post AM radio and 8 tracks, but am a very solid part of the cassette tape, music video, and single track generation.

And yet we are probably the last cohort who experienced music as albums; I’m grateful for that experience, and incredibly disappointed that the new generations won’t truly appreciate Dark Side of the Moon, Joshua Tree, 2112, and countless other musical achievements. There are legendary bands, Led Zep, The Doors, and many others where albums were an intentional work of art. The goal was to create not just the song, but an organic continuum that flows through the entire catalogue effortlessly.

There were the days spent hovering over my radio to hit record just when the DJ stopped talking to catch a new song, since I’d rather tape FM radio than buy the album, and the dual cassette tapes to overdub and combine. The gradual change from mix tapes to mix CDs. I’m ashamed that I don’t know what “the kids” do these days to equal the personalized “I really like you but don’t want to totally be vulnerable” mix tapes, but I would think there has to be something.

The new (3.0, 4.0, how do we even count this now) generation adapts without even thinking to the new technologies and if it’s a 2 second download, it‘s too long to bother with. It’s an analogy for how things are evolving, and while there are positive aspects to this, I feel that a lot of things are lost in the rush to a different paradigm of too little investment in almost every experience. I guess that means I’m officially getting old.

Today I received my plaque for Top Gun. Last season I managed to not just play well, but won this over many months. For those of us in the 2-3 bracket I have proved I am a very good 3, beating 4s, 5s, and even a 6! Talk about a competitive rush!

I also realize that to those who don't play competitive pool, the paragraph above is pure gibberish. Like many areas of life, if you're not an amateur, journeyman, or expert in the area the slang is a complete mystery to the layman. However, it is a major source of pride to those of us who have invested our time, energy, and stubbornness to keep improving. Personally, my Top Gun took 8 years to achieve, and that's most definitely something that deserves a real feeling of accomplishment, even if it's the only time I manage to do this.

Part of the reason is the nature of the competition.

Getting credit for team competition is a delicate balance, where you have to try to maximize your team's points while creating the perfect match to the opponent's team. Sometimes you have to coordinate less-than  ideal-match-ups for the player and hope they won't be beaten. For the lower ranked players it can be very difficult and vice versa because of the handicap system. Both teams just hope they're shooting well enough that a match won't turn on a single mistake.
 
Despite the occasional necessary skill mis-match, most importantly for me, in a very selfish way, is that I finally stepped up for 10 weeks out of 14. I won 8 out of 10 matches no matter what rank I played last season. There have been other times I've done well, and there were some seasons that were equally terrible.

I can truly say I'm proud of myself.  It was an unexpected confidence boost each match when I won against opponents that normally would sweep me, and this was the icing on the cake. More than anything, though, sometimes you just need a win in your life. I was lucky to get one.

In major news for my life (and paraphrasing from the Wizard of Oz), ding dong, my neighbor's gone! The absolute worst neighbor I've ever had has FINALLY moved out after 2 years.

How bad was he?  There were at least 5 girlfriends during his tenure. He smoked something (which wasn't pot, I could hear him coughing but there was no smell). His mother paid his rent and they had their arguments on speakerphone. There was the random banging on walls and doors of redirected anger which scared the hell out of me, the floor shaking when he dropped his weights while exercising at any time of day. And then there were the many occasions of whistling, clapping, grunting, hooting, and tone deaf singing. He was a whole other category of WTF is going on.

I could go on, but now I have a hope for another decent time in my life where I can sleep and not worry about a psycho next door. I have my lease waiting for approval by Sept. 30th. I'm  leaning towards waiting to sign until the apt is rented to a new tenant and I have some experience to work with. Considering the apt is showing as of Sunday, there will probably be a quick lease-signing, so I'm figuring a 15th move-in date, 31st at the latest.

Time enough, hopefully, to figure out if I have a self-sustaining neighbor (aka family doesn't pay his rent), someone with some idea of appropriate volume in apts where we can hear quite a bit across the sheetrock. The original tenant when I moved in was occasionally louder, but 95% of the time I barely noticed; I knew when they left for work and that was fine for one closet door slam.

I need that again. I need to know that if I called out sick, I could hear the slam and fall back asleep without subsequent noise and get adequate rest to rejuvenate. There was some sort of schedule, and with minor aberrations, it worked. This is what led to my shock, resentment, and finally anger at having someone who really cared nothing about the other tenants, had no sense of decent behavior, and despite multiple complaints continued to be a hugely disruptive force, particularly for me.

Backing my viewpoint up, I was one of 5 different people I heard over 2 years asking him to turn it down. My personal count was 10 knocks in a year and a half when his music could be heard in the lobby (one flight down) or he was caterwauling so loudly I could sing along with him (and did) to let him know how obnoxious he was being, especially after "official" hours of 10 pm weeknights.

 I hope for the best; a normal neighbor with consideration to those around them. I want to say the next can't be worst, but don't want to jinx it!  I'll find out.