Role-Playing

My wife, the lovely and talented snippy had some friends over this afternoon.  Among them were serenejournal, kightp and others.  I hung out with them for a while before taking off to attend another party given by a coworker.  At one point during the afternoon the topic of roleplaying came up.

( Click here to read my rambling post on gaming )

Block Party? I think not.

So about 9:30 I walk into the living room and snippy asks me if I heard the music.  "What music?" I ask.

"You didn't hear that?"

No, I didn't.  But then I do.  Amplified rock music echoing across the park.  Oh...joy.  Who on earth, my wife wonders, thinks it's a good idea to blast amplified rock music across a residential neighborhood at this time of night?

So I went out to see who was doing it, and where.  Turns out it's a house on the edge of the park.  (Our backyard abuts the park, as you may or may not know.)  I found a house with both the front and rear of the garage open and a band performing within.  Lots of people drifting in and out and around, plastic cups of beer in hand.  The band takes a break before their next set and I take the opportunity to ask one of them who lives here.  He points him out to me.

I get his attention and ask him how late the band will be playing.  He asks me when I want them to stop.  I say that I'd like it if they kept it down because my wife will be going to bed soon.

He replies that it's a block party and it's not even 10 p.m. on a Saturday night.  Which is all true, but--I don't say this, but I think it--not everyone on the block is present for this party, and I'm pretty sure not everyone on the block (including but not limited to his immediate neighbors) is thrilled to have this music blaring through their windows.  I do point out that this is a residential neighborhood.

He counters with the idea that he doesn't like being awakened by barking dogs at six a.m. but it happens everyday.  I parried with an acknowledgement that I understood that but I don't own a dog so that isn't my doing.  I left him free to draw the inference that the loud party was his doing.

He said that they'd had an earlier band playing which was acoustic and that this was the current band's first set and said that they could switch to acoustic later on.  I allowed as that would be nice.  "I'd appreciate that," says I.  And I thanked him and left.

I was working hard not to be confrontational.  I tend to get...intense when I'm angry annoyed.  But that doesn't help in situations like this.  A polite question instead of what I felt like saying: "Whassamatta with you?!"

We'll see how it goes.