Football & Dominoes

So it's raining out tonight. And the World Series is over. Between those two events I and my roommate are hoping we'll actually get some sleep tonight. It's been weeks, really.

Yeah, last night was a special occasion, I get that. The Yankees winning their 27th World Series made a lot of people in this neighborhood very happy. Drunken screaming, tooting-air-horns-like-saxophones, fire-crackers-until-5am happy. It was a grand old time. At some point all the trees in the neighborhood were TPed as well, but I didn't happen to hear that, what with the fire crackers and air horns and all.

If last night had been just one event I'd still be cranky about not getting to sleep before 5am then having the garbage trucks (why is it they always seem to come in fleets) start at about 6am. Yes, yes, Java, earplugs, I know, but even the heavy-duty industrial strength ones I have are not equal to the fire crackers and air horns. They do make my ears itch like crazy though, resulting in my scratching them out of my ears the instant I actually lose consciousness. What was I talking about? Oh yeah, if last night was a one time thing, I'd still grump about it, believe me, but I'd move on. Problem is, last night was FAR from anomalous. Oh so very far. SS Enterprise, Warp 9 far.

The weather has been really warm, ya know? Quite balmy. Global warming and all that. Yup, it's been nice out. That's meant that the drunken football games have had a much later season than in past years. Part of me thinks, hey, it's great they're getting some exercise. These guys don't seem to be dealing drugs, and that's definitely a change for the better. Nope, they may be USING them, I really couldn't tell ya, though my suspicion is the high spirits and volume (oh so very high volume) is probably due to nothing harder than booze. It all appears to be legal, healthy even, in a way. It's just really really loud, well into the wee hours. Every night.

Nor have the football games been the only recurring sporting event. For whatever reason the game of dominoes has hit this neighborhood in the past four months. I was used to seeing it quite often when I lived in Alphabet City, but I never noticed it up here in Harlem until this Summer. Boy howdy though, it has hit now, and hit BIG. Thing is I never knew it could be such an athletic event. Or quite so percussive. Every tile is slapped smartly on the card table, so smartly I think the players must get extra points for sticking the dismount. It's the only explanation I can come up with. And when a game is over and it's time to mix the tiles up, holy sweet mother of god, I never knew those things could make such a racket. It's like boulders in a cement mixer, I swear.

I might see my way clear to calling in a noise complaint for the football game; they're clearly chemically enhanced, screaming at the top of their lungs, and chasing each other around a city street in the middle of the night. It's a residential area, at three in the morning. A case could be made. But a dominoes game? Am I really going to call the city up to complain about a noisy dominoes game? Sure, sometimes those players may be chemically enhanced as well, but most of the time I can't hear them, I only hear the tiles, but I hear those loud and clear, every goddamn one, and I know unequivocally when the game is over because that's when they bring out the cement mixer.

Nope, I can't do it, I can't complain about a dominoes game, even one clearly being played like it's the freakin' Olympic event. This is why my roommate and I, having ruled out fire arms (the sleep deprivation hasn't completely destroyed our powers of reason. yet), are hoping for rain. Or the onslaught of Winter. Or, hey, why not both? Freezing rain, a blizzard or two, some nighttime hail storms come Spring, I want it all. We've been getting plenty of rain in the last few weeks, but it has always cleared up by the middle of the night, allowing these hardy athletes to resume their respective contact sports. I wake up at the sound of the first touchdown or tile slap, shove my ear plugs in, seethe a bit, maybe doze off long enough to claw the damn things out of my ears, just in time for another big score.

It's quiet right now though. It's no longer raining, but the temperature might have dropped enough to keep people indoors. That, or they're all still recovering from last night's celebration. I doubt we're done for the season just yet, and tomorrow night is a Friday. I better sleep while I can.

Nighty-night.