white noise

i tried to sleep without the air conditioner on, because i got too cold. it was fairly cold outside... more cool really, enough for a pair of running pants and a windbreaker (if you wear that kind of thing), but definitely not the kind of weather where you need an air conditioner. i mean, it's january.

i couldn't use the heater though. the prior occupant was very clear on that account:

"if you turn the heater on, it will smell like something is burning. then all of your clothes and things will smell like burning, and you will not like it" (he e-nun-ci-a-ted)

i didn't believe him at first... smell like burning, HA. he probably didn't clean out the filter. i opened up the access door and Voila! it was filthy. so i gently removed it and carried it outside so as not to knock even a modicum of dust onto my rug. once outside however, i beat it against the railing for a minute in the somewhat unchoreographed ballet style of a drunken swashbuckler.

i returned back inside, somewhat disheveled and all-together covered in dust, replaced the filter, turned the heater onto the lowest setting, and waited all of 4 seconds before i could smell the burning. it was all of 10 seconds before i smelled like burning, and i most definitely did not like it.

it smelled as if the whole thing would blow at any minute: coppery ozone with a little of burnt dust and hair thrown in there for good measure. it tingled my tongue and stuck in my throat when i inhaled. there was no question, the heater was definitely not turning back on. so it was off then... if a/c is too cold and heat will burn the place down, then i wasn't going to use the damn thing at all. so off went the light, and into the bed i went.

i heard the door down the hall open, someone took 23 steps to the end of the hall and opened the far door into the wind, slamming it into the railing. then someone two rooms down coughed. then the person next door came home, and i heard every single article of their clothing hit the floor. then i heard the music they were playing... in their earphones. someone else left their room. someone else came back. someone told a funny joke, and somebody didn't sleep.

me

so the fan came back on, filling the room with a soft teddy bear of a noise that hid the world from my ears. i put my running pants and windbreaker on, pulled the covers up over my head... and fell blissfully asleep.

sweet dreams.