What IS THIS?
November 10, 2025
The property owner of my building says he will have another talk with the hot dog business owners downstairs. He's spoken to them many times by my estimation, and twice he's come back to me and said exactly the same thing, "well, what do you want me to do? I tell them to turn it down and they don't turn it down... what do you want me to do? "
The building's insurance expires soon and I was asked to give guidance on the language of the lease. But I realized that the language was already perfect. All it would take is the political will to effect some positive change in service of my habitability, and my rights.
Who do I have to heal to get some understanding around here?
I'm buying another home security camera. This time, I'll go for a wired TP-Link brand home security camera, which has a native RTSP feature, and should be easier to set up than Wyze brand cameras instead of routing through a Docker Desktop environment and punching in a bunch of command line parameters just to see a live feed anywhere other than the brand's phone app.
It was never my wish to put the hot dog people on a collision course with eviction. I only sought understanding. Is this the only option I have left?
Was peace never an option?
November 7, 2025
Another disrespectful disturbance this past Sunday. I did not talk directly to the neighbors this time. The property owner gets alerted every time this happens, and it happens a lot.
I have a confession: I wear ear plugs practically all the time. These ear plugs are, arguably, the only grace I extend to my neighbors while they operate in open, brazen violation of their lease agreement, NYS Tenant Rental law, and common decency. The reason for this is because, in the absence of decency, ear plugs are the only thing from keeping my adrenaline from surging. It's not totally uncomfortable, but it's not a perfect solution either.
The ear plugs make a difference. Spending more time away from my apartment makes a big difference... yes, physically relocating myself away from the nuisance helps. But it's not sustainable. I can't avoid my apartment forever. And lately I've been having company to stay over the weekends.
Moving is an option, despite the fact prices for rentals are not great. Looking at the marketplace near me, I'm always getting less, and it would cost more. Rent abatement would barely suffice... it wouldn't resolve the issue. Simply put, I seek healing above all.
Has Buddhism helped me find peace? Yes and no.
They say, "when you come to a Buddha in the road, kill it." I am not sure exactly what that means, but I have taken it to heart in spite of my confusion, and once again feel galvanized in my mission to expedite my neighbors toward enlightenment.
There was to be a fuller write-up dating back to the events on November 26th 2023, but I did not follow through. Maybe it was some sense of respect for my neighbor's privacy, or the personal determination to maintain every shred of existing peace I had at the time.
I do not want encounters with these people. I wanted to surround myself with love. Generally speaking, the emotions I've experienced around this conflict come and go like waves; where one week I'm fully committed to my message of understanding, and then other weeks where I've found effective ways to cope such as therapy, friendship, and avoiding my apartment.
It's been mentioned to me that I attempt to practice a thing called "radical acceptance." That's a nice idea. I'll ask my neighbors to practice that if I get the chance.
June 29, 2025
I heard some thumping through the floor, so I went down to check. I guess they turned it off or something because by the time I went downstairs to check, the 2-ft. tall speaker on the floor was quiet.
"What do you want?" asked 'Sara,' the co-lessee. I told her I was just checking to see if the speaker was playing music, but noticing it wasn't, surmised there was no problem. The hot dog woman told me to fuck off, so I said, "there's no problem here that I can hear, so we're all good." She told me to fuck off again. I said, "have a good day" as I closed the door and could hear her reiterate, "go fuck yourself."
I can live with that.
I enjoyed the rest of the day in the company of close friends, far from torment. I am grateful to experience such happiness in spite of my insecurity at home.
June 22, 2025
I was assaulted by one of the lessees downstairs. I was using my phone to record a nuisance. In this case, they locked their door, turn off the lights, but kept the speaker in their business playing at full volume. I texted a video of it to the property owner, and lingered a bit trying to reason what might have damaged my neighbors to cause them to behave so poorly. When the woman co-owner drove up, they hopped out and immediately set to antagonizing me. She smelled like alcohol and attempted to wrestle my phone out of my hands. I turned around and walked away from her. She threw some object at me. I finally turned my camera on her, and this appeared to calm her down. I was upset and afraid of further violence, so I called the police, but... of course nothing has meaningfully changed. No charges filed. All the police did was attempt to mediate, and had us agree to a simple premise that we "wouldn't do this" anymore. That would be fine by me, so I immediately agreed to these terms.
I told the hot dog people, "you won't hear from me if I don't hear from you."
The police officer appeared to accept this, and left.
What did I learn from this?
I know they know they can weaponize noise against me. Their tactics are based in obstinance and malice. It's a shame, but in a grander sense I can't let it bother me.
I also learned that the security cameras in my apartment complex parking lot are... for show. Every new detail about my situation reveals new dimensions of awareness, and I discover new degrees to be angry.
One exercise I've learned from my friends is thinking about how much I love those who are close to me. Then extending that thought to people who are acquaintances. Then extending that thought to people who are strangers. Then, ultimately, to people I despise. Rooting myself in an attachment to my hatred for the hot dog people won't heal me, nor will arguing to myself in the mirror. No, change comes from within.
But this is an issue of my mental health, which I consider as real and important as my physical health. It's as serious as cancer to me. Unfortunately, I don't believe I can practice radical acceptance while I'm actively abused.
Compared to asking those who would torture me to stop torturing me (that doesn't work?), Buddhist Sound Healing remains the only thing time I've ever experienced positive change and feedback, and so the program will continue.
I've busy this summer going outside to climb mountains and stuff, so I have enough reason to leave the house for while. Happy to let things cool off.
Edit 11/10/25: I will update this post with more detail soon.
September 11, 2024
When I moved my home office out of my apartment earlier this year, it was in service of a job requiring my full and undivided attention. I was asked to created VFX for a first feature film. This was a proud moment in my career and I couldn't allow this nonsense to distract me. Now that I've completed that project, I need to reevaluate my next steps. Unfortunately the nuisance has returned little by little over the past year. I feel unwilling to speak to the hot dog people again because they've made themselves perfectly clear they have no intention of abating the nuisance they've created. Also, their personalities are extremely abrasive. As I have no desire to move at this time, I believe Buddhist Sound Healing and its message of understanding will have to come back online in a renewed capacity starting very soon.
The site exists to tune into a channel I’ve created that not only broadcasts out onto the Internet, but is simultaneously being fed through a system ensuring that every hour, on the hour, the business owner downstairs understands my healing journey through tones, advertisements, short films that you, at home would be otherwise watching on the livestream. They, on the other hand, experience the sound of thunder.
This is, and always has been, a last resort in my bid to sue for peace.
Things to look forward to in this new phase of Buddhist Sound Healing? For posterity's sake, the video and audio recording of my conversation with the nuisance from November 26th will be featured, in an edited form, in the upcoming stream schedule.
I’m calling this Phase 2.
Alas, in recent weeks, the business owner downstairs started up the music again—in clear violation of Section 9 from her lease—again. Further unfortunate is the fact that the subwoofer needed repairs, so we were down for maintenance all summer.
I got a lot done this summer. I expect to feature some of that work in Phase 2 of the stream.
February 16, 2024
Thank you all for your continued support for Buddhist Sound Healing. Our message of understanding remains a wellspring of insight for myself and others, as the story is shared far and wide.
Healing is not done overnight, nor through force of will. Healing requires looking inside ourselves. Do we have attachment, or desire? We do. Does life hold in it an innate sense of dissatisfaction? It does. Can we free ourselves from attachment? We can. Did I get a great deal on a subwoofer? I did.
We have plateaued. I have not heard noise from downstairs for a long time, no doubt in a large part because I spend more time at the office during the day than at home since moving my computer there. Nevertheless, I'm happier than I've been in a long time. Buddhist Sound Healing will continue, in its current phase, at a limited capacity for the foreseeable future.
The business owner decided, following our conversation, to keep her speakers' volume down to a reasonable level after that November conversation, and so my system's audio remained at humble 2% following this. That is because this benefits peace. No longer subject to nuisance, the livestream would merely exist for limited posterity, rather than an active message of understanding.
I wish to speak to people in a language they understand.
November 26, 2023
Had a great chat with my neighbor about the virtues of Buddhism. Will include a write-up on this soon. In the meantime, I've updated the livestream to include short films and commercials to play on a regular intervals throughout the day. A tranquility is now felt.
Edit 10/28/25: That didn't last.
September, 2023
In April 2023, a hot dog business moved beneath the apartment I rent. Immediately they set to playing loud music I could hear through the floor and spreading throughout my apartment. When asked if they could respect the implied covenant of quiet enjoyment, we were met with the sort of obstinance you see in an unruly child. This nuisance has continued unabated for eight months.
My mental health has... deteriorated.
The first time my wife and I went down to ask the new business about the noise, the co-owner we spoke to, "Annie," told us point blank: "We're not gonna do that." Ignoring the disrespect for the moment, I told Annie that if they would only turn down the bass frequencies, the volume itself would not have to come down as much. Annie said, "Oh, I'm old; I don't know how to do that." Then, seconds later, they said, "Music is nothing without bass." I glanced at the far wall of their hot dog business and noticed that painted on the wall was an eight-foot-tall mural of a boombox. I felt a headache come on, and I left.
At first, our landlord acted in good faith and asked the hot dog business directly to turn it down. He understood how serious this was, he told me. Over the past eight months, my landlord has personally and directly endured the nuisance when I asked him to stop by and see for himself. He always left agreeing with me that it was an issue. And, in the spirit of good faith, he shared the text of their business lease agreement with me.
"Oh, so you're gonna be a Nazi about the music, huh?"
- "Sara," owner and proprietor of a hot dog business
The noise was more than a nuisance. It was torture. I could not think straight. My every thought devolved into ideas or plans for how I would fix this problem and abate this nuisance. My mind would grind to a halt, interrupting any other important thing I had to do for the moment. I simply could not ignore it.
I spoke to a lawyer. He said, and I paraphrase, "You could sue them, but I wouldn't recommend it. It will cost you a lot of money, cost months of your time, and then, at the end of the day, you will get a little piece of paper from a judge. The paper is a legal injunction saying the police can show up if it's a problem. But would you really want to wait if it's that bad? If it were me, I'd just turn a speaker on them."
Virtually every day, from noon until 10 pm, my apartment is no longer a home to me. It is a husk where good memories once flourished, but no longer. I used to find joy in tending to the apartment, but now I pathologically avoid it. The moment I step through the door during the day, I become angry with the reminder that despite the law protecting my right to quiet enjoyment, I don't have it. I wish I weren't like this, but I am. My adrenaline surges.
Compounding my frustration, my wife was equally bothered by this situation. She tried politely asking the hot dog business owners to reduce the noise to acceptable levels but faced only more frustration. I had come to believe that reasoning with them was futile. Once again, I turned to any lawful avenue I could find for relief, searching for legal justifications that might protect me.
§ 197-4 Standards for determination. No person shall make, continue or cause or permit to be made, verbally or mechanically, any unnecessary noise. An "unnecessary noise" shall mean any excessive or unusually loud sound or any sound which either annoys, disturbs, injures or endangers the comfort, repose, health, peace or safety of a person or which causes injury to animal life or damage to property or business.
Any reasonable person could see how straightforward this is, I thought. However, the police don't typically enforce civil matters without a court injunction. Could I wait for that?
I, again (and many, many times since) urged my landlord to request that the neighbors comply with a lease agreement to which these people ostensibly agreed: that "no loudspeakers or other similar devise, system, or apparatus which can be heard outside the premises shall, without the prior written approval of landlord, be used in or at the premises."
For a while, I expected my landlord to address this. I found an office to work from, while my wife stayed at home. I didn't hear any complaints from her for weeks, and I believed the issue had been resolved.
I'm an optimist.
Weeks later, when my wife finally revealed that the noise hadn't abated, I would characterize my actions following this discovery to be what scientists describe as, "losing my cool."
It was 10pm. I marched outside and registered my complaint with a slam on the wall and a spit in the parking lot. I was never going to fight anyone, but I needed to express myself. The co-owners of the business, who rent the apartment next door, turned on their floodlights and stood on their porch. Our exchange went like this:
(yelling)
(like an echo)
That was, as you might imagine, my last meaningful conversation with the hot dog people. My wife went to France in June to study at a business school, leaving me behind to maintain my freelance business as a video and VFX editor. Business was good, and I couldn't afford to join her in France for eight months. With all this free time, I created a website and set up a livestream to remotely monitor my apartment, record the noise, and use it as evidence in a civil court. Regrettably, this was my only recourse. I would passively receive more cruelty until my day in court.
But... I couldn't shake the feeling something was wrong from my encounter with the hot dog owners. More than how callously indifferent they were.
It was the Buddha.
The Buddha. Incredible. I was struck by a thought: if self-proclaimed Buddhists could be so inconsiderate, so maladjusted, then what was the point of their faith? To demonstrate such an utter indifference to my suffering, what did they profit from the tenets of Buddhism? I mean look at the size of this thing. It must be over three feet tall. I checked Amazon and found their smallest Buddha, measuring a mere 3x3x5 inches, costs $10. It would have had to be an enormous investment to present yourself as Buddhist to the world. Even if the thing fell off a truck, you wouldn't put a Star of David on your front door if you weren't Jewish, nor would you put Christ on a Cross on your doorstep if you didn't expect your guests to believe you were Christians.
This concept of a fraudulent religious pretext occupied my mind more and more as the days wore on. Days turning in weeks. Weeks into months. Did they meditate? Were they observers of Buddhist holidays? Did they practice the middle way, eschewing ascetism and sensual indulgence?
No, I surmise these hot dog business owners rely so profoundly on their indulgence of loud music that they would persist in spite of their written lease agreement, town code, my pleas, my wife's pleas, my rights as a renter in New York State, and even my landlord's verbal direction to curb the nuisance. No, these owners could not possibly be followers of the Buddha.
My working theory is they think it's just a cool statue. A cool decoration. Perhaps they received it as a gift and considered it too nice to discard. But, again, imagine if this were a three-foot statue of Christ. As a non-Christian, the thought of being a gifted religious display would elicit a, "No, thank you," from me. That's just me.
"Tenant shall not do or permit anything to be done in or about the premises which will in any way obstruct or interfere with the rights of other tenants or occupants in the building or injure or annoy them, or use or allow the premises to be used for any immoral, unlawful, or objectionable purposes."
— Section Nine, Restrictions on Use
I continue to revisit their lease agreement. I find it sublime. Every new word to the next read like a personal love letter to me. It was all there, down to the arguable immorality of their counterfeit Buddha statue. But my landlord, a man more a builder than anything, refuses to evict. He's hesitant to lose revenue both from their apartment and storefront. Unfortunately, I couldn't legally compel my landlord to enforce his agreements either. I could potentially sue my landlord for rent abatement (which has precedent in New York State) but I honestly feel bad for the guy. He works for a living and doesn't deserve the hassle, even though he is legally responsible for my quiet enjoyment. Reducing my rent wouldn't solve the noise problem either. The difference between my reduced rent and the combined rent from my annoying hot dog neighbors combined wouldn't be enough for my landlord to justify eviction. I've crunched the numbers. And, for what it's worth, I don't actually want them evicted either. Eviction brings with it an assortment of grief and inconvenience I would not actively wish on anyone. Even my asshole hot dog neighbors.
So here I am, nearly eight months into sheer misery, with nothing to show for it. My mental health would have swan dived off a cliff a long time ago were it not for the ongoing support and understanding I receive from friends and family. On YouTube, tales of people battling their own noisy neighbors are plentiful; comments sections with unreserved adoration and glee to see the bastard neighbors get theirs. An eye for an eye.
Am I above such a thing?
Forgive me the opportunity to elaborate on this feeling. Throughout this ordeal I've learned some things, like setting up a sophisticated live stream and building a website that streams an RTSP feed of my home security camera. A little graphic design here and there. These are things I already knew about. Then there is the abstract: no law is real unless it can be enforced. As the saying goes, the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing.
Another lesson I've learned is I should avoid attributing to malice that which can be attributed to ignorance. Miscommunication often arises when we expect too much from others, and overlook the how ignorance shapes our shared perception of reality. To truly connect, we must attune our frequencies, so to speak. In this light, I've tried to dispel my neighbors' ignorance and convey the cruelty they've inflicted. I don't believe they can continue to feign ignorance after all of this, but I also don't think they fully grasp the extent of their noise. Perhaps you can see where this is leading.
That's right: I've become a Buddhist myself.
Perhaps you didn't see that coming. But it's true. To prove it, I bought myself my own Buddha.
There he is. I bought in. I'm now a Buddhist!
Being a Buddhist is wonderful. I've been one for about two months now, and it comes with almost no responsibilities or obligations. Well, I think that's what Buddhism is about, at least. I do have the statue now, and I'm pretty sure that entitles me to the same religious benefits as my neighbors. I can feel it.
I doubt I'll read any important Buddhist texts. The statue is enough for me. The reality is I'm desperate for meaning in a seemingly meaningless world. This might just work!!
Unfortunately, despite the newfound assurance and warm feelings I get from passing by my new "Lil Buddy," I still have very real and intractable environmental conditions preventing me from meditating and achieving the promise of tranquility Buddhism offers. I checked some forums online and discovered that there are indeed buildings in remote locations where people can meditate quietly for extended periods, although these places tend to be expensive.
So, what's next? My gut tells me to start a small business. So here it is: Buddhist Sound Healing. I haven't figured out how to monetize it, but I don't think it would be very Buddhist to do that. Or would it? I don't know. Is that Buddhist? I really have no idea.
Regardless, I am committed to being the best Buddhist Buddhism has to offer... me. In a sense, it's all really self-evident, if you think about it.
584hr 40min
