I'm A Notorious Creeper
Let's first define our terms:
5. Informal / Slang
A person whose behavior—often unwanted or socially inappropriate—causes discomfort, unease, or fear in others (frequently used in the context of stalking, harassment, or unwanted digital surveillance).
Hmm, it had a lot of definitions based on context, this one was the closest one to what my comprehension of the word was, but you know it doesn't feel right. I am not stalking or harassing anyone, everyone included in today's essay was a neighbor who was in a public space, well except one, he was totally at home.
Maybe I am not a creeper, but just a curious human being. I don't bring a book if I am taking the train anymore, because I find it much more interesting just watching the other humans, and seeing what they are up to. Watching what humans get up to, and into is highly entertaining.
I am probably socially inappropriate, though albeit all the photos I am sharing today are ones I haven't previously shared, because they were seriously for my private use only. I have never been one of those people to record folks in public places, than post that content to some platform for the likes, or to endorse a personal fetish. I think that definitely constitutes unwanted digital surveillance.
Like the guy up top, he's the sixth floor daddy in the brand spanking new building across the street. I have lived in my apartment for twenty-nine years, and never had window coverings because for that entire time there were no opposing buildings facing mine. The new normal of the fact that I now have six new neighbors who have two balconies per unit totally fits into my love of people watching.
From what they allow me to see I have figured out little bits of information about them, like the 2nd floor is the youngest of the folks who moved in on the west-side of the building, and the most likely to be expecting a child in the next year or two. I think the 4th floor has the older woman, possibly in her sixties who loves her privacy, she put up window coverings before she was even moved in. She surprises me because there are some days when she loves to open those coverings for an hour or so before packing it back in like a turtle going back inside it's shell.
The fifth floor airs out their apartment every day for an hour or two. They use a piece of patio furniture to prop open the living room balcony door. I was fascinated by this because this was the only floor that did a thorough cleaning of their space as they were moving in. I can recall seeing a woman of color scrubbing away in the kitchen, I admired her dedication to cleanliness even though it bordered on OCD, because the building was brand new. I watched it put up brick by brick.
Now 6th Floor Daddy, I am guessing he's in his early 40s, he likes to bike and he also smokes. Those two things are always confusing to me, folks who are active or sporty, but they love to pollute their lungs, it seems counter-intuitive. He enjoys coming out to the terrace usually during the end of the day when the sun is going down. I have also seen him have a few meals outside, he also likes to read. He always sits facing the south usually with his legs crossed. I of course love it most when he comes out barefooted, to clarify it's not that I have a foot-fetish, more of a foot-curiosity, but I also just love how the line of his bare legs are extended when he has no feet coverings.
I only noticed yesterday that he is actually more attractive than I initially thought he was. I think the last photo I took of him wasn't as good, but the light was great yesterday, and my shaky hand was able to capture a clean shot. I hadn't noticed the tats on his left arm before either or his Adam's apple or the start of his potential pre-mature male balding. I think the hairline is why I had thought he was older than he really is. He lives in the unit I think with his wife, she could be a daughter, that is something it's hard to determine from just watching folks, what is their relationship to each other?
Now the next dude was the Brazilian boyfriend of my former gay neighbor, this barrel-chested whyte boy who couldn't keep his man off of the fire escape. As I said I usually capture folks in public places, it doesn't get anymore public than the fire escape connecting our two apartments.
The boyfriend loved to take phone calls outside. I figured out he was Brazilian from the fact that he usually spoke Portuguese when on the phone. He also had a tendency to always be outside barefoot. I have over a dozen photos of him, standing, laying and squatting out there. I think they moved out in '18 for a bigger place for the both of them. My apartment is cute, but it's a studio and not comfortable at all for two grown adults to occupy at the same time.
Now the next image could potentially constitute stalking, maybe? I mean it's from my time up on the roof, is it my fault the guy had an unobstructed view into his living room via his skylight? Later he would put a kind of frosted covering, I don't think I inspired that, I was pretty discreet during my early morning visits, but I don't think the rest of my neighbors were as stealthy as me, so after it being open and clear for like three or four years he finally covered himself.
I have this guys name somewhere, the zoom feature on my point and shoot is amazing, and he left a piece of mail on his table that I was able to zoom in and capture his full name. He is also a smoker, he would come up to the roof to tend his garden and have his morning cigarette. He lived alone in the one bedroom apartment, and curiously unlike myself was usually clothed when at home.
In my head he's gay, albeit I haven't observed one thing to confirm or deny this theory. He's barrel-chested but much heavier than my former gay neighbor, with his beard he totally creeps into the potential of being a bear. If I had to guess his age, I think he's in my age range, but older maybe in this photo in his mid-fifties. Lovely apartment, very solitary life, I don't think I ever once observed him having company or a visitor not even on the roof garden that used to be on #1, remember I number the different roofs.
We would usually be on the same cycle, the time he came up to the roof with his coffee and to have his cigarette I was usually out sun-bathing over on #7, where curiously I had a perfect view of him even from so far away. My favorite perch near the rear of #7 gave me an excellent overall view of all the roofs particularly the doors coming out of bulkheads, I could easily see if I was getting guest or not while reading or posing for photos.
I saw Jeff, let's call him that, because I don't feel like searching for that one image of his mail, I saw Jeff recently, and he looked a lot older, yes I know I am one to talk, but my photo of him was from eight years ago and a lot had changed in that time. He was about the same physical size, but his colors had faded, he felt like he had moved into the sixties range or maybe late fifties, whyte folks generally don't age as those of us with more melanin.
Let's wrap this up with the last dude who I call the Russian Boyfriend who seems to be the on and off partner of my neighbor for the last eight years or so whom I call the Dyke. I guess I need to stop for an explanatory comma, I call her the Dyke albeit she is clearly fucking this dude, she's not the prettiest woman. I have bumped into her on the stairs and looked dead in her face and not caught an ounce of beauty there. I think she is Eastern European like her little man. She is also very tall, I think easily my height 5'11", which on a bad day is huge for a lady.
I can remember two days ago I saw two dudes bringing up this huge heavy-ass package from Amazon, some kind of cabinet. This is the last reason why I call her the Dyke, she was one of those dudes. I know the male form very well, and I am constantly mistaking her for a dude. Which just means she doesn't perform her gender in a traditional way, but I love the tease of calling her a Dyke.
Her man Russian Boyfriend that is the name I have given him in iOs Photos, even though I did have his name at one point because he had a package delivered here. When that happened I looked him up on Facebook using my dead grandmothers account. He's a musician, he plays a viola or violin, something like that, they all look the same to me.
He's very disruptive for someone not actually on the lease. Like so many of the men I have shared today he is also a smoker. First he loved to go and take out his fifth cigarette of the day on the fire escape, now this was annoying particularly if I had my window open because then I am getting second-hand smoke. The Dyke also had a bad window, so eventually she shut down his going out on the fire escape and he was than relegated to the roof, which I didn't have a problem with unless it was the dead of winter.
Like so many young persons he wasn't very cognitive of other people living in the building, and would go up to the roof to smoke, but never close the roof door. I had discovered that leaving that door open effected the temperature within the individual units. It was bizarre because as I have said I have lived here for nearly thirty years and never had a problem with my apartment being hot during the winter months. But the building couldn't regulate itself if the cold air was blowing inside that it was trying to heat.
As I said the Russian Boyfriend was disruptive, I put up signs about closing the door, than had to get the landlord involved, and the last step was me actually approaching the Dyke and telling her about the problem her little man was causing, curiously on a day she was up on the roof smoking. I didn't have any issues with the temperature in my apartment after that, and no extraordinary electric bill from me running a space heater to supplement my heat.
RB loved to take advantage, and during a time that the Dyke was away he threw a party in her unit that spilled out and onto the roof. He also had the caucasity to fuck another woman in her bed, I was like #WTF wow! They broke up for a while after that cause it was months before I saw his ass again. I feel like whatever his living situation was, he had like multiple roommates which is why he preferred to stay at the Dyke's house if he could. She also has a cat, maybe two so he would usually come by to feed them and take care of their litter.
I have over forty photos and videos of him. And I only know he's Russian because he too liked to take phone calls or do FaceTime's with his MacBook on the fire escape. It is so funny to me that that fire escape is like a third space for folks in the city, but always the people who aren't even on the lease.
I had some more photos I had creeped, but I am already at two thousand words, much longer than I had expected this piece to be. I want y'all to understand I am a person of a certain age, I live alone and I ain't got no kids, so it's very easy for me to get caught up in what the folks are doing around me, particularly if they aren't being discreet about it. I mean I saw Dr. Melvyn's foreskin before, he's a longer term tenant who lives on the fourth floor. My nephew says I am extremely nosey, I said, if folks do something that can be seen easily or readily by others, I am obligated to look! And if the light is right I might just take a photo or video. I mean there was this guy in the building across from mine who loved to masturbate at his computer near the back window of his apartment, which was totally and completely unobstructed and viewable from the roof. I got the 🍿and watched!
As I said I find human beings extremely entertaining, and I mustn't be alone because reality TV is such a huge thing. I don't think what I am doing is necessarily harming anyone, the experiences are usually for my private viewing, and I don't even really discuss them, because it feels somewhat inappropriate, but it's not my fault folks don't have window coverings, and decide to fuck in full view of a window. But also have the nerve to be loud! Trust, if I didn't first hear them, I would have never went over to the lightwell to watch#🤷🏿♂️
[Photos courtesy of the Brown estate]
