The Rear Window Scenario

During part of the time I was in college, I lived at the ballyhooed University Center diagonally across from the main branch of the Chicago Public Library. That was very, very nice in itself, apart from the amenities of the building itself, which were fairly good.

The shape of the building was something like a capital E. This meant that if you were somewhere in the concave folds of the open side, you could easily see other units in the same building just a short distance across the way. One tries to be conscientious when living so close to so many people, as the chances for violating another's privacy are so many. We are only human though, and I am no exception in that regard. I would sometimes look to see what I could see, which was never anything more interesting that what I was doing. People would put up signs meant to be seen by us opposite them. I often wondered what signs might be visible on our side from their perspective.

Here where I am in LA, my building is smaller and comprised of many fewer units. It's a regular rectangular building with an inner courtyard, and does not afford views of other units in the building from bedroom windows. You can see from the living room and kitchen areas, but there's really nothing to see but doors. From the bedroom windows though, you can see the next building over, whose eastern wall constrains our parking lot. Most of what can be seen these days is construction. I'm not entirely clear on what they're doing, but it's some kind of work on the outside of that wall. Nothing compelling. The noise is unpleasant at times. Other than that, you just see a TV on, things like that. This whole post came about because I saw a hand poking through the plastic sheeting covering the construction work.

So, that's all for now.