Apartment living

I've moved over 20 times in my life. (Yes, 20. That's not a typo.) Given the fact that the majority of those places have been apartments, it's no surprise that I've seen my fair share of bad neighbors. The worst ones have been in the last five years. I thought I had it pretty bad with my neighbors in Santa Monica when I lived on my own, but ever since I lost my job and had to give up my own place, everywhere I've lived has gone from bad to worse. My mom and I moved from Oxnard to Moorpark last March into a bottom unit, and let me tell you, I would not recommend it to anyone, no matter how desparate your situation is (and ours was, and still is, desparate; I really have no idea how we're going to resolve this). It's never worth living underneath someone. For the last few months I've found myself in this neverending negative cycle in my own head thinking, "I wish I didn't live here", "when am I ever going to be able to earn enough money to live on my own again", and "please, for the love of God, give me the strength not to murder my neighbors in their sleep." This way of thinking doesn't get one anywhere. Especially me. I'm normally a positive person, and the universe always responds immediately to my positive thoughts. Well, I guess it responds just as swiftly to my negative ones.

I won't get into the whole story, but basically I'm not getting much sleep. Most of the time, if I manage to clock a full eight hours, it's not good quality sleep. It hasn't been fun, and the anxiety caused from not knowing if I'm going to get any sleep is starting to make me physically sick.

So what is one to do in such a situation? Most people simply say to move, but like I said before, I'm not in a good place financially to move, and like most people in America right now, my credit just isn't good enough. I'm not sure if there really is an answer to this other than the obvious. Maybe I just want to get it out there, off my chest and into the void.

Has anyone ever had bad experiences with neighbors? (I'm assuming if you've ever lived in California, the answer would be yes.) If anyone wants to share and help me feel a little less horrible about my own situation for a few minutes, it would be welcome. Oh, and any stories about getting back at neighbors are welcome as well. Really. I'm just saying, it would entertaining to hear.