The Opposite of "Woo!"

I am constantly weirded out by the fact that living in the smallest apartment I've ever lived in, in the most densely populated neighborhood I've ever lived, in the most densely packed-in strange little city I've ever lived in is nevertheless the quietest and most peaceful place I've been since I left home at 17 to ride the rails.*, **

Here is an example: when we lived in Eugene the last time, B and I were in a dumpy little wreck of a house (still: two bedrooms and a garage for 750/month) on a corner in between two much larger houses, both of which were chock full of screaming 19 year-old U of O girls. This was the phase of my life in which I called the cops, oh, every week, chased hobos out of our yard with our maglite, and cultivated my hatred for sports schools and drunk teenagers.

Contrast with two evenings ago, when our next door neighbor*** came over and informed us that he was having a wine-and-cheese birthday party the next night, that we were welcome to stop by, that if it got too loud just to let him know, and that he'd like to give us a bottle of delicious California Zinfandel for our trouble. And, last night, the sum total of the ruckus was some laughter and conversation, vaguely heard through the wall before I succumbed to my usual massive dose of melatonin.

My point? I think it's that sports schools breed evil while dork schools breed good. Also, I like free wine.

P.S. Apparently, "succumbed" really is the past participle of "to succumb." Who knew?!

* This doesn't count Paris, which was definitely weirder and denser than anywhere else.
** I'm making the rails thing up, obviously, although I did move out at 17 and went on a road trip as far as the Hoover Dam with my then-girlfriend.
*** I call him The Phantom Menace because he and his roommate were watching one of the terrible newer Star Wars movies we could hear through the wall some months ago.