Ruckus

There was quite the ruckus happening last night outside my bedroom window.



I'm not sure exactly what was going on, but I think it involved a law enforcement officer, a defiant local citizen, and a large pile of dirt that had been illegally dumped onto the street earlier that day.

Call it apathy combined with laziness, but I was not about to change out of my comfy pajamas and into some socially-acceptable attire in order to go outside and get some details on the situation. All I know is that whatever the actual source of the ruckus was, it was enough to cause my dog to start barking up a storm, thereby inducing a fair degree of internal household ruckus. When it became evident that the little guy wasn't about to stop, I started coaxing and eventually (yes, I'll admit it) yelling at him to please give the barking a rest, thereby contributing to the ruckus myself.

Once the ruckus chain was in full-swing, there was really no turning back. I had two choices: wait out the initial ruckus, or approach the original ruckus-causers and ask them to please minimize the ruckus so that my crazy dog could possibly calm down.

Since a key player in the outdoor ruckus was, as I mentioned, a member of the local police force, I decided not to mess with the situation. (Besides, I was really, really comfortable in those jammies.) So instead, I sat there patiently, just hoping that the ruckus would eventually subside.

Then suddenly I realized something: despite the annoyance, the whole situation was rather cool. I had a ruckus happening right outside my window! Here in Central New Jersey! Where nothing exciting happens! There it was - my very own dose of ruckus.

Eventually, it was over. The officer left, my dog calmed down, and things went back to normal.

Looking back on it now (you know, less than 24 hours later, when detached contemplation truly sets in), I think I'm going to miss the ruckus just a little bit. Sure, it was loud and disruptive, but it made me feel like I was part of something a whole lot greater - and noisier - than myself.

I never said I didn't have issues.