So do I

Are you hungry?  I have a rich and meaty irony for you.

Last night, music (not loud, but bassy) kept waking me up.  This afternoon, some wanna be gangster, whom I'm pretty sure was a drug dealer, since he was dressed like a gang member, driving a Caddy, playing loud Raggaeton?  Made a lot of racket across the street.

Now, it's next door.  Apparently another birthday party.

See, we have a cultural issue.  Here's how "my" birthday parties went, the ones I had, and the ones I attended.  The kids came over in the afternoon.  Only the kids, the parents dropped them off and left.  We played games, ate cake and punch, no music.  Then the birthday kid opened their presents, we played for a while, then left.

A Latino birthday party, and I've witnessed dozens by now, is a very different creature.  Entire families come over, at night.  The adults drink alcohol and play loud music.  The kids play outside for a while.  Then they do the piñata.  Loud music combines with the crying of small children past their bedtime, in addition to the shrieking children, and loud adult conversations,  right outside my bedroom wall.  This goes on for hours past my bedtime.

It's not just the family next door; they are the ones I see the most.  I just wonder if anyone ever gets up early anymore, like I do.

And I can't complain about it because it's a birthday party, even though half the kids in the house are crying and need to go to bed.  So do I, kids, so do I.