16 Memorable Moments (or Sets of Moments) at View Towers

I'm feeling pretty nostalgic today so I'm foregoing my usual "no personal stuff" rule for once to describe 16 memorable moments of living in View Towers for over 13 years (in brainstorming order):

1. During the early years, there was a roach problem, and at least one of the roaches made it into my VCR. As the roach passed near the lighted areas such as the clock, its "outline" (the natural lines on its body) lighted up a nice yellow. Sometime after the roach incidents I rented Joe's Apartment for catharsis.
2. My neighbour directly to the left of me (currently, as I type this) who often goes on rants of how you're all going to hell, and telling someone to shut up; sometimes his rants are given a extra oomph by his pounding on something
3. The first major fire (after a lengthy period of false alarms) which wiped out a lot of the hallway to the 12 floor and even damaged the elevator (the woman responsible left her door open upon leaving the apartment, permitting the flames to spread). The flames went up I think three stories and a bit to the left. Despite this many people were content to remain in the building and watch, including one guy whose balcony was being licking by the flames (I think he eventually got around to leaving).
4. Related to the above, the fire hoses turned out to have a lot of holes in them. Consequently after the above incident the fire hoses were removed "for our safety"
5. The neighbours directly above me were always being noisy, usually fighting and bouncing things around (though once it was, er, a possible attempt to procreate). One night I found myself wishing that they'd finally do something to get kicked out (not knowing that they had already been given notice). The next morning at 4:15 I heard a lot of crashing, far worse than usual. I phoned security but no answer. I went to the bathroom as I debated whether to call security or the police, but then the fire alarm went off. They had burnt down their apartment, thus solving the noise problem nicely (except for the occasional repair sounds). Very minimal water damage to my place, happily
6. I also had a rat problem very briefly. Once I had a friend over (who later moved into the building) when a rat in the kitchen deicded to play peek-a-boo. i'd see it briefly and try to point it out to my friend but as he turned his head the rat would disappear. My friend never did see it during the peek-a-boo situation
7. Another time I saw an incredible amount of ants in my kitchen. Out of desperation I put a bunch of salt on the floor. That proved to be the only time I ever saw the ants
8. The same friend from #6 and I got in the elevator (again, prior to his moving in). Two people got in the elevator and started fighting in front of the elevator buttons. i managed to hit the button for the floor directly above mine. When the doors opened, they continue fighting, but they were polite enough to shift slightly so my friend and I could leave the elevator
9. This one's actually a series of events. Every so often what I call "The View Towers Express" happens, where stuff gets tossed off the balcony. Chairs, a TV, a bikini, a radio, and a sofa are among the stuff that has landed down below
10. Another catch all: many times I've found myself roped into conversations with people who were drunk or otherwise intoxicated while waiting for the elevators. Most of these I'm amused by this and have responded politely, but if you'll permit a moment of seriousness among an otherwise funny blog post, one time a woman got in after a fight and had taken quite the beating. Sad, but as memorable as the more funny moments
11. Another catch-all: yellow puddles are not unknown to stay in the stairwells for days on end
12. The time that the sauna/hot tub was said to be closed due to "vandalism/moronism" according to a sign. Unfortunately they're closed for repairs most of the year, in part due to people using the hot tub as a free laundry machine
13. It used to be the washers and dryers were on every second floor (one set of each per floor) with the coin-op areas usually ripped open (there is now a central laundry area which is keycard operated). Because the washing load took longer than the drier, people routinely would switch floors to dry their clothes, which in turn meant that other people would also need to shift their floors for drying. I once did this myself because it was pretty standard procedure and had to endure a pretty long lecture from one guy (who I suspect later removed my clothes before the cycle was finished so he could use the dryer)
14. Likewise in the new laundry area it's common practice if all the dryers are full to remove the clothes from a dryer whose cycle is finished (this has happened to me more than once and it doesn't bother me because no one can know how long they'll have to wait). Once I did this to someone else and she showed up and freaked out
15. For quite a few weeks this year, spray paint on one of the exits greeted vacating people with "F--- you"
16. I'll end this on a happy note. View Towers used to have a free satellite which picked up TV land, so I was able to watch a lot of retro shows from my childhood (e.g. Star Trek: The Animated Series and the animated Fonz and the Happy Days Gang), plus some I passed over such as Hill Street Blues. The downside was the reception often suck. When the satellite finally had to be taken down, the rent actually got lowered.

I originally was going to do 10, but 13 years is a long time to be living in a strange place, so you all got a bonus.