August22

My 5 Favorite Sounds

This is the fifth in a series of 5 blog posts that talk about my favorite things in regards to my senses. Yeah, it's a bit dorky, but just go with it.

"Let me clear my throat," is one of the best songs (link requires Spotify). Ever. DJ Kool can do no wrong (or at least he did none wrong when he created this song). And I bet I'm really annoying my pod mates at work because I listen to it quite often. Don't worry, though, because I make up for it with my super sweet chair dance. And don't pretend that you don't know what a chair dance is, because you do. It's very similar to a car dance, but you're not in a car. Or driving. Unless you're driving your internet car.

So back to clearing throats – it is definitely not one of my favorite sounds. But I do have some. Here are some sounds that you won't find on this list: throat clearing, specific words, any sound from Bad Girls Club (except maybe the end credits – psyche), love songs, dogs barking, acoustic guitar love songs, witches' creaky voices, country music love songs ... or any love song from any genre and instrument for that matter. And, no, I'm not against love songs. I just like to reserve those for special times. Like the bath tub. Or client meetings. Or when I'm walking around in storm drains (ask Aaron, I used to sing love songs all the time when we were exploring Fayetteville's sewage tunnels).

But I do have some favorite sounds. I've even taken the time to list them below in a randomly numbered order. Please enjoy them. If it helps, think of me typing on my keyboard while you read it. The sound it makes is pleasant and not a clicky-click noise like most keyboards.

5. The Faultless Unloading System
There's a building next to my office where a ton of cleaning and, uh, starching is done. It's the Faultless Linen building. And due to the amount of, duh, linens that come through that building, they have a system where they unload the dirty linens out back and they're carried up to the wash room. The linens come in large bundles which are loaded onto a mechanical chain/pulley. The bundle is slowly lifted the height of the building and then slides down a series of rollers until it enters the building. This whole process is a cool series of sounds. The first part (the lifting) is like riding in a roller coaster and you're being pulled up that first large incline. It clicks and clacks. The second is similar to the rollers at an airport that your luggage rolls out on after the nosey airport workers x-ray your bags. I don't know why I told you all of that. It would've been so much easier to just go and record it. Sorry.

4. Cicadas
If the visual of summer is fireflies, then this is the sound of summer. I remember the first time I realized what I was hearing. I. Freaked. Out. Because. I. Didn't. Know. What. It. Was. But then someone told me and I was all like, "okay, cool." Since then, it's rare that I even realize that the cicadas are singing. But I do notice it because half the summer, they're not there, and then all of a sudden they're there. It's like someone flipped a switch. More specifically, a cicada switch where when you turn it on, they start to make that noise they make. Soooo cool. I hope scientists take note and create a Cicada Sound Switch (patent pending). They could make a lot of dollars.

3. British Accents
Have you ever heard someone talk and thought, "man, that person is probably really smart and definitely smarter than I am." I think that nearly every time I hear a British person talk. Seriously. I've never heard one speak that I thought was stupid. It's upsetting, really, and it makes me want to learn how to speak like they do. But not spell the way they do, that's just absurd. I blame them 100% every time I try to spell "mustache" as "moustache." Yes, it's a word that I type out quite often. Perhaps the more I type it, the quicker I can actually grow one.

2. Children Laughing
Who doesn't love to hear someone laughing? If you raised your hand, a) you can leave, but before you do, b) who raises their hand while reading a blog on their computer? Anyway, everyone loves to hear someone laughing. It's infectious (not in a gross, sickly way). What's better than someone laughing? A child laughing. Anything a child does is pure. And when they laugh, their happiness could not be more pure. The best part about it is if a child is laughing at you, they really think you're funny. They haven't figured out how to fake laugh yet. But all it takes is one weird day when all the inhabitants of a small town pass out and then have babies on the same day – babies that grow up and can speak to each other telepathically. At that point we're screwed and they're definitely not laughing at anything we do. I fear that day.

1. Silence
"Everyone shut up. I'm forming a hypothesis." Marky Mark said something to that effect in the amazing movie, The Happening. It was a dumb movie, definitely not worth going into now, but the point I was trying to make, before I interrupted myself, was that Marky Mark needed silence in order to think. SWITCH-UP! Back in high school, my car stereo was stolen. For some reason, I never had it replaced, and drove around for pretty much all of college with no audio source in my car. I grew very accustomed to the silence. I actually enjoyed it. I still do. I like the sound of silence. I like the sound of life happening. The ambiance of existence. I sometimes have to tell myself to be normal and turn on music. But mostly, I'll just listen to what's going on around me and will be pleased with that.

And that, my lovely friends, concludes my series of posts about my five senses. What are your favorite sounds? What was your favorite post of the series? What were you thinking when you wore that today?

+ original post date: August 22, 2011 12:54 PM
+ categories: Seth's Senses