I am currently sitting in the domestic Delta Terminal at JFK. I think it’s Terminal 3. I can NOT remember the last time I was in a large space where seriously loud noise was utterly inescapable. Announcements, CNN t.v. speakers, music, security alerts.
It is a cacophony and is utterly wretched. I know it ain’t supposed to be string quartets and herb tea in a candle-lit environment but for heaven’s sake IT’S REALLY FUCKING LOUD IN HERE.
I can’t remember the last space I was in that was not noisy. Maybe I’m getting old or something, but being in a very quiet space is becoming a luxury not the norm.
I plan on turning on those noise canceling headphones and zoning out the second I can.
Why doesn’t anyone talk about this anymore? I’m cranky about it too. Here at my own home, I’m surrounded by ritzy subdivisions who constantly have swarms of maintenance men over doing maintenance things. LOUDLY. Leafblowers, lawnmowers, string trimmers, nail guns, power washers, etc. etc. SHADDUP with the noise already !!! :mad:
I live in the country. The freaken geese are coming back. Do you know how loud 500 geese landing in the coulee can be? And the damn coyotes and night! I can hardly sleep with all the racket here!
Next it’s going to be the bloody frogs and crickets. Where in the world can I go for quiet? :smack:
That was mean, Farmer Chick, and you are SO going to hell–which is also noisy, I’m given to understand, what with the screaming of the damned souls and whatnot. So watch yourself, missy!
I feel your pain, though, Cartooniverse, because it seems like every place I go is getting ridiculously loud and obnoxious. I gave up on mauls years ago precisely for this reason, but most other public spaces are becoming just as horrible. WTF is wrong with people that they can’t stand even one moment without a barrage of noisy input from myriad sources? It seems counterintuitive, but I’ve taken to using the mp3 player on my phone in self defense–yes, it does make noise but it’s noise I choose and at a volume I choose, and it cancels out the cacophony around me.
Don’t they have those headphones that use white noise to cancel out ambient sound? I think I need a set of those…
The last time I went to San Jose’s megamall, I stopped by the food court to grab some lunch.
Here’s how the noise was layered there: the mall itself played some sort of music over the P.A… Each individual food “booth” played their own music. Workers at each booth hawked their wares by calling out to passersby to sample something. Shopping corporate wives brought strollersful of children and turned them loose to run, screaming and sobbing, through and around the tables, while the moms themselves yammered on their cell phones.
End result: the din was DEAFENING and after trying to shakily eat some premade sushi, I hightailed it out of there. I won’t return, either. Nowadays I will only pop in to the Macy’s at the end of the mall and out again without entering the mall proper. I just can’t take the cacophony!
The condo that I’m currently renting is on the ground floor in the front of the building. Now that it’s spring, several mornings every week I have to turn up my TV in order to be able to hear it over the noise from the landscaping crew working right outside my window.
And I had the same problem last month at Midway Airport in Chicago. I couldn’t hear my mp3 player over the sound of constant announcements about security procedures (I’m already in the terminal, having gone through security…why do I have to be told about 3-1-1 or whatever that stupid code is for how you’re supposed to carry liquids?) or that there is a chapel available at the airport (it was the Wednesday before Easter).
Dude, I so feel your pain. It’s gotten to the point where all I really want anymore is a dark room, a soft bed, a warm blanket, total DARK and PEACE AND FREAKIN’ QUIET! My hsuband is the worst offender - something is ALWAYS on - usually a TV - and I can’t freakin’ stand it.
I think the worst are airports, when you’re stressed out from traveling, anyway. The noise just adds to the jitters. Sometimes I’ll wear earplugs AND the noise canceling headphones. I’ve been a Red Carpet Club once or twice, and the difference is noticeable.
This aspect of contemporary life baffles me. Some communities try to get the leaf blowers banned, but it amazes me that they were ever allowed in the first place.
Last night I sat down in a cafe for some nice quiet conversation with a friend. The place was almost empty and talking was easy. Then a few more groups came in, and the noise level rose a bit. Then a group sat down at the next table, and those people were practically shouting their conversation. This, of course, made everyone else raise the volume of their own conversations. Then the music got turned up. WAY up.
My friend and I pretty much had to shout from that point on. Fully half of the conversation consisted of “WHAT?!?”
My husband and both his kids are like this. My husband at least puts a sleep timer on the TV so it will shut itself off an hour after he falls asleep, but the kids leave theirs on all day and all night. (TVs in every room…argh, that’s another rant). And are these TVs kept at a tolerable listening level? Guess.
Of COURSE not!! My poor precious baby lit a firecracker too close to his ear when he was an irresponsible dumbass kid and now can’t hear well out of one ear - so everything is ten times louder.
WHAT??? NO I COULDN’T HEAR YOU ASK FOR A DAMN BEER OVER THE DAMN TV - GET IT YOURSELF!!! Fun times, man - fun times.
Noisy restaurants are the worst, IMO. You want to relax and talk with the people you came in with and you just can’t. And some of those trendy places that think minimalist design is a good idea, with the bare floors and walls and exposed ceiling beams? It looks and sounds like a freakin’ airplane hangar in there. Who ever thought that was a good idea?
Maybe the chapel would be a quieter place to wait? No snark- I’m serious. I just renewed our Admiral’s Club membership with American Airlines (yeah, another rant for another thread), and it’s the best money I’ve spent all month. Much more peace and quiet, plus food and better coffee. And a bar.
My grandmother spent most of her adult life living in downtown Manhattan. She would dread going out to visit my folks at the far end of Long Island during the summer – the crickets were so loud, she said, they kept her awake! :dubious:
One of the reasons I don’t like crowds. Bleh. No way to escape it.
Funny thing is that I live on a busy street, have an air cleaner, two computers, ceiling fan in the bedroom, and occasionally the air conditioner or heater running. My tiny house is a FONT of white noise. When we move in a couple of weeks, we’re going to a very quiet street with a big house and all of the white noise will be gone. I can’t WAIT to find out how my broken little brain reconciles that.
The good news is that we’ll be able to hear the coyotes. I like that sound.
I tell you what, there is NOTHING better than the Delta Crown Room Lounge or whatever the equivalent is. You don’t even realize how very loud it is sometimes until you get to the soothing land of free drinks.
My AmEx Platinum Card gets me and a friend in - you may have something that gets you in some nice part of the airport that you don’t even know about! (Did I mention the drinks are free? And they have a ticketing desk to solve all your problems?)
