MetaChat is an informal place for MeFites to touch base and post, discuss and
chatter about topics that may not belong on MetaFilter. Questions? Check the FAQ. Please note: This is important.
12 August 2007
What do you hear outside your window right now?→[More:]It’s blasting drums over here so loud I can’t even hear myself type this. It must be someone’s wedding, a festival I don’t know about, or some other auspicious occasion.
The sun is brilliant (and hot!) and the sky is electric blue... but there is a sweet breeze, and something about the clarity of the light today insinuates the first promise of Autumn.
The ventilation fans of neighborhood buildings.
Light wind in trees.
Cars in the distance.
Something moving, which would likely be (a) office building custodial staff; (b) a drunk and/or homeless person; or (c) bears.
Trains. And our fans on our dog. Wasn't there some recordings of everyday noise out on the intertubes someplace? I must revisit my favorites in MeFi to see if I [hopefully] marked it.
I hear a blanket of fog. Which means, I don't hear anything outside, it's fluffily silent and it looks like the clouds are on their silent stealthy march.
A few days ago I heard an amazing piercing shriek and I looked up just in time to see a hawk swinging through the yard and over the rooftops opposite, followed by its mate. Everything after the shriek went quiet, but that felt more like every creature was holding its breath, waiting for it to be safe; it was a wild raw silence. This silence, now, is friendly and safe and warm.
Nothing. I believe that's the sound of the world melting. It's been over 90 degrees here every day for the last ten days or so and today is no exception. So actually I can't hear anything since I have three fans going.
Stepped out onto porch. Thin faint high whine of insects. Car going by. Dog panting. World still melting.
My landlord and a friendly ten-year-old neighbor boy. They're listening to Prairie Home Companion, playing with my dog, and companionably doing various cleanup tasks in the courtyard.
I was just sitting outside, reading a magazine and talking to the birds (the scrub jays are social; the hummingbirds seem to be in an aerial war for rights to the lemon tree, which involves much hovering and chirruping and high-speed swooping) and watching the sunlight, and I heard the beats from a drum circle at Golden Gate Park.
It felt like hadjiboy's drums and celebration had marched across the globe, to my backyard. It was an unspeakably nice feeling.
photo by splunge
photo by TheophileEscargot
photo by Kronos_to_Earth
photo by ethylene
