Silence

Melina's diary -

I was at boyfriend's house the other day (parents' house, in the suburbs) and I went down to get something the basement. And just as I hit the bottom of the stairs, I got the oddest feeling. I felt -- not quite sick -- but just very strange. And what I realized it was, was, silence. There was no traffic, no office, no TV. There was no noise. My ears were ringing with silence. And it was good, but I didn't feel quite as good as you might think.

Oddly enough - though I love silence - I've gotten in the habit of coming home and turning the TV on, even if I'm not at all watching it. I've just become somebody who's used to noise - the normal state of the world is noisy, and I seem to be trying to bring it home with me.

There are some noises that I still can't stand. I work on the 17th floor over Park Avenue. And for the last three days, an ice cream truck has been toodling its way over to my street, parking, and toodling its SAME SONG - which is about 25 seconds long - ALL AFTERNOON. And despite ambient noise, despite being on the 17th floor, despite the fact that there are OTHER cars who use Park Avenue once in a while, I can still hear the ice cream truck perfectly clearly from noon until 5 PM when I leave.

I don't really know what to do about it!