I forgot my ear buds.
I normally carry a spare wired set in my laptop bag, but apparently I removed them when cleaning it out and forgot to put them in. That means that a couple hours on the train each way, plus the time waiting for the train at the other end, is going to be spent in relative silence. Because rather than listening to music, a podcast or a movie or something, what I did have in my bag is earplugs - actually, two sets of earplugs. Many years ago I bought some Aluminium plugs from FlareAudio and I still use them occasionally when travelling, or when needing a bit of peace and quite. These days, the noise-cancelling earbuds are generally good enough though, so I use these more when I need to sleep in a place there is a bit more noise.
What was interesting to me, was that I realised that I didn't have my earbuds just before I got on the bus, kicking myself because I predicted I would do exactly that last night, forgetting them and only realising too late. I had already got into bed when I had the thought though, so rather than getting out of bed to shift them from my gym bag to my laptop bag, I decided "I'd remember" now that I had remembered. But no, that was not the case.
Kick.
The other interesting thing was that while I am not one of those people who constantly has a headset on because I like to observe the world and when I have it on, I tend to look at a screen more, I still felt a pang of anxiety at having forgotten them. I was looking into the future at the train trip and then the handful of hours after my day has ended for the wait and travel home, wondering "how I will make it through", which is ludicrous.
The kiosk where I grabbed a bottle of water at the train station had a wired set for 15€ and a wireless set for 25€ and I came very close to buying one, but decided not to. It is not that they are so expensive, but they obviously weren't very good quality and what it would mean is that I would have a set for today, and never use them again, as I have better spares at home. I even went through the math of what they would cost me per hour, and then the wastage of having another random piece of equipment sitting unused.
I'm not exactly raw dogging.
I have plenty to do to pass the time, with a laptop and a phone to keep me company, as well as a window that looks out to the Finnish forests. But it is interesting how accustomed I/we have got to carrying all these little comfort facilitators everywhere we go. Most people I can see around me have earbuds in with the younger people with the full-ear headsets, something I find silly, unless in a Teams meeting. Sure, the sound quality might be better, but carrying that sucker around for music would annoy me. They are also on their phones and laptops simultaneously, and no one is talking. But to be fair on the last point, most seem to be travelling alone like myself, but it isn't uncommon.
The other day, Smallsteps and I were sitting and waiting in the city and there was a couple a few meters away from us also waiting. I pointed them out to Smallsteps and how they were both staring at their screens and for about ten minutes we watched them scrolling whatever they were on, before they got up and walked away together hand in hand. It makes me wonder if this is what they are like when out in public, what are they like together at home. I might be wrong, but I suspect that they probably don't talk much there either.
We have become comfortable using all of our tools and tricks to isolate and insulate ourselves from each other so that we don't have to deal with uncertainty. When like me we forget one of the isolating tools, we are therefore more likely to feel anxious, because that layer of insulation is weakened and compromised, forcing us to face the possibility that we are going to have to be uncomfortable. And being uncomfortable is a fate worse than death, apparently.
Yet, I know that despite my own slight anxiety at the prospect of having to face the noise of the world, it is good for me to spend a decent amount of time exposed to some level of discomfort, so that I don't lose touch with the daily realities of life. Too often I meet people these days who are unable to cope under even the slightest "duress" where any level of discomfort, whether it be the noise level, the temperature, or the types of personalities around them, leave them frozen and unable to operate at anywhere near their best.
We have created an environment where we expect perfect conditions for us to do anything, including the things we are getting paid for in the workplace. But that is just not possible, which means that most of the time we have to act in less than favourable circumstances. and if we can't then we are going to spend a lot of time being idle, waiting for things to improve enough that we can be comfortable to move.
Now though, it is time to prepare myself to get off this train and into the brisk morning air for the walk to the customer site. It is in the middle of nowhere, but it isn't worth calling a taxi for, and I have a little while until my first meeting. And the walk will be a nice change of pace, listening to the sounds of nature and passing traffic.
Taraz
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in general, i don't like to use ear buds, at home a lot of time i'm alone when working so i can set up music and such without needing them, and when i'm outside, i rather have full control and hear every single noise around, call me paranoid but i don't care 😂 we hear too much shit on daily basis on what happens around
In the garden I like to listen to some chill music. It makes the work flow better for me and I don't have to listen to the traffic :)
that's a good spot! fresh air and sun, no people
My wife and I probably talk less at home than a lot of other couples. That isn't to say that we don't, but since we work together, we message each other multiple times through the day or I walk over to her building or vice versa. We also ride to work together, so by the time we get home at night, we have talked about pretty much everything there is to talk about. People also probably think we are odd when we go on walks together since we both wear headphones, but my wife likes to listen to her audio books and I like to listen to podcasts or music.
Yeah, I think it depends a lot - and from what you have said about yourself anyway, it makes sense. Still, I do find it weird that you were headphones while walking together! Perhaps I should use the earplugs when walking with my wife - we might walk more often. :D
We didn't always do it that way, but since she has started listening to audiobooks she tries to get through them as quickly as she can. Like I said, we ride to work together so she can't listen to them in the car, she has to pick her moments. I understand and I don't mind.
Hey you're old enough to remember having a walkman and running of batteries so you can't listen to the one of three tapes you carried in your backpack!
A walkman? What kind of millionaire do you take me for! But the tapes for sure. Back in the day of recording from the radio. And when people actually listened to a whole album, multiple times.
I loved my walkman!! But tapes were a pain. Remember when iPods came out too, the musical choices seemed massive at the time.
Interesting to see how a small mistake can lead to so much anxiety in our tech-focused life. This makes me think how crucial it is to sometimes disconnect from our devices and connect with the real world, even if seems a bit strange at first.
Yep. I am not one of those people who gets anxious without the phone in the bathroom though :D
I prefer people have their buds in rather than subjecting the whole bus to their choice of music or inane podcast. I often choose not to take my admittedly heavy headphones on journey's with me so I can absorb the world. It's a generational thing - much like understanding what raw dogging is in the UK (for an older generation ;) )
I also like to observe my environment both at home and outside. Oftentimes, I use one earbud so I can listen to my environment with the other ear. But when studying or working and need full attention, I plug in both ears and inform those around me so that if my attention is needed, they will have to tap me or call my phone.
When we are used to doing one thing, we tend to forget how important other things are. It's good to observe nature and its sounds; it's a refreshing experience.
Observing the daily realities of life gives a sense of being involved in this world.
Double earplugs for train rides? Nice call for ambient sound, wish I had that habit.
I guess it is my old Soviet habit, but I feel not safe when I have no hearing in public, so I only use headphones or earbuds at home...
no buds?
i have been gathering a few different ones now.. i just got these supposed bone conduction ones, but i think they are just little speakers that point the sound into the ears.. but they are cool clip ons that i never seen before.
I find people wanting to wear even earbuds while out in public weird never mind the over ear headphones, like why would you voluntarily cut out so much perception D:
Meanwhile I would have assumed the couple were a pair of introverts. It's not unusual for me to want to yap about whatever happens to be on my brain at the time but walking holding hands and not necessarily talking sounds like something J and I would do normally.
if one of us is on a phone it will be me and I would be either navigating to an unknown location because I can still read things close up or mapping and J would be helping by reading numbers for me as I can't read them quickly