This morning sounded like this: I awakened to the blare of my clock radio, a crappy radio station, which is preferable to the alarm sound which is even more traumatic. I had a quick shower, which was relatively noise free. But when I got outside, there was construction on the corner, a guy was jackhammering the cement. The street was loud with cars, SUV's a motorcycle or two, the buses, which are EXCEPTIONALLY loud. When I was on the bus, there was the constant beep of the machine that takes your ticket, people's walkmen turned up loud enough that I could hear through their earphones, the bus itself which is still EXCEPTIONALLY loud inside the bus, and a man's cell phone that was programmed to ring like an old rotary phone, only he had the volume turned up SO high, and it rang every two seconds as opposed to the old phones, which had longer intervals between rings. His wife elbowed him to turn it off. People honked. The bus's breaks were squealy, the accordian part of the bus made metal scraping noises when it turned. Even here at the office, the sound of the air conditioning blowers is loud. The microwave beeps, the fax machine beeps, the copier beeps, the COFFEE MAKER beeps. My keyboard is infinitely louder than my pen. I cannot escape the constant din of modern life.

There must have been a time of quiet. Perhaps before the industrial revolution, machines and things. I can imagine sitting in a house in the fields. My farm. And all I can hear as the sun goes down is the lowing of the cows and chirping of frogs.

When I wake in the morning I hear birds, more cows, the rooster? There are no lawnmowers, no airplanes, no cars, no trucks, no alarm clocks, no buses, no blenders or anything. Just my and my house. The sound of eggs n bacon in a fry pan. The rain-patter of the shower contraption that dumps ice cold water on you if you take too long. The sound of your shovel/hoe hitting the dirt. A cart that occasionally goes by, the clip clop of hooves and someone urging his horses on.

The wind.

I enjoy the luxuries that modern life affords, but there are times when I wish we could go back to simpler things. We make life easier for ourselves by making it so much harder.

Anyone for a cabin in the woods?