Archive for March, 2010
Blasting radios
Mar 19th
Just a note: If the radio in your car is making my 10th floor apartment vibrate, IT IS TOO LOUD.
I guess one of the great things about where we live now, compared to our former apartment, is that there (usually) isn’t much loud noise. There is, however, a great deal of constant background noise, which is probably causing us to slowly lose our hearing, but that’s another topic.
Our last place… was on the first floor, next to the intersection of a freeway offramp and a busy road. It seemed that at every red light, some jerk was sitting there blasting their radio, sometimes so loud that we got nauseous from the sound. I got so frustrated that at times I was tempted to store bricks on our balcony, to be tossed at the thoughtless offenders. (It was especially frustrating when Tommy was born, since he never ever ever EVER went to sleep. When he finally, finally did sleep, somebody’s stupid radio would inevitably wake him up.)
As if that weren’t bad enough, we were also next to a hospital AND a police station. (Considering that where we live now is just down the street from where we lived before, that last part is still true.) So there was also the constant sound of sirens in the air. Very irritating.
But… that’s beside the point. Since we are much higher than we were before, it’s very rare to hear anybody’s radio, much less hear a radio that causes vibration. Still, it has happened a couple of times. Why do people blast their radios so loud? If it’s making somebody outside the car feel nauseous, how can the driver deal with it? And why would anybody be so thoughtless as to blast their radio in a residential area?
I fail to see how anybody could be so arrogant as to believe that their taste in music would be appreciated by everybody. So please, turn your radios down.
Strangers’ Unsolicited Advice
Mar 5th
For some reason, now that I have Athena, I have random strangers coming up to me and giving me their advice.
Such as, “Where’s the baby’s socks?!” Or, “She should be wearing a jacket.” Or, “Your baby’s hungry. Feed her!” Or, “SHE SHOULD NOT BE WEARING BLUE!!”
Usually I just smile and go on my merry way. Occasionally I have had some very insistent people (these are usually the ones who are convinced I’m starving my baby) who repeatedly express their concern until I just walk off. Sometimes I’ll say something like, “Well, she just ate, so she’s not hungry, she’s tired.” (They never look like they believe me.)
It’s interesting that it’s happening now, since nobody said a thing to me when I had Tommy. I had always read that this was common for new mothers, but since it didn’t happen at all with Tommy, I figured people in Hawaii just didn’t do that sort of thing. Clearly I was wrong! Apparently, when it comes to babies, everybody knows what’s best for your baby… except you.
As for why it happens with Athena and not Tommy, I have a couple of theories as to why we’re treated differently:
1) Athena’s a girl. Perhaps people worry more about girls, thinking they’re more delicate and sensitive and more care is needed or else they’ll be traumatized. Since Tommy was a boy, perhaps they weren’t too worried about me scarring him for life, thinking anything I did wrong would only toughen him up. Of course, it isn’t always readily apparent that Athena’s a girl.
2) My age. I was only 20 when Tommy was born, and my wedding ring no longer fit at that point. I must have looked uncomfortably like a pregnant, unwed teenager, which caused people to shy away from me. Now that I’m older, the age when I’m “supposed” to have babies, people have no problems stating their opinions… especially since they probably think that this is my first child.
I know people mean well. Still, while I may not know everything (yes, I just admitted it… but good luck getting me to say it again), I know my child better than they do, so I can only hope that they keep this in mind when they go up to new mothers and offer their advice.
On a side note, you wanna bet that in 20 years, I’ll be that stranger overly eager to share my shining insight with a new, exhausted-looking mother?
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