It is Possible. You Can Channel Calm within the Chaos and Tune Out All the Noise When Necessary...That Is, Until You're on ZOOM and Unmute

With a writing deadline quickly approaching, I knew I needed to spend a chunk of Wednesday tuning, rewriting, restructuring, and re-envisioning an invited piece. I got up early, drank some coffee, then put on the headsets my sister gave my father so he could listen to things on the Internet while my Mom watched Days of Our Lives. I noticed my mom uses the headphones now, too, while my father is watching sports, so I took them in the morning while the two of them watched hours of morning News and Game shows.

I actually listened to 6-hours of Korean 'deep forest rain' noise on YouTube, shy 4 hours of the 8-hours uploaded. It actually worked. I was able to drown out the screaming of The View, Today, Days of Our Lives, and my mom yelling at my father, while attending to the editing needing to be done. I also silenced Casey when she arrived with ghoulash for lunch, giving me extra time to attend to the work needing to be done. I only stopped when, at 3 p..m. I needed to attend the lawyer training for the University about accountability and academic protections.

It was all good, until someone on ZOOM asked me a question and I had to go off mute. I forgot that even if my headphones keep me secluded to what I'm listening to online, my microphone picks up all the sounds around me. I answered the question and went back to mute, but then heard, "Who's Butch? Who was that screaming at him? What were those casino noises? I'm afraid we couldn't hear you, Bryan, because there was a lot of static from the televisions around you."

All good. I explained the situation and it was quickly understood. I didn't realize a MacBook Pro internal microphone was that powerful. 

I returned to the YouTube rain noise in the evening and edited some more, but not before I did a mini-tutorial of the TV I bought them last year and showed them it actually has online features so they can watch old movies and other programs, should they choose. They started with Babes in Toyland, then decided quickly, "This is stupid." Mom wanted Rachel Maddow and Dad wanted to watch The Andy Griffith Show. I let them figure it out as I worked some more. 

It's funny, because I pride my ability to read and concentrate despite any noise and obstacles before me, simply because of my childhood on Amalfi Drive. TVs were always on, and screaming was natural. I, however, could read. Since the volume on everything has turned up over the years to full capacity, I needed white noise to focus. It actually worked and I will likely use it more if I have to. 

Here's all 8-hours if you need it.