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Post by tardbasket on Jun 22, 2012 11:38:00 GMT -8
I'm thinking this board isn't notifying me correctly when I get a PM. Once I literally shit and get off the pot I'll get y'alls to you.
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Post by Neil T on Jun 22, 2012 11:50:52 GMT -8
Once I literally shit and get off the pot I'll get y'alls to you. Pics or it didn't happen.
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Jerma Jesty
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Posts: 51
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Post by Jerma Jesty on Jun 22, 2012 12:45:28 GMT -8
Kind of a long explanation to get to the question but whatevs; It was rainy in Boston while the wife and I were there last week so we went to the theater for the first time since Sin City (for the same reasons you're about to hear). Had the choice between Prometheus and The Avengers. Picked Prometheus because I'd like to watch The Avengers for the first time with my boy. Anywho, it's a Wednesday at 12:05 with 8 people in the theater including us so I think, "Good, no one's going to ruin this." Half-way into the film (spoiler) (right about where Noomi is performing a self-caesarean)(/spoiler) some jackhole to my right starts playing with his keys. More like he's just holding them and doing the leg shake thing that all us males do for some reason and it was making his keys shake. The wife is totally oblivious but a few others in the theater are shooting him glances. After about 5 minutes of this I politely ask him to "stop doing whatever it is you're doing that's making that noise." He does...for about 3 minutes. When it starts back up I calmly walk over to him, get right in his fat fucking face and tell him if I hear his keys one more fucking time, "you'll have to take a shit before you'll be able drive home." It stops for the duration of the movie but now my wife is pissed because I 'caused a scene'. When I asked her if she'd rather have listened to his goddamn keys over the movie she says she never even heard them. WTF! The same shit happens at the house when a clock is ticking or some other noise is happening and it's driving me nuts, she's blissfully unaware. And it's not just her, when we visit my her mother's, sister's or sister-in-law's house they have shit that makes noise that they never fucking hear (clock ticking, sink dripping, fridge noises, etc.). She tells me to just tune it out but she might as well be telling me to just grow a third head, it's impossible. I guess this is more a rant than a question but WHAT THE FUCK. Look, I don't know the answer, but here's my theory. You, heinrich, are not only a guy, but you're the kind of guy who's ALWAYS on alert; you sit facing the door, you only wear shoes you can run in. I don't know exactly what your situation is with guns in your house, but I'm guessing you're fairly well covered in that area. All this, and probably things I don't know about, mean YOUR brain, more than most, has been trained by you to be hyper-aware of everything in its surroundings. Actually the part of your brain that you've trained to have this reaction is called the Red Nucleus. (which is a tiny cluster of cell bodies in your brainstem that calls you to alertness when something new enters your environment.) ( It's also the reason you suddenly notice every single XYZ car because you BOUGHT an XYZ car. Or you want one.) Anyway, YOUR red nucleus is especially sensitive to new sounds in your environment and you've trained it not to turn off . . . so it doesn't. Your wife consciously and subconsciously knows she's safe when you're around, so she doesn't have to be on the same level of alert. She naturally tunes things out because she can. You're there to protect her and the kids. You CAN train yourself to stop noticing certain things. It takes time and you have to catch yourself every time. But if you don't want to notice the ticking clock for the next four years, everytime you notice it consciously tell yourself that it's safe not to notice it. Have your brain tell your brain to stop telling you about clocks. If you're diligent, eventually you won't notice them as much and when you do, the sound will fade from your brain more quickly. I also find that having plenty of white noise around helps. Especially in a new place, like a hotel room. **************************** Alternate answer: Men!! You can fucking hear a sparrow fart three counties over -- but if I ask you to take the garbage out you're suddenly completely deaf!
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Jerma Jesty
Unicyclist
Has a job using her hands
Posts: 51
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Post by Jerma Jesty on Jun 22, 2012 12:56:00 GMT -8
Also, the answer to women hating your loud gaming and loud TV is a pair of Sennheiser wireless headphones. I love mine and if I had a gamer BF or football watching husband, his use of them would be an actual dealbreaker.
One of the great things about them is when commercials come on you don't have to reach for the remote, there's a volume button at your right ear. It's just a flick of your wrist to silence the TV.
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Post by uncleheinrich on Jun 25, 2012 5:34:36 GMT -8
Interesting. I never really thought about it being an actual physical structure in the brain doing that. Next time the wife tells me just ignore the ticking clock at her sister's house I can say I can't and it's not my fault, it's my red nucleus'. As far as training myself to ignore those things, I think I'll just deal with the minor annoyances if it means maintaining a safe level of situational awareness. And that's a big 10-4 on the Sennheiser headphones. I've had a pair for going on 6 years (had some shitty Sony ones before that) and I'm sure they're at least partly responsible for my wife and I staying together for the last 15 years.
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Jerma Jesty
Unicyclist
Has a job using her hands
Posts: 51
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Post by Jerma Jesty on Jun 25, 2012 19:19:49 GMT -8
I promise that just because you tell your brain not to put you on high alert over a ticking clock doesn't mean you won't hear the snick of a deadbolt sliding back in the middle of the night. You're teaching your brain to be more efficient, not to turn off altogether.
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