when it's quite.

i'm currently at my mom's house. i have studying to do and some quizzes to take. in the past, my apartment building neighbor has cheered during football games to the point where it sounded like he was almost in my studio. and today is the super bowl. so, i decided to come to my mom's.

this is my view right now:

i came here for quiet. when i first hiked up the steps to the second floor of my mom's house, she didn't quite understand that i had come for silence. i heard her bustling around the kitchen, making much more noise than i'm accustomed to outside of work. i shut the door that connects the kitchen to the upstairs hallway steps. she asked what i was doing; i responded with "too loud." i think she understood. she quickly finished whatever it was she was doing and has been napping in her chair ever since.

i sit in the quiet often. i hear the way the radiators whistle and sizzle in my apartment, the occasional car move through the street. i can almost always pinpoint what exactly my cats are doing to create the noise they're making. and i can hear myself think. it isn't until i realize that i've been sitting in silence for five hours that it becomes strange to me. who sits alone, quietly, for that long? i do.

i don't think i really ever sat quietly when i was in oshkosh. the second i came home from class or work, i would turn on my music. i slept with music on. i had to have my iPod with me on the way to and from class. when i started working at MCC and moved in with my old boyfriend mark and his friend blake, that's when i started to get quiet. but i think i solidified my enjoyment for the lulling sounds of buildings settling, quiet people living quiet lives, and my own thoughts when i moved into my studio.

and it's nice.