Unusual Channel
By Ma. Renette B. Uy

What is this noise all about?

Is there such a thing as freedom of what one wants to hear or listen to? Every night my family has to go through this ordeal of hearing different songs all at the same time and I mean two or three different songs playing, all at the same time. Possible? You bet it is for them! Try three make-shift karaoke bars in front of your house for size! I say make-shift? It is so because in the morning you will not see a trace of this karaoke bars. They are all small carinderia or eatery or whatever. And if that is not enough, the owners do not even have the decency to tone down their music a bit, they would go full blast without a care in the world.

I like my nights really quiet. Most of the time it is the time I work on something and a little peace and quiet really helps to relieve me of the stress caused by what I do during the day. I wrote about it a few months back but nobody seemed to care. I thought a sensible and sensitive person will be able to read it and do something about it, guess none even noticed. Anyway, it is such a nuisance that when it happens I can't even think reasonably myself or hear myself think, it's pathetic! And if that is not enough, the way these songs are sung? You'll expect that any moment all the dead will be rising from their graves in protest. Worst of all, these insensitive people sing till dawn when the rest of us is about to start our day.

Oh well, where do I file this complaint? Believe me I did before but guess it fell on deaf ears which is by the way I will become later on if it continues, deaf as a bat! So, I just gave up on the idea it will be addressed. I figured it is just another exercise in futility so what's the point? How noisy? We can't even seem to hear ourselves talk inside the house. There is so much noise going around us already that sometimes I feel a little quiet time is necessary so I can get “unstressed”, have a restful sleep and like I said before, I don't want to sleep with the song “My Way” reverberating inside my head like a thousand gongs thumping away until the next day when I wake up and experience the “last song syndrome”! Gosh! No offense to those who like the song, but pleeeeeeeeeaaaaaasssseee… let go already!

Why did I write again about this make-shift karaoke bars? I almost confronted the owners and I was tempted to give them a piece of my mind in so many words. I guess something took over me that I was able to control myself. As a result, I figured I will just write about it, let off steam while typing away. True enough, I feel a little better. Of course, they will be back again tomorrow with a vengeance and it will be really upsetting again to the point of grrrrr... but what's the point nga? Anyway, this is what I'll do. I will keep writing about it until maybe I get blue in the face but also I would like to believe that someone from the city hall gets to read this and hope that he/she gets to do something about it. I might be pushing my luck here, but hey! I am a citizen and I am entitled to my opinion and entitled to exercise my right of deciding what I want to hear or what I want to listen to. And definitely, I don't want to listen to noise!

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Here are some random facts according to ebaum world : That 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated. That there is about 8 million blood cells die in the human body every second, and the same number are born each second. That when we drink 5 glasses of water daily it decreases the risk of colon cancer by 45%, plus it can slash the risk of breast cancer by 79% and one is 50% less likely to develop bladder cancer. That if you farted consistently for 6 years and 9 months, enough gas is produced to create the energy of an atomic bomb. That a pig's orgasm lasts 30 minutes. That the flea can jump 350 times its body length. For a human, that would be equivalent to jumping the length of a football field. That MTV first aired at 12:01 AM on August 1, 1981. The first video was 'Video Killed the Radio Star' by the Bugles. That the onions get their distinctive smell by soaking up sulfur from the soil. That dolphins don't automatically breathe; they have to tell themselves to do it. That every year, the Moon moves a further 3.82cm from the Earth.

“Speak when you're angry, and you'll make the best speech you'll ever regret.”