Creep-city, Bill! (Though millions do actually live in a non-sound world and thrive.) A world without noise doesn't seem too bad to me, considering all the racket I put up with, but maybe on alternating days or something? This intrigued me, "As he shifted his gaze, George thought there was a latticed, pointy ear beneath her hair, like a bird concealed in the brush." But you have left it a mystery...
That's a good point: Millions live in a soundless world. Sound is something most of us take for granted, even when it annoys us or prevents us from sleeping.
I'm glad you enjoyed The White Noise Machine. I may bring that character back. She has an origin story that needs to be told.
Archie Bell & The Drells once did a tune called "A World Without Music", which imagined what such a thing would be like. It sounded pretty bad to me. A world without sound in general is just a step further than that...
Wow, Bill! That was wild! I enjoyed it and it really got under my skin. Good job, as an occasional insomniac I can relate. Last night after the usual 2am necessary, I picked up my phone and went down the Instagram Reels rabbit hole for an hour and a half!
Kind of freaky reading this story after playing around with this noise generator yesterday: https://mynoise.net/NoiseMachines/whiteNoiseGenerator.php. It has white, brown and pink, as well as other presets, and you can play around with different sliders yourself.
Luckily, even after using this yesterday, there’s still sound in the world today ;). I really enjoyed this story, Bill!
The bar has been set high after my first Bill Adler short story. Was an excellent one! I am at times teetering towards violence when it comes to my next door neighbors and their noise. First it was their dog chained outside and barking at all hours. An especially big no no in urban Tokyo. I finally cracked after several days of interrupted sleep and had a very heated early morning dustup with them. Years later, mere days after the dog departed (I had nothing to do with it but God it was a joyous occasion) they bought a sonic noise device and put it in their garden. It has a motion sensor that triggers a very high-frequency pinging sound when anything that moves in its range is detected, including wiggling leaves. It's intended to ward off cats crapping in their yard, but all it's doing is warding off my increasingly deteriorating patience. Thanks Bill! Got links to those various noise machines?
Thanks, Peter. I'm happy you enjoyed The White Noise Machine.
So...long story short: My ex-neighbor in Washington, DC deployed a leaf blower not once a week, but three times a week for an hour to two at a time. I couldn't work, couldn't think. Earplugs, noise canceling headphones, white noise machines -- nothing stopped the relentless leaf blower whine. The only thing that worked, finally, was me moving 10,000 kilometers away.
I've never heard of a device that makes a noise when it detects motion to keep cats away. That sounds awful, awful, awful.
I like my current white noise machine, the LectroFan EVO. It's kind of fun and practical, to see which color sound works best to block particular kind of noises: https://emastered.com/blog/different-types-of-noise
You can’t live in New York City if you can’t block out sound while you sleep. Unless you know a mysterious woman who can turn the world deaf or soundless with her evil noise machines. I hate noise machines. I prefer real noise. 🤣 What a tale!
I think my noise sensitivity comes from growing up in New York City. Or maybe it's genetic. Or maybe I'm just neurotic.
I stayed at a hotel near the ocean once. I thought that I'd love hearing the ocean waves, that they'd lull me into a deep sleep. Ten minutes after turning off the lights, I shut the windows as tightly as I could.
Hello Bill. Thanks for this story. I am a very light sleeper with every ear plug know to man. I like the twists and turns. I love that George and the White Noise Woman are brought together over ‘noise’. Even though he is a professional man he takes her advice. You have done a great job building his character and anyone who is a light sleeper will relate immediately. Nice read. Thank you.
Scary! Living in a noisy city myself, I empathized with George's hatred for loud noises. Especially from cars. They're so loud. Of course, I wouldn't want to lose my hearing to get rid of those noises.
Creep-city, Bill! (Though millions do actually live in a non-sound world and thrive.) A world without noise doesn't seem too bad to me, considering all the racket I put up with, but maybe on alternating days or something? This intrigued me, "As he shifted his gaze, George thought there was a latticed, pointy ear beneath her hair, like a bird concealed in the brush." But you have left it a mystery...
That's a good point: Millions live in a soundless world. Sound is something most of us take for granted, even when it annoys us or prevents us from sleeping.
I'm glad you enjoyed The White Noise Machine. I may bring that character back. She has an origin story that needs to be told.
This is fabulous storytelling, drawing you deeper and deeper ... the details are brilliant, making it so believable. Great writing, Bill
Thank you! I'm happy you liked The White Noise Machine. I had fun writing it.
OK that was a total Twilight Zone sort of story! ❤️
Thank you, Kim. The Twilight Zone is my inspiration.
Archie Bell & The Drells once did a tune called "A World Without Music", which imagined what such a thing would be like. It sounded pretty bad to me. A world without sound in general is just a step further than that...
I like quiet. (I love quiet, but then do I live in the biggest city in the world? We humans are a mess of contradictions.)
Thanks for pointing me to The Archie Bell & Drells song. I'm listening to it now. Great 60's song.
I also wrote a story about a world without music, Music Never Dies: https://billadler.substack.com/p/music-never-dies
Loved the details relating to the changing “white noise” woman!
It was a fab twist at the end👍🥰🥰
Thank you, Deirdre. The woman is a mystery, but certainly motivated.
Wow, Bill! That was wild! I enjoyed it and it really got under my skin. Good job, as an occasional insomniac I can relate. Last night after the usual 2am necessary, I picked up my phone and went down the Instagram Reels rabbit hole for an hour and a half!
Thank you, Shielagh. I'm happy you enjoyed The White Noise Machine. I'm a light sleeper, as well.
I use one white noise machine, sometimes two, tuned to different sounds. But never more than two because I'm worried about what might happen.
Wow! a twist! I have quite the opposite problem in that I sleep through everything!!!
Thank you, Christina. I'm glad you liked the twist.
I can fall asleep anywhere anytime, except in my bed at bedtime.
Kind of freaky reading this story after playing around with this noise generator yesterday: https://mynoise.net/NoiseMachines/whiteNoiseGenerator.php. It has white, brown and pink, as well as other presets, and you can play around with different sliders yourself.
Luckily, even after using this yesterday, there’s still sound in the world today ;). I really enjoyed this story, Bill!
Thanks, Laura. I'm glad you liked The White Noise Machine.
I've used Mynoise.net. It's a great site for sound masking, though now I'm apprehensive about that.
The bar has been set high after my first Bill Adler short story. Was an excellent one! I am at times teetering towards violence when it comes to my next door neighbors and their noise. First it was their dog chained outside and barking at all hours. An especially big no no in urban Tokyo. I finally cracked after several days of interrupted sleep and had a very heated early morning dustup with them. Years later, mere days after the dog departed (I had nothing to do with it but God it was a joyous occasion) they bought a sonic noise device and put it in their garden. It has a motion sensor that triggers a very high-frequency pinging sound when anything that moves in its range is detected, including wiggling leaves. It's intended to ward off cats crapping in their yard, but all it's doing is warding off my increasingly deteriorating patience. Thanks Bill! Got links to those various noise machines?
Thanks, Peter. I'm happy you enjoyed The White Noise Machine.
So...long story short: My ex-neighbor in Washington, DC deployed a leaf blower not once a week, but three times a week for an hour to two at a time. I couldn't work, couldn't think. Earplugs, noise canceling headphones, white noise machines -- nothing stopped the relentless leaf blower whine. The only thing that worked, finally, was me moving 10,000 kilometers away.
I've never heard of a device that makes a noise when it detects motion to keep cats away. That sounds awful, awful, awful.
I like my current white noise machine, the LectroFan EVO. It's kind of fun and practical, to see which color sound works best to block particular kind of noises: https://emastered.com/blog/different-types-of-noise
Yeah, noise machines and fans keep me away. Street noises don’t. Weird, huh?
You can’t live in New York City if you can’t block out sound while you sleep. Unless you know a mysterious woman who can turn the world deaf or soundless with her evil noise machines. I hate noise machines. I prefer real noise. 🤣 What a tale!
I think my noise sensitivity comes from growing up in New York City. Or maybe it's genetic. Or maybe I'm just neurotic.
I stayed at a hotel near the ocean once. I thought that I'd love hearing the ocean waves, that they'd lull me into a deep sleep. Ten minutes after turning off the lights, I shut the windows as tightly as I could.
I'm glad you liked The White Noise Machine.
Hello Bill. Thanks for this story. I am a very light sleeper with every ear plug know to man. I like the twists and turns. I love that George and the White Noise Woman are brought together over ‘noise’. Even though he is a professional man he takes her advice. You have done a great job building his character and anyone who is a light sleeper will relate immediately. Nice read. Thank you.
Thank you, Jack. From one light sleeper to another, I understand the woes of noise very well. I'm happy you enjoyed The White Noise Machine.
Scary! Living in a noisy city myself, I empathized with George's hatred for loud noises. Especially from cars. They're so loud. Of course, I wouldn't want to lose my hearing to get rid of those noises.