Pre show

Hum of hvac, hello, click and whirl of a processor power on foot steps away. Mechanical whirl of movers homing, foot steps back, cause that’s my job, impatient tapping, really heavy breathing, rustling of fabric (phone out of pocket) impatient taping hurried walk away. Quickly, muffled until the multi part click of a door closing Indistinct chatter from the hallway. Chatter up on stage, a 30-60 short cackle laugh. A far bit of metal thunking, a jingle of keys. These are really nice, but they keep falling out of the programs, and I keep stuffing them back in. See that’s why you can do this I am 88 years old and still don’t know when to say no.” Thunk of door  Few minutes. Footsteps  Whoosh of air push up an plastic on metal clink of faders. “This is what boredom looks like” Do you have homework? “No, I did it all already?” Thunk of door. Hello. Spots They chatter about who is going to show up tonight. Yada, Yada, yada. Footsteps and thunk of door a few moments. Thunk of door. “Hello tech.” The director. How are things in here? Apathetic response. She had nothing for us, but wants the piano respiked. And plans to make that happen now. Good for her. Well I should pay attention now.

Nah, Thunk, Hello. Hello. The pair of sound guys. The younger one goes on about his kid, uhh I kinda care. The older one walks into the amp/ storage room. Loud clang and the younger one shouts about how he does not want to change anything. A bunch of technical jargon about how the speakers are set up and if they are ganged at the speaker or coming into the amp. The older says the delay is off in the house in general. This is followed by the decision that they could only change the delay at the amp rack, did not want to change it without knowing the wiring. Wait a moment. They have been working this show for year. They have been the most knowledgeable sound people to touch the board, most likely since the space opened. How in the world have they not figured this out and programed it into the very nice digital board, saved it as a default set up and called it done? I have been here for one weekend to call the show and I know that your board can put a delay on your signal, without touching the amp rack. Why O gods’ do you not know this? WHY?

One Saturday Night

  So I be chilling in my living room last Saturday night, and around 3 am, when I here "No I dont want an explaination" In a very loud voice from the upstairs neighbors. This jots me out of my reading coma, so I grab a pencil and paper to write it down.
   Next a second male voice says "Please just sit down baby, I can explain" How ever I am guessing he has stood up by this point as well. Several angry, loud banging footsteps and then. "Let go of me Carlos. I said let go of me. LET ME GO. JUST LET ME GO." Carlos apparently is very unhappy with this responds "I am sorry but don't leave, you can't go now. Please, please don't leave Nick."
   Nick: (pauses for a second, and a wee bit less angry) "Get out of my way" Apparently he has made up his mind.
   Carlos: (still begging) "Please just listen, Nick"
   Nick: "I SAID GET OUT OF MY WAY. I WANT TO LEAVE NOW, JUST LET ME GO" (well his temper didn't last that long) "WHAT ARE YOU DOING? LET GO OF ME! LET ME GO!" Pound footsteps away from me into, what I assume is the bedroom.
   There are about five more seconds before this goes from a couple spat to rape, which would require I get off the warm and cozy sofa. I hope it ends for Nick's sake.
   Some more rustling. a few seconds later "LEAVE ME ALONE" Angry stopping. The slam of the door. A few seconds Carlos runs to the door. "COME BACK" Runs to his room. A few second. Tears. Alots of them

To prevent sleeping.

     I sit hear the faint, high pitched noise of the heating system, which is currently keeping me from freezing. Then there is the teacher. He is always rambling on, and vast majority of it irrevalvent, with the rest being unhelpful. I have paid attention to him since the first class, so by his voice fades into the background and only a word or two reach through the haze. This week he is going on about race relationships and apperantly the fact the Malcom X was apparently not a terrible calm person. Shock and surprise. All of this would be new if I had paid no attention in high school.
    There is a small pop, which is most likely from my current glass water bottle, which may be an old Snapple bottle, in which the water is evaporating causing pressure on the cap. That small pop has broken me out of the haze and I am thirst and realize I need to pop. Well I am learning very little here so to the bathroom I go.
      A few footsteps lead to the door, there is a click and it opens smoothly and evenly on well oiled hinges. I exit and softly shut the door behind me, courtesy and social training are deep in this one. My footstep are muffled on the carpeted floor, and shortly afterwards come to the bathroom door. This one I throw open and stride inside I catch a slight hiss, seems like this one has a nice little arm to slow it's close. The metal stall door dings on the latch and there is thunk as I lock it. There is the rustling of fabric, as I take off my outer shirt and put it on a hook. I sit down and the familiar tinkle of water on water begins. Then I here more footsteps, another set. This explains why I did not hear the door finish shutting.
    The clang of the metal door, the faint thunk as he locks it. Then the zip of a heavy plastic zipper. An outer coat maybe. Then the tinkling stops. And then I start farting. Great well at least he did not see me. There is the rustle of moving fabric and then a small clanging of metal and a higher pitched zipper, the rustling of fabric.Short fart. De-panting.  A few seconds of silence. This is a really loud, long one. and cover the sound of what is happening in the other cell. Several more farts before finally a plunk as if some thing entered water. Shortly afterward the tumble of the industiral paper dispensar. A whoosh of water going down. The thunk of the lock opening and the hiss of running water. A plastic clunk and soap comes out.
    A thunk as something enters water. He must be poping. The hiss of water is interruped and then stops. Then a weird turning sound as a paper towel comes out. I dry my hands, and the rustle of fabric that I run out of the room with my shirt.
     YES! I got out before the saw me. The emberrament will be unknown.

To downtown!

     Sweet Caroline is playing in the background. A young lady says thank you, sniffles and sits down. She coughs and sniffles some more. She sounds a bit unwell or cold.
    An mechanical tinkering sound comes from the vehicle, as it sits there idleing. A young man follows shortly afterward, and says thank you in a rough, raspy voice. Definitely not happy sounding. An older mans say "I have another driver who is going to sit there". The young man response OK and the patter as he walks back and sits down. A few seconds pass and then the grinding mechanical motor noise as the doors open. An unsual bounding, but dragging steps approach and the bus wooshs as he steps on and sits down. The older man says "I have another driver who is going to sit there". and he walks back and sits down. Suddenly, with a jingle he jumps up and runs out on a heavy tread. The door closes with far less noise then it opened.
     A few seconds pass and the door opens with it's grinding noise and two pairs of heavy step enter the bus. It seem like he forgot the laptop.
     The second set of footsteps say "What do we got here" And then he drones on about the horrors of pulling out. The older man nods attentively with an occasional uuhhaa. The younger driver "Aaah well we're gonna take second ave, you know the one I showed you earlier but now your gonna do it your self. He sits down and starts talking in a heavy Pittsburgh accent about scheduling on a phone. There is a beep as the shuttle is put into drive. Traffic becomes louder and we are off.
     The rumble of traffic battles with music, and the rambling Pittsburghesse of the younger driver. Sometimes things cut through like the honk of a horn, and then the squeal of big rig. Bordom sets in and I tune stuff out. There is a clatter as things slide and we almost miss the turn. The older man says "I almost missed it this time" the younger driver says "Yay the white shuttle should have been a give away." I say thanks and join the throng of exiting footsteps.

Playing in the kitcken

       The is the jingle of keys, followed by the click and woosh of the outer door opening. This is followed by a woosh and thunk of the door closing.A jingle, a click, and a woosh.
        Heavy creaking footsteps approach me. I hear the faint pulse of rather angry music. A fuap as a bag goes down on the soft leather of the couch. A few more footsteps and then the squeak of a door opening. Some clanging as, I would guess a pot is drawn out. The spalsh of running water. Either it takes a while to heat up or someone is using alot of water. Then there is a click and a faint swoosh. Guessing the water was heating up earlier.
        Some rustling. Doesn't sound like metal on metal. A hollow, reverberating ting, which sounds like the something going on top of the stove. Then we have the rattling sucking sound, which I am guessing is the fridge. The same sound again as the fridge shuts. A few seconds pass and the smooth, rhythmic draw of a knife over a cutting board begins and continues for a few seconds. There is the hiss of boiling water. A few second splash of running water. A rattle a wet thunk sound. Cut meat going into a bowl? Then there are three distinct cracks, followed by something being dropped into water. The clang of metal on metal. Lid back on?
      The fridge make it's noise twice, with a few seconds in between. This is followed by a wee bit of light pounding and a crack. Something that sounds like sand is poured. The Kitchen goes quit from a few seconds and the I hear more banging and clatter, ended by the click and woosh of a burner coming on. Shortly after this the water is running again for a few seconds. Hand washing? Then there is a few seconds water falling, but with far less intensity then the normal sink. Followed by a wet thump, and a clatter of something on the stove. More clatter of a pot coming out. The woosh and tinkle of the fridge, and click as a burner starts up. We wait here for about half a minute and then the low level woosh of the oven kicking on. The clatter of a something being gotten out. More clanging and the sound of a metal door shutting.
      A minute later, there is a clatter followed by several clatters, and foot steps and I see a roomate come out with pasta, sauce and breaded chicken. Mystery solved. 

When I wasn't focused on learning

Names may be off     
     I sit there and here the whoosh of a passing car, followed by a crack as Female teacher opens a pistachio and another as the shell falls. Female K is talking about Prussia and how it has been interesting. Crack. Smack of plastic as Male teacher takes a drank. Female K in onto the animal rug, and there is alot of hostility in her voice as she speaks about this issue. Male s reachs inside his bag causing a shuffle of fabric on stuff. Crack crack. Male teacher shifts the conversation in CRACK another direction. Female K moves on to progress made in the show. Zoom of a car going by. Crack Crack.
     In the distance I here some one on a two way radio, as well as the response they receive, followed by a door opening. Male teacher teacher starts a new topic on what would happen if bosses died or won lottery. He makes a joke. The whole class responses as their social training instructs them to. Male J makes an additional joke, some thing about a dictator, but everyone laughs again. Female K loudly refuses to think about bosses leaving and the distress is evident on her voice. Crack crack. Rustle of papers as a student reaches into their bag. Crunch. Female K bites into an apple and chew loudly. It sounds succulent.
   Female Teacher asks about reflecting on the process. Female K goes Uuuhhhhmmm. Chew. Crack crack. Female Teacher picks a new question as student does not answer, and asks why the rug was cut. Female K rambles on for a bit, being polite until the truth of budget comes out. We become quite until Male teacher moves and shuffles around. Crack crack. Male teacher, "Well, stage craft has a check in soon so..." Female S laughs.
   Aaron really starts rambling and Crack ramble crack chew ramble ramble. Oops sorry. Chatter fills the room Chatter Chatter. And eventually back to conversation about when to change jobs. A pour of the pistachios shells, and slightly rain like clatter. The zoom of passing traffic. And then before male teacher becomes completely relevant, he spits out the line "Just to throw out portions of metaphor and make one."

In and Out

      The boy near by sighs, not a deep noise sound, but a lifter upper chest, and not sad one. A couple laughs from behind me, the female voice is far more noticeable then her male companion. After the laugh they fade into chatter and my focus shifts. She remains on top of the conversation. Passing bya young women says "I'll just text you then.... Ok bye!" She sounds less then enthused, as she invigoratingly suffers from distracted pedestrian.
      I should state that under this is constant foot steps and the metallic click and clack as a door opens and shuts, along with bottom level chatter. Boots on hard floor cut through, and the man from the couple approaches. I can here him now as he says go bye to his companion. He exits, but with dragging and lethargic footsteps, however he does not sound that happy.
     The boy near by rustles as he stands up. His backpack jingles and he moves away. He shivers audibly. A new chatter stream comes from a pair of ladies, there is a fump followed closely from another as there backpacks hit the soft chairs and they sit down.
      The boy zips up his jacket. He makes a giddy exclamation as he greets a friend. He chatters with the young woman and then loudly kisses her on the cheek, and then the pair heads out the door.
      The girls talk loudly and the word Frontal, piretal, oxiciptal (yes I know they are spell wrong, but they are talking about parts of the brain). An old man's voice "Yea it's me today. He now works Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday. Yay they changed the schedule again..." He trails off into the chatter.
      The girls "I don't think we need to know that" and then they quite down. In fact everything quiets down. Ding of an elevator arriving to the floor. Loud dragging footsteps fill the room. Girls, "Oh YAY" A feminate man says good day by the old man and walks out the door.

Closing time

I sit down and hear the white noise like hum of the refrigerators. Along with this is the unusably even level chatter underscored by a constant dramatic orchestration. Then I hear the creak as the floor above sighs and groan. It is followed by the higher pitch wooden squeak, repeated over a dozen times.

Then a voice cuts through the white noise “Hahaha, Yay but you know Kim...” And it trails of into the background. I sit for a few more seconds and a dramatic tones from the tv change to electronic in nature, followed, by talk of carpets. But then new noise. Low level but near by metal on metal. A few seconds of tv, then the scrap of plastic on metal, a few taps, a singular thump of something mosit onto something yielding. A few more scraps. Then we have a loud laugh cut through.

First clatter of metal on metal is heard again, followed by a repeat of the scraping. This time though at the end of the scraping, there is the  crinkle of plastic which continues of a few second, and then a thump of something soft hitting the hard floor. The soft thing is dragged for a bit before it is stop. Then there is a splash with several hard pings in it, it only last for 3 seconds or so. I sit for a bit. And then the question comes “Is it all gone?” Male voice. “Yes” Female voice. And low chatter ensues. A hard object is dragged a door shuts. A few seconds. A loud laugh of a far bit away, along with the word “Bye Sara” Female voice. And then the squeak of a door opens. Then the sound of running water enters, along with a lower pitch plastic hitting on metal. Repeated five times. Then there is a soft but audible scrubbing sound that continues for 5 or 6 seconds and then stops. The scrubbing repeats 7 or 8 times.  And then the only noise is the tv and the background hum. A single clatter of light plastic on harder plastic. Then a far quiet, low level chatter starts. This one it is impossible to make out the words. And then I have a hacking cough, and relegalize I am at time and I want to go back home and hid under a blanket.

The weekend night

Warning: time seems off but according the the clock it was ten minutes.
I sit here listening to song freak out, and there are surprisingly on beat snaps, considering the group in question. In fact I can only kida hear the snaps, as the music is pounding. A feminine voice cuts under the music with the words "Why are you siting so far away from me. Acting like we aren't friends or something." I scoot closer. "I have something to tell you." I nod. "I have a coke addition" I know. "Who did you here from" This conversation is ended by the male scream cutting through the noise "THERE IS CAKE". My feminine companion says, "Hold this and watch that."
    I hear the woosh of air exiting a cushion and an increase of chatter so that it covers up the upper register of the music. This makes the bass seem even louder as it pounds through the space.

    I catch a snippet from pair of party goers "Don't be flaky"  Male. "I want cake" Female.  "Well then you are going to have to push through" Male. After that the couple is lost in the chatter of alot of people in a little space. The chatter and music dies and the space is filled with clatter of footsteps on wood for a few seconds before the chatter picks back up, along with the song changing to "Drunk in Love". When the chorus hits the chatter is replaced by the singing of "Woke up in the morning thinking..." and continues for the rest of the chorus.

    Female. friend floats by with the lines "What are you doing, why are you being so boring? Stop being boring." and then continues on her way. A half minute of song, followed by a new face and the line "You know, I just wanted to let you know you are a far better stage manager then (name obscured)." Great. I'm glad. The music stops abruptly for a second and then the song "Tuesday" starts up. Chatter until the first chorus of clubbing on a Tuesday, sung by the group.

    I overhear a near by couple "Go get cake" Male voice. "I want to do the lift" Female. "It's not time yet, I've only been working out for a week." Male. " But I want to do it" Female. the couple runs off and a few seconds later there is a Yell and Woohoo from the crowd, and a few seconds later I here the line "She almost died." And then I return to normal,

These be first two

1/15

    As I sit in bed on this Thursday morning, it is usnusally quiet for this basement, in fact the only sound I hear is the mid frequenecy electrical hum. It is one of those noises that exist everywhere, and you only notice when you stop it listen, while being slightly annoying, it fade to the background easily.

    A few seconds later the heater kicks on , first with a sinister hiss as the gas escapes and build the flame. Followed by a jarring rumble, with just a hint of trembling metal as the unit starts to intake air. In total this sound should have been a wee bit disconcerting, instead only draws my attention for a the few seconds of its start, after which it faded into white noise.

    Quite a few more seconds pass and a pair solid wooden bang above me would indicate someone is home, at this time of day, it is most likely Alex. The floor creaks and groans as he crosses above me towards kitchen, in a old and tired wooden groan. Seven rather even spaced groans later, the steps stop, and are followed by a muffled thumps The creaking footstep resume for three steps, follow by a change to a far harder sound, with less of the creaking and a harder wooden sound. These step come closer and lower, and very soon change into the smack of flesh on stone, but in an interesting manner as the first contact is quieter than the second. These footset are shortly followed by the metallic click as a doorknob in turn, and then the click as a door closes.

A minute or so passes, during which I realize that the heater turned off at some point, but I was distracted by the movement. After this time, there is a pair of door noises, with a three footsteps in between. A minute or so later, I hear the beat of water on the plastic tub. This lasts for a few seconds until the water heater starts on with the hiss and then the rush of water. Between this and the shower most quieter noises are obscured, and I spend the remaining few minutes cozily in bed before I must leave bed and start the day.

1/18

As I sit in my living room, I hear foot steps up, mostly wandering towards the back of house. In that creaking groaning of an old wooden house. This was followed footsteps off to my right, on the outside of building, like footsteps on wood, but far more hollow that when walking on the floor above. This is followed by a sharp knock, of hand on wood. A creaking patter of feet leads to the metallic thump of a door unlocking, a creak as it opens. A word hear and there pierces the distance, creating an interesting texture Behind and below me I hear the low rumble as the furnace starts up. It raises in pitch.

Back to the top floor, there are move creaking footsteps, but one is far more pronounced than the other. There is a scrap of wood on what sounds like tile. More chatter, a word through, a really loud “I can’t believe it”. More footsteps, the closing of a door, and then a rushing water up through the walls. More footsteps towards the back of the house, the chatter picks up, and the clang of metal on metal comes through the dim. The heater cuts out and the chatter continues for several minutes. And then there is the more clanging. And chattering. And then I had to leave.