You win universe, you win
Once, while waiting for a train in Japan, I noticed the sound of birds chirping. "My, that's odd," I thought to myself. "I've never heard a bird chirping while walking outside in Japan. It must be because they've all chosen to congregate inside the train station. I guess when you don't have trees, this is the next best thing." After a while. I noticed that the singing did not vary in any way... the pitch, volume and melody were constant. Of course! It was merely being played though the speakers. There were no actual birds.
More recently, I was shopping for groceries in France. While in the produce section, I noticed that my thoughts were drowned out by the sounds of the rain forest. More specifically, it sounded like a large bird of prey was attacking a spider monkey. Not one to be fulled twice, I knew there were no actual birds or monkeys in the store. By the way, is there some research that shows that sounds of nature make people want to spend more money? Because personally, it kind of made me want to duck and run for cover. I didn't know who that bird was coming for after it got done with the monkey.
After living abroad for almost 4 years, 3 of them in Japan, I assume any nature that I see or hear is contrived and fake in some way. Bird songs are taped, trees occur only in neat rows.
One day this week, I was on my way to the store when I heard a very loud bird chirp. I jumped and took the earphones out of my ears. There were lots of people walking around, and at first I thought that a person must have made the noise. I looked around for the culprit, but the noises didn't seem to have a specific source. Then I realized that they must have installed speakers in the square. I looked around to figure out where they were. Maybe they got some of those fake rock speakers, I thought. The sounds were quite loud, and I was unnerved by it all. I looked and looked for the speakers, to no avail. Just when I was about to give up and go inside, I realized that I was standing next to a tree. I looked up, and sure enough, there was a bird. The bird chirping was coming from an actual bird.
I may never recover from what Japan has done to me.
More recently, I was shopping for groceries in France. While in the produce section, I noticed that my thoughts were drowned out by the sounds of the rain forest. More specifically, it sounded like a large bird of prey was attacking a spider monkey. Not one to be fulled twice, I knew there were no actual birds or monkeys in the store. By the way, is there some research that shows that sounds of nature make people want to spend more money? Because personally, it kind of made me want to duck and run for cover. I didn't know who that bird was coming for after it got done with the monkey.
After living abroad for almost 4 years, 3 of them in Japan, I assume any nature that I see or hear is contrived and fake in some way. Bird songs are taped, trees occur only in neat rows.
One day this week, I was on my way to the store when I heard a very loud bird chirp. I jumped and took the earphones out of my ears. There were lots of people walking around, and at first I thought that a person must have made the noise. I looked around for the culprit, but the noises didn't seem to have a specific source. Then I realized that they must have installed speakers in the square. I looked around to figure out where they were. Maybe they got some of those fake rock speakers, I thought. The sounds were quite loud, and I was unnerved by it all. I looked and looked for the speakers, to no avail. Just when I was about to give up and go inside, I realized that I was standing next to a tree. I looked up, and sure enough, there was a bird. The bird chirping was coming from an actual bird.
I may never recover from what Japan has done to me.
posted by MatchaMonkey at
1/26/2007 09:09:00 PM
1 Comments:
i laughed when i read this story even though you'd already told me on the phone.
only because i perfectly understand your pain ;)
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