Word of the Day: Disquietude

dis·qui·e·tude
–noun the state of disquiet; uneasiness.

I type this as I am listening to a choir of cicadas hissing in the background. That might not seem abnormal, since cicadas naturally make their home here in Washington D.C., but if you add the fact that I am sitting inside a building right now and it is December, then you've got a strange conundrum. The fact is, the noise is not cicadas, it is a loose or leaky pipe that hisses invariably as air is forced through it. The noise has lasted now seven days.

This would not be a problem for the normal human being. But alas, I am not normal. We knew that already. I have super-sonic hearing. You laugh, I know. But it is very true. I sometimes hear noises that no one else in the world would ever notice unless I was kind enough to point them out. My coworkers often balk at me for pointing out noises such as the cicadas to them because they were blissfully unaware until I mentioned it. But why should I suffer alone because of my "special" hearing? I might have to buy a pair of noise reduction headphones just to survive.

You're laughing again. But there's an actual hormone, called aldosterone, that can increase your hearing as you get older and higher levels are produced. If my hearing gets any better, I won't be able to live in a normal society.