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wotd: cacophony

cacophony \kuh-KAH-fuh-nee\, noun:
1. Harsh or discordant sound; dissonance.
2. The use of harsh or discordant sounds in literary composition.

When I was emerging through college into young adulthood and marriage, I couldn't bear more than one noise going on at a time. If I was talking on the phone I couldn't have the radio on; if the radio was on I couldn't have the TV on; if the TV was on I couldn't be talking on the phone; and around it goes. I don't know what switch flipped for me, but I can filter all those sounds now and concentrate on just one. I can listen to an audiobook in the same room with Dave watching FlashForward on hulu and Jack playing Super Mario Bros. on the Wii. Cassie starts barking, adding to the cacophony, and I listen blissfully as Lyra and Will cross the river into the land of the dead in The Amber Spyglass. Multiple discordant noise doesn't bother me anymore.

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