Tent Syndrome

Public Service Announcement:
Do you have tent syndrome?  This temporary condition afflicts thousands of people every year.  People go camping and think that no one around them can hear what's being said inside the tent.   This may be due to a temporary loss of object permanence once you step inside the tent.  If you can't see it, it's not there.   This dangerous condition has threatened many relationships.  Its insidiousness is not limited to tents but can be observed in other situations including the dreaded "This is a private conversation that no one else should hear but I'm talking about it at Starbucks."  You too can raise awareness and help stop tent syndrome by talking loudly about tent syndrome in public places that might give people the illusion of privacy.  A public restroom is a good spot to start.

----End of Public Service Announcement---

We've all seen tent syndrome in action:
Like when we'd go to Mexico...  You'd have a line of tents, a boy half and a girl half.  Invariably, someone in the girl half would be talking about a boy who is just a few tents over...  Until someone in boy tent starts talking and all of a sudden the girl side realizes that the fabric walls don't stop the sound.  Oops! Both sides would do this.... the things you would hear! 

I think I'm living in a tent.  I used to want to live in a yurt.  I take that back now.   My neighbors were in their yard late last night and early this morning.   I was half asleep; but this morning, I woke with a memory of someone talking about Jesse being gay.  Tent syndrome strikes again!  Just because you're talking to someone doesn't mean the rest of the world can't hear.  You're outside.  Sound travels. 

I have a partition dividing my room from the entry way so if you stand in common area, I can hear just about everything you say.  So at 6 am, my housemates came in and started to settle some friends in to camp out on the floor in the common area.  My favorite bit: housemate says to friends, "I'll see you both in the morning."  I respond: "Um, it's 6 am; it is morning!"  Silence.  Tent syndrome. 

Yes, thanks to tent syndrome, I watched the sun rise this morning.  It was beautiful. 

Now, I'm going to go dig out my white noise machine and plug it in.

So neighbors and housemates, if you can hear my "ocean", I can hear you!