Noise Pollution

Coming from Honolulu, Hawaii, there's always this one little problem that just happens to seep it's way into my casual, everyday life.  It's noise.  It's not the volume on my I-pod (since I don't have one - take that you stone age uptight soccer moms), it's the constant rush of traffic I hear outside my window.  Now with the relatively large population/landmass ratio we have here, everywhere you go, it's guaranteed you'll hear the unmistakable sound of cars whizzing by on the highway, the slipstream of big city buses overtaking the little minivans, and the constant "murr" the roadway makes as the wheels of these vehicles make constant contact.  On and on, it goes into the night like a never ending record player but without a record to read.  It gives off that same exact sigh though with the occasional "k-dunk" when a low rider goes a little too fast and hits the ground when trying to get up onto the ramp into the interstate.  

Now when I went to places like Disney World and Washington DC, I can honestly say that those were the quietest nights of my life.  Sitting straight up in my hotel chair, straining to catch even the faintest sound, the familiar little hum of the road, but I could hear nothing but my relatives in the next room watching the news.  It was a completely new and foreign experience for me, having never been far from the sound of an automobile, especially when we all went to bed. It was quiet.  For possibly the first time in my life, it was as if every sound wave in the room just took out a razor and committed suicide.  Really, it was an alien feeling, seeing as how I've never actually been someplace so far from the main road (like my aunt and uncles home in DC).  

Wishing to make the best out of this new experience, I'd purposely stay awake at night at my aunt's and uncle's room for a couple minutes just to get the full effect.  I'd watch movies and mute them (with subtitles on) and just watch with the lights off.  I'd play video games with the volume turned to the lowest setting.  Save for the occasional family pulling into the neighborhood and the rare little drip from the bathroom sink, I felt like I was in a void.  I could hear almost anything; the hum of the television, the leaf-less trees swaying with every slight breeze outside, even the squirrels in those same trees chittering to their fellow brethren.  

Needless to say, I'm back in Hawaii and once again, I'm surrounded by noise at home, at school, at the mall, etc...  It's tolerable for now, but later on when I choose a home for myself, I'll keep the notion of silence ready in hand.