Post #394

Senses

8th May 2004, mid-afternoon | Comments (29)

You may or may not know that I have no sense of smell. None at all. Because of that I also have a very limited sense of taste; the two being closely tied together. These litle quirks have been coming up a lot recently, what with meeting new people and all, and a common question I’ve been asked is, are any of my other sense heightened to compensate for this lack of olfactory prowess? Am I perhaps blessed with canine-like hearing? Thundercat-like sight-beyond-sight? Or, you know, like, really sensitive fingers?

The answer, unfortunately, is no; my other three senses are the same as everyone else’s. However, all the questions started me thinking about the sorts of things I like and dislike to experience through my senses. Dealing with seeing seemed a little cliched, and touch, well, I don’t honestly know that I could list anything I like to touch without getting a little risque. So, here’s what I like and dislike hearing (above all else) .

The one sound I’d be happy never to hear again, is the sound of my girlfriend in our bed with another man.

The one sound I can’t get enough of is my nephew, Lucas, speaking my name. I could sit there and listen to him saying Dunan? Dunan? Fy, fy? all day long… it’s the most wonderful thing.

How ’bout you? What are your favourite and least favourite sounds?

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Comments (29)

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  1. Matthew Farrand:

    My favourite sound is my two year old son laughing.

    My least favourite is the sound of my alarm clock on Monday morning.

    Posted 13 minutes after the fact
  2. Colin D. Devroe:

    Favorite: Nature (rain, crickets, birds, etc.)
    Never want to hear again: The announcement that someone close to me has died.

    Posted 23 minutes after the fact
  3. ACJ:

    My favorite is easy. That's a "Swish" -- the basketball going through the net, and nothing but the net.

    The least favorite is harder to say. It's much related to my mood. When I'm particularly depressed or angsty, ANY sound (except for maybe that "Swish") can give me hell.

    Posted 1 hour, 5 minutes after the fact
  4. Tim Macalpine:

    Hey Dunstan,

    Wanna know what my favorite sound is? Do you remember that video game from the '80s called "Q-bert?"

    Every time he jumped from cube to cube, he'd make this strange sucking sound.

    Yep. That's my favorite sound.

    Let's see... least favorite sound... this is going to sound sexist, but I truly don't mean anything of the sort...

    That said, the high-pitched cackle of a lady in a confined area (low-ceiling room, elevator, etc.).

    Whoa. :-)

    Tim

    Posted 1 hour, 35 minutes after the fact
  5. David Barrett:

    My sense of smell is one of, if not my only, super power. This is the worst super power ever; this is not something you want to have walking around Temple Bar on a Saturday / Sunday / Monday morning, or near the Liffey at low tide.

    My super power forces me to dry wretch a lot.

    Favourite sound: The sound of a particular friend's voice. I can't help but smile when I hear her.
    Least favourite sound: The too frequent clicking I hear from my brain.

    Posted 3 hours, 23 minutes after the fact
    Inspired: ↓ Rahul
  6. Ben Brophy:

    I'm just curious what your favorite foods are, since you can't taste much. Do you go for the strong flavors? Or is there some other criteria you use?

    Favorite sound: Whne my son (20 months old) hears me fart and yells "Toot TOOT" and jabs his finger towards me.

    Least favorite: The voice of puzzle-master Will Shortz on National Public Radio WESun.

    Posted 3 hours, 24 minutes after the fact
  7. ACJ:

    By the way, I also enjoy the sound of Robocop's footsteps when played on a 5.1 system a lot. :)

    Posted 3 hours, 56 minutes after the fact
  8. Mike:

    My favorite sound is when my golf ball hits the bottom of the flag stick and jiggles around the cup, then drops down into the hole.

    My least favorite sound is the ring my cellphone was programmed to use when my ex-gf called me.

    Posted 3 hours, 58 minutes after the fact
  9. Rahul:

    You know that one girl you know who means a lot and sometimes puts on a voice that's *pure silk*? That's my favourite sound. It's so good, in fact, that it extends beyond good and all the way around the spectrum of quality so as to blanket my least favourite sound and make it totally irrelevant.

    God, I'm melting just thinking about it. AUGH.

    Posted 4 hours, 7 minutes after the fact
    Inspired by: ↑ David Barrett
  10. Matt:

    How do you know that you don't feel more than everyone else... I mean, you've never felt what everyone else has, have you? You've been like this for your whole life, right? So you COULD have super sensitive senses, and you'd just think that they're normal :o).

    As for my favorite and least favorite sounds:

    My favorite sound is a chord struck just right on a piano, it sends goosebumps down my spine. It's more of like a sound and a feeling :)

    My least favorite is that inhuman scream soundbyte that all horror movies use. ugh.

    Posted 6 hours, 25 minutes after the fact
    Inspired: ↓ David Barrett
  11. Chris Vincent:

    Favorite sound: pretty much anything on Tool's latest album, Lateralus. Incredible.

    Least-favorite sound: my roommate chastising my dogs for, um, being dogs. Well, pretty much anything he says. I need to get rid of him.

    Posted 6 hours, 46 minutes after the fact
    Inspired: ↓ Rahul
  12. Kitta:

    I'm the same as Matthew, I hate the sound of an alarm clock going off and if one does go off while I am sleeping I beat it until it can no longer make that annoying ringing sound anymore.

    My favourite sound is the sound of water splashing against the side of a boat. When I was younger we'd go to a local island on my father’s boat, stay there the night and in the morning I'd wake up to that sound and jump into the ocean for a swim.

    Posted 9 hours, 13 minutes after the fact
  13. Rahul:

    That album is three years old, I want something new. A Perfect Circle isn't Tool! :(

    I wonder what sort of music Dunstan listens to. Maybe we should vote for a Listening section. With crazy javascript controlling automatic liquid streaming via SMIL! Oooh.

    Posted 14 hours, 31 minutes after the fact
    Inspired by: ↑ Chris Vincent
    Inspired: ↓ Chris Vincent
  14. David Barrett:

    "How do you know that you don't feel more than everyone else... I mean, you've never felt what everyone else has, have you? You've been like this for your whole life, right? So you COULD have super sensitive senses, and you'd just think that they're normal :o)."

    Oh no, trust me, you know.

    My really good hearing:
    --
    Me: "Your phone's ringing"
    Friend: "Is it?"
    Me: "Yes."
    Friend: *takes out ringing phone* "So it is!"

    This has happened loads of times. I've heard phones ringing from dozens of metres away.

    My super smell:
    --
    Me: "O man you stink"
    Brother: "I don't stink"

    Posted 15 hours, 51 minutes after the fact
    Inspired by: ↑ Matt
  15. Sian:

    Most favourite sound: The little "hmm" Russ makes when he's happy.

    Never want to hear again: "He's gone" after my Father passed away.

    Posted 17 hours, 11 minutes after the fact
  16. Jonas Rabbe:

    In climbing a dyno is a dynamic movement, sometimes a full jump where your whole body reaches for this just out-of-reach hold. My absolute favorite sound is when you catch it. On rock especially, this makes a sort of smack sound which goes right into my head and down through my spine. Of course, some of this feeling could be the adrenalin kick of making the move.

    Least favorite sound is definitely the alarm clock monday morning, I am so not ready to wake up before noon.

    Posted 18 hours, 25 minutes after the fact
    Inspired: ↓ Jeff
  17. Sam Newman:

    Hmm...my girlfiend's sister also has no sense of smell - she actually got it back (at least very temporarily) after a session of cranial osteopathy - might be worth a try!

    Posted 19 hours, 59 minutes after the fact
  18. Chris Vincent:

    Oooh indeed! :)

    Actually, I think Tool has a new album in the works. Not sure what it's called though.

    Posted 21 hours, 48 minutes after the fact
    Inspired by: ↑ Rahul
  19. Mark:

    My favourite sound is the sound of three of my kids enjoying themselves immensely.

    My least favourite sound is the waffling of my inept boss at work.

    Posted 22 hours, 39 minutes after the fact
  20. Joe Clark:

    "Olfactory," shurely?!

    Posted 23 hours, 8 minutes after the fact
    Inspired: ↓ Dunstan
  21. Sian:

    How limited is limited?

    Posted 23 hours, 30 minutes after the fact
    Inspired: ↓ Dunstan
  22. Dunstan:

    Good god, you're right, Joe. My word sounds more like something to do with 'offal'. I wonder how that got through the spell checker? :o/

    Posted 1 day, 3 hours after the fact
    Inspired by: ↑ Joe Clark
  23. Soxiam:

    My fav is the sound of my own purr when my cat rubs my belly after a good tuna dinner

    Posted 1 day, 3 hours after the fact
  24. Dunstan:

    "...limited taste..." means if it doesn't have fat, salt, sugar, lemon, vinegar or spice on it, then it pretty much doesn't taste of anything. Oh, and sour things, I can taste 'sour'. Bleugh.

    Posted 1 day, 4 hours after the fact
    Inspired by: ↑ Sian
  25. Jeremy:

    Favorite: New this weekend! Near the top of a mountain in Washington State on horseback: the sound of the wind in the trees ... it's simultaneously a whisper and a roar.

    Least Favorite: Definitely the alarm clock.

    Posted 1 day, 17 hours after the fact
  26. Jay Morrison:

    Great topic for discussion. My favorite sound has to be food sizzling (like steak or chicken) when it is being cooked (either on the grill or on the stove, whatever). However, I must say that my favorite thing to listen to is Metallica's Fade to Black.

    My least favorite sound has to definitely be the one that a harddrive makes when it doesn't work anymore -- you know what I mean, that *click* *thud* *click* *click* -- blah .. that can only mean disaster!

    Posted 3 days, 4 hours after the fact
  27. Matthijs Aandewiel:

    When you play field hockey, in the back of the goal you have an wooden board.. my favourite sound is definatly when you hear the ball hit it, followed by the cheers of the audience.

    My least favourite? When the other team scores.

    PS..
    dont mind the bad english..

    Posted 6 days, 19 hours after the fact
  28. Dor:

    I don't have a sense of smell either...never have. I also have been dealing with the "you don't have a sense of smell, so everything else must be really super" question recently. And I don't really have an answer.

    Food criteria? Texture. Sweet, sour, and TEXTURE. Oh, and convenience. If it's inconvenient, I don't like it. I like cantelope...but not watermelon.

    Posted 1 week, 2 days after the fact
  29. Jeff:

    Jonnas: I can't stand that feeling, I've been climbing every summer for a couple of years and I absolutely hate that feeling, but like most roller coasters which have the same feeling - odd...

    my favorite: hmm... how about some zeppelin song

    least favorite: microsoft ping sound that comes with every warning and pop-up

    Posted 1 month after the fact
    Inspired by: ↑ Jonas Rabbe

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