In bed at midnights and waking up at around 4.00am in the mornings drained me out. Even though I wish to sleep, early rising was also a good time to do some reading and enjoying the solitude. The everyday early rising pushes me to exhaustion and hub was wise to advise me to sleep at ten in order to get my seven hours of sleep. I also find that nowadays I can't stand listening to the radio's dishing of pop songs - it jarrs my nerves. Even hub is sometimes bitten by the 'mellow' bug and turns to oldies. Gee, getting old are we?
I learnt from my house hunting days that noise travel upwards. If your apartment faces a heavy traffic road, the noise would be more pronounced in the higher floors. Then, there's 'white' noise - in other words, 'good' noise for eg. some folks will muffle unwanted noise using indoor water fountain. The sound of running water soothes the nerves and drown out to some extent the 'bad' noise. For me, I like to hear the humming sound of a fan in motion. Furnitures and curtains can absorb noise too. Thus, if you are house hunting, being in a furnished room will give you a better picture of the noise level.
What sounds would I love? The noise from nature-cicadas, frogs, crickets, birds.....rushing waterfall.....the snoring of my dog, Ginger, .....the melodies that quickens my breadth. I love too the pounding sound of pestle against the mortar; reminding reminded me of childhood days of mum slaving in the kitchen when food processor was not invented yet. The Nyonyas (Straits born Chinese - famous for their chili dishes and spices of various kind) will say food do taste better being prepared following the traditional way of pounding. Given a chili, the Chinese would pound vertically and Indonesians would either pound vertically or grind horizontally. The vertical pounding would be in a big 'bowl' whereas the horizontal grinding would be done in a mortar that looks like a big tablet. Indonesian mortars sell for RM15++ depending on quality and size. They are pretty heavy, so make sure your flight hand luggage weight allows the kilo. For party, try serving food in a mortar for a rustic look. Kept well, mortars can last for generations.
