Schedule: Earplugs

content/posts/2022-11-22-earplugs.md

@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+---
+title: "Silence is essential"
+date: 2022-11-23T00:00:00+01:00
+slug: earplugs
+categories:
+    - misc
+tags:
+    - english
+    - life
+summary: A good pair of custom ear plugs is surprisingly cheap and will help you stay sane when murphy strikes
+showtoc: false
+---
+
+Since mid-August, I own a custom-made pair of soft silicon ear plugs.
+In the few months of owning these I came across quite a few situations where they were incredibly handy.
+
+A custom-made pair of ear plugs has a few advantages over one-size-fits-all pairs.
+For one, they fit perfectly and become almost unnoticeable after a few minutes of wear and sit flush with your ears.
+Depending on the material, they even are soft enough to sleep on without a feeling of pressure on your ear.
+This is a huge plus, even when compared to the "softer" off-the-shelf solutions on the market which only work for some people.
+They are easy to clean and are said to be long-lasting.
+
+
+## A few situations
+
+When I have my backpack on me, there is about a 95% chance that I have my earplugs with me.
+In the other 5% I probably needed them the night before and rushed out the house in the morning :p
+
+### Forgot my headphones on a train journey
+One time I had to really rush out of the house to catch the last train of the day. When the tram arrived I reached down around my neck to put on my headphones... only to find them missing.
+In the rush I left them on my desk, dooming myself to a music less 6-hour journey. 
+This could have been really annoying as my fellow travelers included a few crying children as well as a quite loud train.
+
+Luckily, I at least had my earplugs on me. So I put them in and continued reading a book in almost silence while the people around me had to endure the surrounding noise.
+
+That day I got reminded again how effective they are in reducing noise when inserted correctly.
+In a quieter car I really had to concentrate quite hard onto the announcement to get what they were saying.
+
+Since then, it's been a coin toss if I will listen to music or have the earplugs in during a long train ride.
+
+### Hot summers and open windows
+During summer my flat tends to become unusually hot. This is in part due to the city I live in being incredibly sunny and my flat having quite a lot of roof area.
+As a consequence, I have to leave the windows open at night to find any sleep during summer. 
+Summer nights are usually very busy, and I live close to a tram line, so there are some nights which can be noisy.
+
+Ear plugs keep me sane in those weeks :)
+
+### Sports and parties
+Summer comes with a lot of sports tournaments which are broadcast on television as well as parties.
+Many of those are announced and known well in advance, but sometimes they come with very inopportune timing.
+For example, the night right before and exam when enough sleep is already difficult to find...
+
+... and a dozen other situations where I just wanted to keep sleeping. Including, loud children in them morning, workers drilling holes into walls a few rooms over, etc.
+
+### A break from society
+Meeting lots of people is nice and fun, but doing that all day in a louder environment like a conference can be quite draining.
+You don't want to go home yet, or can't, but you'd really enjoy a short break.
+That's when you plug your ears, sit down with a beverage and just zone out for a bit[^1].
+[^1]: Just be prepared for the world to be very noisy for a few moments when unplugging afterwards...
+
+
+At the time of writing my neighborhood is surprisingly loud which prompted me to put in my ear plugs and get this article started :)
+