LOUD

[AFK]

From my perspective it's a quality vs quantity thing.  LOUD is fine as long as it is quality and not LOUD for the sake of being LOUD.  That goes for just general communication as well.  Otherwise, I do prefer silence and quiet.  I hate jibber jabber.  I hate people filling space to fill space. 

[Forsooth]

I hate jibber jabber.  I hate people filling space to fill space.

The relative bane of my existence.

"Why are you so quiet, Will?"
-"there's nothing to talk about."
"Just because there's nothing to talk about doesn't mean you shouldn't talk at all."
Internal me yells obscenities, External me shrugs.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

My household is quiet.

Sometimes there's talking and laughter and sometimes there's music or movies or video games, but most of the time, it's quiet. I am not a big fan of talking, honestly.

This. I've always been pretty quiet, and while a good portion of it for the past decade or so has also been horrible social anxiety, a lot of it is the fact that unless I feel like I have something to say, I'm just fine not talking. It's "small talk"/talking for the sake of talking that I usually don't like and will trip me up. Not that I won't talk ever about anything but I DON'T CARE about the weather/some sports team/that TV show and would rather just not talk in all those miscellaneous public or situations where there's the pressure to talk about SOMETHING. Or the steady stream of just being talked AT about absolutely nothing.

Regardless, there are times I would like to be LOUD. I feel LOUD but...I then I usually sit and smile politely - whatever may be going behind that smile, for better or worse, the loud gets stuck. It makes it's wait out now and again, unfortunately often not without the help of deal ol' alcohol. Even then, it's a reserved LOUD, a polite LOUD. It's not quite caring about what others think - I'm perfectly comfortable speaking my mind, everyone else be damned - though that's essentially what it boils down to. Something about stepping out of quiet into LOUD. I could be the last person on Earth and wouldn't find it in me to shout for fear there was someone waiting just behind the nearest tree to hear me do it. I might make a snide remark about it though.

I might look at LOUD people (verbally, but even just personality-wise) with amusement because it looks fun, but there may also be a tint of envy in there. LOUD is a bit of a confusing concept. So simple and free-flowing for those it seems to come naturally to, but a puzzle just out of my grasp most of the time.

There's nothing terribly wrong with being quiet. Works wonders for people watching and observing social situations and interactions. Can learn a lot from it. But sometimes it looks fun to be LOUD. Sometimes you need LOUD. I just need to find that balance and bring a little more LOUD into my life.

I can do LOUD, but what I've found is that it's even more fun to do LOUD without talking a lot. Ask Roger. I was pretty fucking loud in Tucson. Mostly, I remember laughing my ass off.

My two best friends are talkers. Neither of them are loud, but they both can talk and talk and talk. I like to think I hold my own with them.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Odd thing: I am loud over Ventrilo, quiet on the phone. Quiet at Amusement Parks yet loud when I am home alone.

I remember as a child my parents constantly fighting which this thread has made me realize, as I have quite honestly never thought about it, it being loud yet behind closed doors, with almost the illusion of quiet. My brothers always screamed at me and locked me in closets as well as grabbing belts when my parents were working and smacking me with them, all the while screaming about wanting a better brother as I got depressed even then, but at the time I had no idea how to handle it. Yelling and aggression make me nervous as a person as I tend to be extremely quiet until it reaches a point where my logic shuts off and I become a demonlike beast and every insult in the world designed to inflict as much pain, ignorance, racism, and depression possible. I tend to remove myself from loud situations because I simply cannot handle it. I can't filter what is good and bad, and it makes me want to cover my ears. I believe this to be why I can communicate better via interwebs than in person, because I can use a volume button inside of my head.

When I got angry as a younger man, it tended to resort to fisticuffs, and generally over stupid disagreements or girls or the fact being made fun of 24/7 finally got on my nerves. Bigger people tended to think they could throw their weight around on a 100 pound 6 foot tall 6th grader and regretted it as they held their broken bleeding nose and burst eardrums. Admittedly sent a few to the hospital which I honestly am not proud of simply for the fact during those times I completely lost my mind. It tended to be a situation where I myself escalated it after the opponent was on the ground and out of the fight as my brain simply turned into a central nervous system.

So I tend to avoid louder people in person, not because I don't particularly like them as people, but it's something I as a person cannot handle and am working on. Best solution is immediately removing myself which I hope people don't take offense to because it has nothing to do with them, it's my own problem.

That makes me sad, about your childhood.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Oh, the other thing we do a lot in my house is sing. I almost forgot about that because it's just sort of a default. It makes me happy to listen to a house full of singing children, or to start singing, and have one start to sing along.

[The Dark Monk]

Oh, the other thing we do a lot in my house is sing. I almost forgot about that because it's just sort of a default. It makes me happy to listen to a house full of singing children, or to start singing, and have one start to sing along.

This. My favorite song to sing is "LETS GET DOWN TO BUSINESS! TO DEFEAT! THE HUNS!"
Older Disney is very popular amongst us all in this household.
Also Tevin Campbells' I2I.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Internal me yells obscenities, External me shrugs.

This is your problem, Mac.

[Sir Bearington]

Internal me yells obscenities, External me shrugs.

This is your problem, Mac.

Its hard to be loud and outspoken consciously in the beaten down and submissive society we live in today.

[leln]

Leln, for example, spent a good chunk of the time in Boston looking quietly amused at my behavior.  I am comfortable with this; I don't really worry if people think I'm a loudmouth or a dumbfuck or whatever.

Urgh, belated response as always, but for the record I don't and have never considered you a dumbfuck. I'm quiet, and it freaks a lot of people out. People like you, who are willing to make conversation (something I can't do for shit) until I'm comfortable enough to put in my two cents are greatly appreciated.

[Triple Zero]

I used to loud. Breathe it or radiate it, either way. I could block it out and do my own thing if needed, or I could jump into the spotlight and be the loudest in the room. At home I had music playing every waking minute (not all loud music though). But no longer, I seem to require quiet, I think it is because I can't block it out as well anymore, to create some space for my own thoughts maybe, but it pounds. And I can't help it, it just seems to wear me down after a few hours being in such an environment, even if I'm not bothered by it at the time. It's not at all useful when you're working with children, either, I'll be completely beat at the end of the day and ride back home on my bike with my head spinning and buzzing. Then I really just want to close all the curtains [to block the outside world from seeping in] and sit and chill the fuck out. It's not really how I want to be, but it is what it is, and I know how it feels when it isn't. I just hope that one day I can bear the loudness again, a bit more.

[Richter]

I'm quiet by default.  In fact, I'll forget to make noise.  (nothing over 6 foot has ANY business being stealthy, so don't ask me how this is shit happens.)  Then I'll end up yelling commands or chatter to a line, and I'm surprised by the noise coming out of my head. 

Leln, if I observed right, thought you were cool.  If she doesn't think you're worth hanging around she just isn't there.

The whole thing is very context sensitive.  Some people swear I'm classy (WTF), and around others I pride myself on being the freewheeling degenerate in the room.

[Luna]

I'm quiet by default.  In fact, I'll forget to make noise.  (nothing over 6 foot has ANY business being stealthy, so don't ask me how this is shit happens.)  Then I'll end up yelling commands or chatter to a line, and I'm surprised by the noise coming out of my head. 

Leln, if I observed right, thought you were cool.  If she doesn't think you're worth hanging around she just isn't there.

The whole thing is very context sensitive.  Some people swear I'm classy (WTF), and around others I pride myself on being the freewheeling degenerate in the room.

Truth.  I've been in a room with Richter, and totally lost track of the fact that he's there.

[Juana]

I'm loud with friends (usually. With my debate team I tended to be quiet). But loud in my house is conflict and conflict makes me anxious.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

I'm loud with friends (usually. With my debate team I tended to be quiet). But loud in my house is conflict and conflict makes me anxious.

Quiet in my house meant conflict, so that makes sense.