Thursday, August 07, 2008

Ribbet (ribbet ribbet ribbet)

The other day I was in a bookstore, up on the third floor, when I suddenly heard this sound.



That was surprising, to say the least. I looked around wildly, trying to figure out where the frogs could be. It took a couple of moments to realize that the sound was coming from my bag, and to remember that I had changed the ringtone on my phone to this sound file after recording it one evening down by the paddy field. I usually have my phone set to silent, and had forgotten.

It is not a very loud recording, and is not really suitable for a ringtone if you actually want to hear it, but that's all right because most of the time I don't. In any case, it turned out to be the perfect volume for a quiet bookstore. Only a couple of people noticed it. They glanced around, looking vaguely puzzled, and then when it stopped they went back to their browsing.

The frog chorus is what we hear at night after the paddy field is flooded, if our bedroom window is open.

4 comments:

Keera Ann Fox said...

Charming! A very pleasant sound to listen to. Much better than some of the stuff people choose as ring tones.

Melanie Gray Augustin said...

That's such a great sound!

Anonymous said...

Much better than my ringtone, which is mosquitoes. In book stores, often results in people around me inadvertently slapping each other.

Badaunt said...

Keera and Melanie: It IS a pleasant sound. I couldn't find anything that would not irritate me on the menu of sounds that came with the phone. I was going to use cicadas, but that was just as annoying as the real thing (I am not really a great fan of cicada sounds, especially when they wake me up at 5.30am) but the frogs... that's the sound I fall asleep to. I find it soothing.

Roy: Doesn't it make you slap yourself as well? (Or other people slap you?)