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Recently I have found myself drawn to background noise videos on YouTube. Sometimes I will listen to Lo-Fi beats or soft café jazz music. Other times I will play a stream of sounds from a busy coffee shop. Even more recently, however, I have been very much enjoying city street background noise, especially the ones with light rain. I will put on a long-stream video & let it play in the background while I’m puttering around the house doing chores, or while I’m click-clack typing away on my computer. I know ambient static noise has become quite popular these days (i.e. white noise, brown noise, pink noise, etc.), but I have really found these everyday background sounds to be the most soothing/calming for me personally.
I live in a very stereotypical, quiet American suburban neighborhood. Sometimes I can catch the sounds of a delivery truck or a neighbor speeding up our hilled street, or the sounds of a lawn getting mowed. If I am in my backyard, looking out past the wooded area behind my house’s property line, I can not only see the freeway overpass, but I can hear the distant noise of the cars & motorcycles whizzing by. Every once-in-a-while, an airplane from the nearby airport can be somewhat heard flying over our neighborhood.
I would love to be able to crack open a window in the house & listen to all the sounds coming from outside, but I can’t for various reasons. For one, my mom dislikes anyone opening a window unless someone is cooking & it’s making the whole house smell. Secondly, she has a fear that someone will forget to shut the window at night & a random intruder will sneak in to burglarize our house. On top of that, my mom has removed all the screens on all the windows for easier window washing. So now we can’t find half the screens for all of the windows, which means bugs can get inside if we open a window…& not just one or two, but an annoying amount of bugs. Plus, we don’t get much ambient outdoor noise except for my next-door neighbor’s super irritating dogs barking at everything. (She has 4 fur balls.)
That’s when I discovered this completely new-to-me rabbit hole on YouTube of random background sounds. I have been listening to the Café Music BGM channel & the Chillhop Music channel on YouTube for the past couple of years already, but I have never thought of putting on ambient noise before now. This latest idea originated from something completely inane that I have already been doing for years, but never gave it much importance. It’s one of life’s small, yet impactful, pleasures that really brings me comfort & joy…listening to the sounds coming from an open window. Yes, it really is that simple, generic, & kind of dumb action that we take for granted every single day.
I started consciously & actively doing this from the time Jian & I started traveling together. Whenever we stay in a hotel somewhere, if there is an openable window, I’m going to open it. I love letting the everyday sounds from the outside waft in to our room while we’re settling in & unpacking our suitcases, or open the window when we wake up in the morning to circulate the air in the room. Obviously, due to hotel regulations, the windows do not open wide enough to get a full breeze circulating around the room, but at least we can feel a modest flow of air.
When we take breaks in our hotel room, I like to crack open the window & listen to the sounds coming from outside, rather than always have the TV on in the background. Some of my fondest memories are of the times when I’d accompany Jian on one of his work trips, & I’d be on my own for most of the day while he was working. I’d explore the city on my own for a while. Then, I’d grab an afternoon coffee & snack, head back to the hotel, & just listen to the sounds from an open window while putting my feet up on the chair & taking a relaxing break.
Jian is not too keen on my penchant for window-opening. He likes to colorfully express his fear of pervy voyeurs peering into our room, especially while we’re getting dressed or getting ready to take a shower. It doesn’t matter if the hotel room is on the 3rd floor, 20th floor, or 50th floor, or even if the windows are shaded. He believes there’s always someone out there trying to sneak a peak at us, either partially or fully in our birthday suits, perhaps with an HD resolution, military-grade, telescopic lens. Much to his chagrin though, I still enjoy cracking open that window, however much the hotel regulations allow. As long as we can hear the sounds from outside filtering in to our room, or we can feel a slight breeze, that makes me feel content.
Seeking these kinds of little pleasures in life is what truly lifts my spirits. It gets me in a good mood & puts a smile on my face. Like Gen Z aptly puts it, it’s giving chill vibes AF. I’m in my “vacation mom” era. Ahem, I’m only kidding. I don’t talk like that in my everyday life, let alone write it out. Let’s forget all that nonsense & just enjoy the ambient tunes of idle café chatter & cars passing by some nondescript city street, pretend we are people-watching as we sip our iced lattés at the sidewalk table under the awning. It’s getting closer to happy hour, & the sky is no longer a vibrant blue. Shades of pink & orange are starting to streak across the skyline. The 21 and over spot next door just put out their $1 dollar oysters sign. I’m about to reheat some leftovers for tonight’s dinner. Until the next cup, cheers!
Ice cream is one of my all-time favorite sweet treats. I absolutely love ice cream, not all ice cream, but yes, ice cream. Ice cream to me is not the same as gelato, sherbe(r)t, or frozen yogurt (ugh, yuck). It’s just a delicious sweet treat that can be eaten at any time of the year, even in the wintertime. Yes, technically gelato is the same as ice cream, just more dense in flavor & texture (with less eggs & cream), but I much prefer ice cream itself over its Italian controparte. If you check my Instagram page, you’ll find numerous photo posts regarding my delicious passion for devouring ice cream.
Ice cream is such a delectable treat. It’s so easy to consume. That’s one of the main reasons why I love it so much. You can pretty much eat it however you want whenever you want. I often tell my friends that eating ice cream can somewhat save the planet, or at least reduce everyone’s carbon footprint. How, you ask? Well, think about it this way. The next time you go to an ice cream parlor, or stand, or shop, whichever…ask for a cone (waffle, sugar, plain, etc.) instead of a cup or bowl.
The cone itself acts as a conveniently portable & most importantly EDIBLE vessel, & voilà! No extra trash, except maybe a napkin or two, but no cup, spoon, or bowl in any form (paper, styrofoam, plastic). Your cone is the container for your ice cream, & once you’ve consumed it all, there’s nothing left to throw in the trash bin. Also, as a bonus, it’s much easier to walk around with an ice cream cone in one hand than having to spoon feed yourself with both hands while on the move.
There’s just something so delectable about ice cream. I just can’t quite put my finger on it. It’s so rich, creamy, flavorful, comforting to one’s soul. I could eat ice cream any time, any where. You could send me to the Arctic Circle, & I’d still enjoy my ice cream. I know most moms would tell you not to consume cold foods &/or beverages when you are sick or have a cold, but I’ve gladly enjoyed a scoop or two of ice cream while nursing a very bad cold. Now, I’m not saying ice cream is my favorite dessert or sweet treat (that’s a whole other topic by itself), but I very much enjoy the delights of ice cream.
Now that I’ve gotten that little rant out of the way, let me get to the topic at hand (no pun intended). No, I am not going to talk about which brand or flavor is best. I don’t want to get into any arguments with anyone over those subjective topics. However, since I am documenting pretty much every little detail about my life on this blog, I might as well tell you which is my favorite. It’s the coffee flavor from the Häagen Dazs brand. Yes, that is my all-time, ride-or-die favorite ice cream.
There are other craft brands & flavors that I also love dearly, but no other brand or flavor has ever ensnared my heart the way this one has. I want to say that this flavor brings back memories of my childhood, but my childhood favorite was the plain chocolate flavor from either Baskin Robins, Double Rainbow, or Dreyer’s. Yeah, I had very bland taste as a child. Luckily I’ve nearly grown out of that phase after way more than 30+ years, which is a good thing because I’ve discovered a few craft ice cream shops in my state that scoop some of my other favorite flavors.
Lately, I’ve taken to eating ice cream almost every single night after dinner. No, I am not serving myself full scoops of ice cream. That would completely devastate my never-bounced-back-after-baby-was-born waistline. I only allow myself no more than 4 or 5 spoonfuls; mostly because I want to make that pint in my freezer last longer, but also because I want to savor the ice cream. It is a special treat after all, & I don’t want to just scarf it down without any care.
Those few precious minutes after dinner, after all the leftovers have been put away & all the dishes have been washed, & I’ve got some peace & quiet alone in the kitchen, is one of my life’s many small enjoyments. I guess you could say that it’s one form of self-care, but I just call it a delightful indulgence. I’ll take my wins wherever I can get them, no matter how small.
Since we’re on the topic of ice cream, shall we also talk about other desserts featuring ice cream? Yes, I do like to eat an ice cream bar every now and again, but it’s not always my go-to choice in terms of ice cream filled treats. Sometimes I will crave an ice cream sandwich, more so the traditional rectangular shaped ice cream sandwiched between two thin-ish layers of chocolate cake-like cookies, rather than ice cream mushed betwixt two actual cookies (i.e. chocolate chip cookies). However, my most favorite of all-time ice cream treats besides a regular ol’ scoop of ice cream on a cone is the Häagen Dazs Crispy Sandwich, which apparently you can only get in Asia.
This crispy sandwich blows all other ice cream sandwiches out of the water…or should I say, freezer. From the beautiful crispy, flaky, buttery wafer cookie all the way to the ice cream itself, my mouth is utterly salivating just thinking about it. It’s a perfect bite of thin, airy, flaky cookie with just the right amount of cold ice cream. The flavors of the ice cream in this crispy sandwich are also such a heavenly delight. I’ve only ever been able to find these treats in Asia, like when I’ve gone back to China, Taiwan, & Japan. My dream is that one day these perfect crispy ice cream sandwiches will be available worldwide. For everyone to experience this delicious dessert would be amazing, but especially if this were available in the U.S, that would be a miracle. One can dream though, right?
Well, anyway, this is the end of my post. I am a little sad that I’ve run out of my favorite ice cream at home. I know I could just pop off to my nearby grocery store & get more, but I don’t want to always have it available in my freezer. That would be too great of a temptation. I would much prefer to occasionally treat myself to my favorite ice cream in order to preserve its specialness, like I am treating myself to an extra special gift. Plus, if I had my favorite ice cream all the time, my waistline would be especially angry with me. Until the next scoop, cheers all!
Today’s song of the day:
Rabbits & Foxes 
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