We usually just listen to music at work. Someone in the room will pick the music of their choice – of late this means I’ve been listening to a lot of Aerosmith, AC/DC, Guns ‘n Roses, with a little sprinkle of Queen for flare – and play it on their speakers at a low level. It’s generally not too distracting, and provides nice background noise that fills the silence, but can also be easily ignored. I tend to tune it out when I work, but since it’s sort of mindless noise, I’m not missing out if I miss parts of, or whole, songs.
But a co-worker lent me a spare set of headphones earlier this week and so yesterday I decided to pop an audiobook in. (And it should be noted that these headphones are HUGE. I almost feel like I’m wearing a helmet.) And in a day and a half of trying to listen to Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov I’ve learned a couple things.
1) An office isn’t the greatest place to try to listen to audiobooks. Or maybe just our office. SAB is a very social place and I find myself taking my headphones on and off so frequently that I’m pretty sure I’ve actually toned my biceps. This seems to be less frequent now though – see #3.
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