On Hold
I have a secret, and a shameful one at that.
Admitting this is a little hard for me, but I’ve always heard that the truth will set you free. Unless, of course, you’re a cold-blooded murderer, in which case the truth will get you 15 to life. But this is my confession: I like listening to the hold music that plays on the teleconferencing system we use at work. It makes me really happy. I like it so much that sometimes I’ll dial in to a conference call a couple minutes early just so I can listen to it until the conference chairperson starts the call.
The music that plays is always the same – it’s a synthesized, bubbly tune that goes like Bum ba da bum, bum bum bah dah dee dah dum. Bum ba bum, bee ba dum, dum dum dum. And then there’s this part that’s higher pitched and comes in over the bum ba da bum part, and it goes like Bim bim bee bah bah bim bim bim. Bim bim bee bah da dee dee dee dim.
That’s the part I like the best.
Anyway, this got me thinking. For the most part I think of myself as a pretty normal person, but then there are some strange things I do like looking forward to hold music that make me think I’m not as normal as I might think.
I actually started to try to notice some of the other things I do that aren’t entirely normal to see if I noticed a pattern. So far, one other thing that sticks out in my mind is the fact that I really like to watch my cats drink water. Not enough that I’ve actually filmed them drinking water so I could watch it all the time on demand, but enough so that whenever I’m around them when they’re drinking water, I’ll make a point to stop and watch them.
Oh yeah, I also do put about four or five small glasses of water in various corners of my apartment for them, but honestly, that’s just because they prefer to drink out of glasses. They’re civilized that way.
So now I have to figure out if these things make me a) eccentric good, b) eccentric bad, c) insane, or d) boring.
The jury’s still out.
Filed under: General on February 5th, 2007
February 5th, 2007 at 2:05 am
Of your choices I would call that eccentric good.
I think that is cute how you call to listen to the hold music. There used to be a car commercial for the Mitsubishi Eclipse that featured a song called Days Go By (by Dirty Vegas). Whenever it would come on, I would stop whatever I was doing and have to watch the whole commercial because I loved the song and thought the commercial was really cool. I would even shush anyone else in the room so I could watch it.
I like to watch my dog when he drinks his water too and used to do the same with my dearly departed kitty cat.
February 5th, 2007 at 2:10 am
OMG! I think we must have the same conference call music that you do!
Except ours goes: Bum ba da bum, bum bum bah dah dee dah dum. Bum ba bum, bee ba dum, DEE dum dum.
February 5th, 2007 at 5:31 am
I like to watch my cat drink water too! He drinks from the opposite side of the bowl to where he’s standing and it makes me giggle – which in turn makes him give me a look of death! I’m afraid I must still vote for c) insane, due to the hold music thing. Sorry about that.
February 5th, 2007 at 7:18 am
my cat will only drink out of glasses, too. he’s so weird.
February 5th, 2007 at 7:24 am
i know it’s not one of the choices, but i’m going to go with quirky. mostly because the word quirky is fun to say…
February 5th, 2007 at 7:57 am
Cindi: It’s been a long time since I’ve actually enjoyed a tv commercial, but I know the feeling!
Dave2: If you use Global Crossing for conference calls, then yes, we do have the exact same hold music. And I love that part where the loud DEE comes in.
serap: Hey – my cat does that too! She also only likes to lick the side of the glass, not the middle of the water. Weirdos.
kat: Well, if Winston were my cat, I would let him drink out of crystal champagne flutes. Cutest kitten in the whole world.
mainja: Ooh – thanks! Quirky I can deal with!
February 5th, 2007 at 11:20 am
Somewhere there’s a composer who had been thinking he was a hack for resorting to composing “hold” jingles, but now that he’s brought joy into your life he feels like the true artist he once dreamed of being.
And cats drinking water is just plain cute. I think we can agree that anyone who doesn’t like watching them is a weirdo.
February 5th, 2007 at 1:21 pm
I like the theme song to Monk. Not the new theme song sung by Randy Newman, but the old Jeff Beal one that is just two guitars. They did away with it, so now I have the wav file on my computer and I listen to it now and then. Pathetic.
February 5th, 2007 at 1:39 pm
I seperate my smarties into their colours before I start eating them. Then, I start eating the one colour with the most smarties and so on, and so on until I’m left with lowest common smartie. Then I take one smartie from every colour left and eat them together so that no colour will ever feel like they were picked last.
Those poor red smarties. I don’t know what the hell Nestle was thinking when they started that whole “do you eat the red ones last?” marketing fiasco.
Giving all the other Smarties complexes, that’s what all always say.
Sincerely,
Michelle.
Who is saving the world from candy hate crimes, one Smartie at a time.
PS: I’ve only slept a few hours. I may disavow all knowledge of this comment tomorrow.
February 5th, 2007 at 1:51 pm
It’s the dog I can’t stand to watch drink water. Gah! There’s not a splash mat in the world big enough for the over-spray.
Mainja’s right, you’re quirky. I’ve always envied “quirky”. So once again, you’ve established yourself firmly in the front of my “I wish I were like her” list.
February 5th, 2007 at 9:49 pm
If you were normal, then you’d be boring. Quirky is eccentric with spunk and flavah. I’d take quirky for sure.
February 6th, 2007 at 7:12 am
You know something? Now that you mention it, I do the same thing. I watch my cats drink as well. Even if I’m totally into a TV show, I’ll stop and watch them drink.
Oh, and if you really want to make it fun, you should get one of these:
http://www.hagen.com/usa/cats/addinfo/catit_fountain.html
Mine freaking love it. And they lick the dome. It’s super cute.
February 6th, 2007 at 7:26 am
Cheryl: It’s so true – that composer has made my world a better place!
jroy: Are you changing your name? I’m afraid I don’t watch Monk, so now I’ll never get to hear the glory that is the original theme song.
Michelle: Okay, just to clarify for the non-Canadians, Smarties there are not like Smarties here, right? Aren’t yours kind of like M&M’s? Because if so, then you are completely following protocol by separating them by color. That’s just the way it’s done.
shari: Yeah dogs have really big tongues. Cats have dainty tongues and don’t really splash when they drink. It’s like watching Katharine Hepburn sip martinis. Or something like that.
churlita: Ooh – I have flavah? Niiiiice!
mihow: I think it’s hilarious that so many people like to watch cats drink – I really thought I was alone on that one. And I love that drinking fountain! My cats would really be spoiled then!
February 6th, 2007 at 8:41 am
My cats have a fountain as well. And the only kind of ‘bad eccentric’ is when someone else’s eccentric impinges on YOURS.
February 6th, 2007 at 3:15 pm
I love your cats, very exquisite.