Bestest Friend and I are doing a blog project. Each day we will write a blog post on a pre-determined theme chosen by a random noun generator. The theme for the fifteenth day of the month is "Volume."
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But the world is loud, isn't it?
Yesterday I went to visit a friend who has a new puppy (4.5 months old! so squishy!) and Dr. BB wasn't feeling well,* so he stayed home. He's the kind of person who actually likes to be alone when he's sick, so I went ahead without him. (I'm really worried that I'm coming off as a jerk who abandoned her sick husband. I swear this is actually better for him!)
But since I was there without him, I decided to stop at Ulta to buy shampoo. This store is in a mall, so while I was there, I allowed myself some time to meander. Now, this mall is in its death throes. The anchor stores are a Dick's Sporting Goods and a Kohl's that has the teeniest Sephora inside of it. There are a handful of stores remaining (American Eagle, Rue 21, Bath & Body Works are still hanging on), but there were more empty storefronts than not.
But since I was there without him, I decided to stop at Ulta to buy shampoo. This store is in a mall, so while I was there, I allowed myself some time to meander. Now, this mall is in its death throes. The anchor stores are a Dick's Sporting Goods and a Kohl's that has the teeniest Sephora inside of it. There are a handful of stores remaining (American Eagle, Rue 21, Bath & Body Works are still hanging on), but there were more empty storefronts than not.
It was still deafening. The music piped in from overhead. The children's rides that randomly flash lights and play six bars of carnival music. Kids screaming. The click-click-click of wheels from strollers on the tile. The crashing of boxes on the ground.
Why is the volume of the world turned up to eleven? Did I miss this pre-pandemic life?
*I think he may have been glutened? Maybe? We couldn't think of a single thing he ate that was outside of his regular food, but he was struggling.
Awww, your poor husband! Hopefully he is feeling better today. (I did very much enjoy your verbifying of the word gluten though.) The world is SO loud. I feel like I have been extremely social this year and it is exhausting being outside my house. We have a dying mall, too. I rarely go in, but whenever I do it seems like another store has exited the premises. Sometimes new things move in, but sometimes the storefronts remain empty. So far, Bath & Body Works, Sephora, American Eagle, and Forever 21 are holding tight.
ReplyDeleteI find the dying mall situation to be so sad. I just don't know what's going to become of all these huge empty spaces. :(
DeletePoor Dr. BB. Hope he's feeling better soon.
ReplyDeleteOur mall is such a depressing place to visit; it makes me sad every single time I walk inside because I remember when it was such a vibrant, happy place. I rarely go, but when I do I have a visceral reaction...
It is really sad to go in the mall, I agree. It used to be wall-to-wall with people and now there are just vast expanses of empty.
DeleteMy guess is they will be transformed into housing of some sort. This is based on NOTHING except that housing developments are everywhere lately. It seems like any bare patch of land is being transformed into enormous homes that are two feet away from their neighbors. Yuck. I suppose people need a place to live, though. There is another mall near me that died several years ago -- before the pandemic, even -- and it IS being transformed into housing. Some sort of combination of luxury apartments and retail, I think.
DeleteI listened to a podcast once about this and it seems like the existing structures would be hard to turn into individual condo/apartments because the infrastructure for things like kitchens/bathrooms aren't there, so they'd have tear everything down and start from scratch. Now, in some places, land is so scarce that this might be feasible, but it in a lot of places, land is not at a premium, so those structures are just going to sit there decaying, leading to an area of danger with people squatting there and probably doing illegal and/or questionable activities. It's an interesting question and I'd be watching the project near you carefully to see how they pull it off!
DeleteOh, malls have changed so much, right? The one by me (where my first job ever was!) has become a mix of flagship stores; laser tag, escape rooms, and bowling; and kiosks with flashing lights and blaring music - all too much for me and I avoid it at all costs! Hope your husband is feeling better; I, too, need to be alone when I'm sick so I totally get you going on about your weekend plans!
ReplyDeleteIt had been SO LONG since I'd gone to a mall that I'd forgotten just how insanely overstimulating it was. Now I know! And probably won't go back.
DeleteI wonder if they used to have the sound stuff turned up to be heard over the crowds, and didn't adjust it as the stores closed and the mall itself got quieter. I do think we're all less accustomed to the noise, though!
ReplyDeleteInteresting idea that they just never adjusted the sound from the heyday of the mall. Or maybe during the Christmas season there are more people? Who knows? It's crazy!
DeleteOur mall is pretty much dead. There is no flagship store anymore. It's become a place for people to walk in inclement weather, and I think it has one chain restaurant that is still doing well, like a wing place. I haven't been there in almost a decade, since the Best Buy left.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, the world is loud. Very loud. I'm always astonished by the people who have their cellphones on speaker in public places. And I almost lose my mind when my grocery store plays country music, which for some reason seems much louder than any other type of music (probably because I dislike it so heartily).
Your hatred of country music sort of makes me want to blast it loudly when I drive. LOL. J/K. I don't think the music is that loud at our grocery store and I'm so grateful for that.
DeleteOur closest mall is still thriving, but it's positioned itself as upscale, while the other malls, more middle class, are closed. Yep, the world is loud and noisier than it used to be. And I don't enjoy it.
ReplyDeleteI sort of wonder what the decibel level is for the average person just walking down the street, dealing with traffic and nature noises! I bet it's pretty high.
DeleteMalls are SO loud. It is a sensory nightmare.🤣
ReplyDeleteI hope your husband feels better soon. I leave mine when he's sick too.
Thank you for reassuring me that I'm not the only one who "abandons" their sick spouse.
DeleteNew puppy! How fun!
ReplyDeleteBoth the hubs and I just want to be left alone when we're sick, so we would have done exactly what you did - sick one stays home, healthy one goes out and has a blast.
More on the new puppy later, I promise. I won't hold the cuteness from you!
DeleteUgh, your mall sounds depressing. We have the other kind of mall (since there are apparently two polar opposite types now.) Ours is a very upscale, thriving mall. I actually like going there, although there are very few stores I can afford to shop at. Last time I was there I stopped (foolishly) to get a free sample of a moisturizer, and was told that if I wanted to buy a bottle, it was $1200. Hahahahahaha! Anyway... the weird thing is, the noise doesn't bother me. I guess some people are just more sensitive to it. But I can see from reading through your comments that I'm in the minority in this- most people probably feel like you do.
ReplyDeleteI honestly didn't know there were thriving malls anymore. They're all really depressing over here! But how can a mall stay in business if they're selling $1200 lotion? Who can afford that?
DeleteOur closest mall is horribly sad and depressing, too. It makes me SO SAD because I have so many fond memories of "the mall" when I was a kid.... I think the mall on the west side is doing much better, or at least it seemed to be earlier this year when I was there once. But the one nearest us is circling the drain, it seems....
ReplyDeleteYeah, it's tough sledding for malls these days. But I was trying to buy something locally recently and I went to two stores in our town and neither of them had what I wanted, so I ordered from Amazon. I'm complaining about malls, but I'm the problem!
DeleteI find the mall so sad since the pandemic. So many shuttered spaces and those that are open have such low inventory. I was at lululemon looking for pants for my husband, and they didn't have what I wanted. They suggested I just order online. If I had wanted to do that I would have done that, but I wanted to see the material. It feels just so depressing. I want to be able to shop in person but it is getting harder and harder to do that. In terms of sound, I don't notice the malls being loud, but maybe that's just me and the malls I frequent.
ReplyDeleteYes, it is very hard to find what you want locally a lot of the time. I don't know what the answer is because if stores don't stock things, people won't go, but if people don't go, they will end up with a lot of leftover stock and it seems like a very circular problem.
DeleteIt would never occur to me to judge you for leaving your sick husband - any man who needs his wife to stay nearby while he's sick is, well, it wouldn't be the wife I'd be judging, put it that way.
ReplyDeleteThe mall we usually go to (when we go to malls) is still a going concern, but I stopped by one we used to go to when the kids were little to pick something up for a friend, and it was jarring how little was left.
It was startling for me to go inside, that's for sure. The empty storefronts are just so sad.
DeleteHaven't been in a mall for myself in a while, but my teenager likes to hang out with their friends in the mall. Sometimes that makes me hopeful for a resurgence. My superpower is tuning out, so I may not have noticed the noise levels.
ReplyDeleteI desperately wish I could tune out noises. That IS a great superpower!
DeleteI hope your honey is feeling better. I've not been to a mall in many years! I believe the one in our town is still hanging on with large anchors like Dillards and Macy's, but the JC Penney and Sears are both gone, so maybe it's only a matter of time.
ReplyDeleteIt's crazy that Kohl's is the anchor now. That same mall used to have a Boston Store, a Macy's, and a Sear's. They're all gone now. Fingers crossed the Dillards and Macy's stay at your mall and it continues to hold on!
DeleteI feel bad for your husband, but if I was him, I'd prefer having the house to myself. But unless my mom is taking care of me, I don't really want people around when I'm not feeling well. So you do not sound like a jerk for going somewhere.
ReplyDeletePre-kids, I often felt like places were so loud. One place I really notice this is my parents. They always have the tv on and it's so loud. They have learned to just keep the tv off when we are there, though. But now that I have kids, I am ALWAYS in a loud environment. Like my apple watch will tell me I'm in a loud decibel environment and I'm like - no that's just my loud children. You should have heard how loud it was during bath time last night. Will was IN A MOOD because he basically wants to be outdoors allll the time and did not want to take a bath. Phil called his mom after their baths while him and the boys were in the basement and his mom asked where I was. He said, 'she's upstairs recovering from bathtime." #truth That is one of my struggles w/ parenting - it is a SENSORY OVERLOAD, especially when you have a toddler!
The noise thing is seriously one of the reasons we decided not to have children. It wasn't one of the main reasons, but it certainly was a factor. I get overstimulated very easily and the thought of having loud toys/loud voices/constant tv/radio/computer noises was just a bridge too far for me. I honestly don't think I could handle it at all.
DeleteI was hoping you'd share what shampoo you bought ;)
ReplyDeleteI am also sensitive to too much noise and yes, I feel like things that were nice and quiet during the pandemic have tuned up their volume again.
I hope Dr. BB is better!
I use Verb shampoo and conditioner. I've already written about it, so I figured I'd avoid the redundancy. https://ngradstudent.blogspot.com/2023/03/515-volume-all-controversies.html
DeleteDr. BB is feeling better, but I think we need to figure out how to help him so he doesn't get sick every time he varies his diet even a little bit.
Oh, I'm so sorry Dr. BB got glutened. :( Your verbing is on point, though. Just sayin'.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, life is ridiculously loud. PEOPLE are loud. I just fussed about the people in the community room near my apartment who were repeating a loud exclamation (beats the heck out of me what it actually WAS) in a rhythmic way. Loudly. Did I say that? :) I don't know if it was kids, someone entertaining kids, or just people being annoying, but geez Louise, people. Shhh....