I want to stab my eardrums with a pencil

[saturniniidae]

I wish the commuter rail had a quiet car, like Amtrak. Usually there are a few people on cell phones, chatting about daily minutia or gossip. Occasional stifled arguments with an S.O. Sometimes a noisy sociopolitical discussion, usually with one domineering person who is not as smart as (s)he thinks (s)he is. This morning was the worst. For the first half of the ride, the woman across the aisle from me was practicing singing descending half-octave scales with some sort of mini tape recorder. She was really bad. She stopped when someone sat next to her, as if that was too close, but the rest of us 2 feet away had been fine. Almost as soon as she stopped, some guy behind me started going on and on about Amma. At first I thought he was on the phone, because he was the only one talking, but about 15 minutes into it, someone else got a word in edgewise. I had some foam earplugs in my bag, and put them in during the bad singing, but it didn't really help. I have my ipod sometimes, but I have to turn it up so loud to drown people out that it gives me a headache, and I need new headphones because the earbuds are uncomfortable. I tried apple's in-ear rubber earbuds, but those were even worse for me. I know I am a total misanthrope, but I wish everyone would just shut the hell up.