30b. Curb Cut Effect

[viagra]

1,157 words. Approximately 5 minutes, 47 seconds. Audio version here.

Can we talk about closed captions for a second? They really are an amazing and wonderful thing, and even though they were designed for those that are deaf or hard-of-hearing (of which I am neither, although my husband might say I’m hard-of-hearing since he will frequently say

Comments

[dadi]

I have the captions on nearly always... Dan and I watch stuff in 5 different languages and for me, Romanian is more difficult to follow if it is dialectal, for him German. With the caption, it is simply easier :)

[viagra]

I always feel so strange now when the captions aren't on... although the worst for me is when the captions don't actually match what the people are saying. I'm fine with watching in languages other than English and reading subtitles, but at one point I tried to watch the English dub of "Dark" on Netflix and the captions were translated differently than the voice acting, so it was very bizarre! I had to switch the audio back to German (which, honestly, German sounded nicer anyway).

I can't believe there was a time when I thought that captions were pointless; they're really quite nice to have on!

[lyssa027]

Like, yes, we all know that every person we meet leaves a tiny stain on our beings, and forms the basis of the people we become. I think that just goes without saying. But this guy, ugh. He was such an ass. Sometimes I think that I was just as much to blame for our relationship failing as him, but then I remember what an ass he was and I feel a little bit better about myself. Anyway, this guy didn’t leave a tiny stain on my being; he pretty much colored my entire world for a good portion of time after we had even stopped talking to each other. Everything I did, every move I made, was informed by the fact that I needed to do everything in my power to avoid entangling myself with someone like him again. This could be written about my ex-boyfriend... man was he an asshole :/ I sure as hell wasn't perfect and I made mistakes, but he was such an abusive asshole, and I just thought I deserved every second of his abuse

[viagra]

My husband hated captions, too... it was the same thing with him as it was with me, though. He put up with them because I couldn't watch TV without them anymore, and now when the captions aren't on we're both freaking out lol

[lyssa027]

I think with me, it's mostly that I read too fast for captions, so I've finished the caption, but they're still talking, it drives me insane in videogames.

[viagra]

I do that with video games too! FFX-2 makes me crazy sometimes because in order to get the elusive 100%, you're not allowed to skip any cutscenes and you're not allowed to move forward the dialogue even if you've read it before the voice actors manage to spit it out.

[marlawentmad]

This is such a strong piece. Thank you for writing so vulnerably. I love your blend of frank depth and light-hearted razzing. I am sorry you experienced such a difficult relationship. I am unpacking what it means to have seemingly innocuous things hurl me back into exactly the headspace you describe at the end. I love the run-on sentence structure of that section. It has all the kinetic energy of a stream of consciousness that ramps up those negative thought spirals, and your punctuating ending line is a perfect exclamation point on this piece.

[viagra]

Thank you! It's crazy to me that this particular relationship still has echoes, since it was extremely short as far as my typical relationships go. But maybe the fact that he was such an outlier is what keeps him focused in my mind sometimes.

[encrefloue]

So interesting how the smallest details of our environments can become portals to past mental states. Didn't expect such an intimate take on this prompt!

[viagra]

Thanks! When I first got the prompt, I was completely lost. Something about closed captions just grabbed me and I was determined to turn it into something. I'm glad it worked. :)

[rayaso]

You were so lucky to meet your husband. Who knew he was a stain remover? Does this power extend to laundry? We like to use close captions as well, particularly if someone has a thick accent or when dialog gets swallowed up in too-loud background music. They are, as you said, also good when the noise of whatever is going on around us makes watching hard.

[viagra]

I wish that power extended to laundry; then I wouldn't have to do it anymore! I don't know what I'd do without closed captions at this point, honestly. There are times when the captions and the speakers don't actually match up and I have to turn the captions off, and it really just throws me for a loop!