Keep It Down

I really don't like loud things. I'm extremely uncomfortable in a loud restaurant. I hate it when the TV is above a certain volume. One of the big reasons I can't stand going to music shows is that it's just a wall of noise.
I get annoyed even by people with loud voices. Everyone hates that loud person walking down the street on the cell phone, though that's probably more a look-at-me thing than just ignorant noise. It also drives me nuts when I listen to someone else talk on the phone and that person raises their voice about five steps too high just because the person on the other end is talking loudly.
I was at dinner last night and there were at least two people at a big table behind me talking extremely loudly. There was one woman's voice in particular that I was later completely amazed belonged to a 30ish woman. The tone, volume, and subject matter of her words more befit a 16year old, though I could just be projecting that opinion based solely on the loudness. What kind of adult talks like that? Do you really need to call attention to yourself that much? Sometimes I feel bad criticizing people for having low self-confidence (because I have effortlessly always had plenty, and I can appreciate how that might be a semi-genetic trait, I try to understand), but for godsakes it drives me nuts. Often.
I experienced a different form of obnoxious loudness on Friday night: the drunken loud. I was about four hours late arriving at a friend's party and evidently I missed quite a bit in those four hours, because I was hit with semi-inappropriate speaking volume from all angles. It's a little abrasive. I won't mention who, but some parties were more guilty of this than others. Generally, when I find myself in a situation where I am less drunk than most everyone else, I will try not to judge and will be liberal in giving the benefit of the doubt, but there are instances when the drunken loud is just shameful. I'm sure everyone has walked mostly sober down the street and come across a group of people who are mostly drunk. The drunk group will not only be loud, they will also be stupid. It's hard to reconcile with the fact that even the most seasoned and responsible drinkers will act far less intelligent when drunk. That might seem like an obvious statement, but look yourself in the mirror and admit that, when drunk, yes indeed, you are at best a fucking moron and at worst a fucking douche. It's hard to accept that you are not special. Long story, but recently I happened to view an old party video I used to tape from college parties we hosted. This was 8-10 years, and many degrees of maturity, ago; but still it was a little surprising to recognize what a dumb douche I was. (I'm naively now going to attribute this solely to the drunkenness, because clearly my 21-year-old-Ohio-State-attending self couldn't possibly have exuded anything close to douchitude when sober. Clearly.)