This Cool Thing I Made

First off, I know, it's been awhile. I have seriously been so stressed that I have not wanted to do anything, not homework, not blogging, not hanging out with people. All I've wanted to do is either sleep or watch Doctor Who (which is another post in and of itself). I think I'm starting to come out of this stress-induced coma-like state, and figured I'd let y'all know that I'm still alive and not actually in a coma.

One of the projects that I finally got around to finishing was a soundscape that I had to do. Because I know y'all totally want to hear it, I figured I'd share it.
  Soundscape for EMAC by missnesbit
All of the sounds in the clip were ones I recorded except for the jungle sounds.

Now because I had to enlist the help of a few coworkers to get the office sounds, I shared the finished piece with them, and one of them was so inspired (or incredibly bored, but we'll say inspired) wrote a little story to go with the piece. I loved it so much I asked her if I could share it with you guys, and she said of course! So here it is by Lynn C.:

John strolled into his building at just a few minutes past his usual time, but he still wasn't hurrying. His shoes made a regular sound on the polished tile of the building's lobby that sounded businesslike to him, and he wasn't going to mess the rhythm up by rushing when he didn't have to.

Two other people were already waiting for the elevator when he got there, and it still took a while for one to announce its arrival with the usual chiming ding, pneumatic doors whispering open in dispassionate invitation to enter the blank little box they guarded. John got in, noticed which buttons had been pushed, and moved to the back of the elevator. His floor was going to be last, as usual. There was another floor above his, but he'd never seen anyone go up there in all the time that he'd worked in the building. They heard sounds from the upper floor - his floor's ceiling - sometimes, but never saw any people to go with them.

First stop was the third floor, announced by the elevator's female computer voice that always sounded vaguely Star Trekish to John, and the doors slid open to allow in an odor of burned coffee and copy toner. The woman who got off there walked into the maze of cubicles without a backward glance,apparently unaffected by the solid wall of busy business noise that made the two men in the elevator wince. Whatever was going on in that office, there was apparently a lot of it.

The burnt coffee odor lingered once the doors had closed again, but it fled when the computer announced their arrival at the fifth floor and the doors slid back to reveal verdant jungle. The air that poured into the little metal box felt almost liquid, humid and warm and green. A parrot flew by, complaining loudly, and the other man in the elevator rolled his eyes. "I hate that thing," he commented, sliding off his suit jacket and folding it over his arm and then taking a machete out of his nice leather briefcase before stepping out into the wild tangle of green. He immediately began hacking his way further in. "Janet!" he called out, echoed by another ugly squawk from the parrot. "Has my ten o'clock called yet? Because I think the Harris case is going to run long..."

The doors slid shut, and John adjusted his tie, grimacing at the sticky feeling the law office's jungle humidity had left under his collar. Thank goodness his office wasn't like that. Although he did kind of like the parrot; he kept hoping it would fly into the elevator some morning, but it never had.

“Fifteenth floor,” announced the elevator some thirty seconds later. The doors slid open...to a violent downpour. John jumped back with a curse. He considered the rain for a moment, then decisively pushed the close button followed by the one for the first floor; his cuff was damp and the sleeve of his jacket spotted when he pulled his hand back. The doors took their time closing, letting even more rain get in, and then the elevator was heading back down to the ground level. John brushed stray droplets off his pants, grimacing at the spots and streaks they left on the light gray fabric. He'd just go get his umbrella from the car and then go in, his boss wasn't going to yell at him for being late with the weather like that.