Last week I wrote about my superhero powers, which include the ability to hear sounds that no one else can hear.

My pal Jeff, over at View From the Cloud, wrote me to report that he also has some trouble with hearing noises that bother no one else. He suggested we may need a support group. Since it’s impractical for us to meet, what with Jeff in Minnesota and me in Pennsylvania, we’ve agreed to hold a meeting of sorts in our respective blogs. You, too, can join the group. Membership instructions follow.

But first, this is the part where you stand up, state your name, and announce all your problems to complete and total strangers. Let us begin.

Hi, my name is Kathy. Here are all the sounds that make my ears bleed.

Clashing radio stations — It’s one or the other, people. There is plenty of static in my head already. I don’t need Rush Limbaugh duking it out with the weather report.

Shiny, happy whistling people — I know I’m going to hell for this, but when I hear someone whistling, I want to shove a fistful of crackers in their mouths and see just how much they can whistle then.

Computer fans – I can hear the slightest fan noise in any make or model PC. I can also hear my external hard drive "breathing." I want to snuff it out, but I need it to, you know, backup my data. And so I allow it to live.

Sitar music or Japanese singing — Kill me. Kill me now.

Squeaky doors — None of my officemates were bothered by the squeak emitted by our office front door, although they did thank me after I blasted the door hinges with a can of WD-40. Seems they didn’t realize how loud it was until I silenced it. See, I’m not entirely crazy. Only partially.

TVs or radios playing in doctor’s offices — Last November I threw my back out and saw a chiropractor a couple times a week in December. All his patient rooms were outfitted with radios tuned to a station that played nothing but Christmas music. The day I had to listen to the Chipmunk song was the day I decided to delay the rest of my visits until January.

Leaf blowers — The only reason I don’t run over the guys who have gas-powered blowers strapped to their backs is because they must be living their own little hell. They are, after all, walking explosives.

Turn signals — I don’t let my husband put them on until he’s just about to make the turn. I don’t know how he puts up with me, and I’m sure if you’re a regular reader to my blog, you wonder the same thing. The man is a saint. Yeah, St. David, Patron Saint of Long-Suffering Husbands.

My neighbor with the RV — Every Sunday when he and his wife return from a trip, it takes him 15 minutes to back it into his too-small-for-an-RV driveway. Because it’s attached to a diesel-powered behemoth of a truck, I have to listen to it shake, rattle and roll as he backs it in while his wife screams at him "A little to the left, a little to the right!"

This concludes today’s meeting.

If you would like to join

our support group, check out Jeff’s post of sounds that annoy him. All you have to do is leave a comment on either of our blogs with one or more noises that drive you nuts and you’re automatically a member!

Meetings will be held on Wednesday evenings in a soundproof booth.

Addendum: The results of our first meeting are posted here.

Stumble it!