July 30, 2015

July 30, 2015

Written by Maximus Peperkamp, M.S. Verbal Engineer

Dear Reader,

 

My wife woke up because there was a mosquito in the room. I turned the light on and looked all over the place, but couldn’t find it. The door to our bedroom is open and it could have flow to the living room, the kitchen or the office where I am sitting right now. After searching for the mosquito, I was aroused and couldn’t sleep and so I decided to get up and write.

It is a wonderful cool night and it is only 4:00am. I am a little tired, but can’t fall back asleep anymore. Bonnie is sound asleep. The cat just came in and took her place in front of the open window. She likes to sit on that spot because it has a pillow. When I greeted her, she greeted me too. She too enjoys the coolness of the night and she seems very happy.

During this summer period, I have written many songs and have sang at open-mike evenings. Because many people like my songs, I kept making more. Yesterday evening, after I talking with my friend, I sang for him too. He complimented me for a melancholic song about walking through my old hometown. I wrote it to music by Eric Satie, which he really loves.

This week, I plan to go to three open-mike evenings. Once Fall Semester at Butte College starts I probably don’t have that much time anymore for these events. That I have started to sing again is a wonderful addition to my behavioral repertoire, which brings me many reinforcements. I love music and to me Sound Verbal Behavior (SVB) is music while we speak.

Noxious Verbal Behavior (NVB) is noise while we speak; in NVB the voice of a speaker is perceived as an aversive stimulus.  Such a voice is difficult to listen to and we are naturally inclined to move away from it in any way we can. So, even if we cannot move away physically, we move away from it with our private speech, which comments on the NVB public speech.