What was going on when I was born?

Ferdinand E. Marcos demonstrated last week the kind of political skill that has allowed him to survive as President of the Philippines for 20 years. Under unusually strong United States prodding to face up to the threat of a Communist insurgency by introducing clean, democratic government, Mr. Marcos called for an election Jan. 17 to settle the ''silly'' charge that his Government is inadequate. The fact that Mr. Marcos made the announcement during an interview on American television while most Filipinos were asleep indicated how much more he was responding to pressures from Washington than to internal ones.

THE first problem in dealing with the noises, smells and other major and minor nuisances of life in New York apartments is determining exactly what a nuisance is. And that is no small task. After all, one man's Mozart might bring on another's migraine, while the sweet scent of sushi might be just the smell of dead fish to those whose noses are not so inclined. And even a common air-conditioner, quiet enough to some ears, can drive other people mad, not with its volume but with its mind-numbing, endless throbbing hum. Within this jungle of subjective feelings, emotions, and passions, however, there is a framework for dealing with noise and nuisance in residential buildings in a facts-and-figures sort of way. The city's 1972 Noise Control Act regulates such things as maximum sound levels at construction sites and commercial and industrial operations and the hours that certain work is permitted. And since 1969, the city's Building Code has required that certain demonstrable noise-abatement measures be included in all new buildings.

THE Federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission is expected to decide this week whether to authorize an emergency preparedness drill for the Shoreham nuclear power plant. Such a drill could simulate the participation of state and county officials. But an array of state and Long Island officials said last week that the drill would be illegal and contrary to common sense. In the most recent escalation of the Shoreham controversy, a top adviser to Governor Cuomo said the state would take legal action if necessary to block the drill. ''We are opposed to it and we will take any measures necessary to stop it,'' said the adviser, Fabian Palomino.

THE cessation of tolls on the Connecticut Turnpike is costing the state millions of dollars in expenses that range from the redemption of an outstanding 10 million tokens to overtime for state police patrolling the areas where the tollbooths are coming down. The free rides are also adding tens of thousands of vehicles to the turnpike. ''It's a freeway now,'' said William E. Keish, the chief spokesman for the State Transportation Department. He attributed the increase partly to travelers who used to leave the highway to avoid the tolls but are now staying on it.

Barbra Streisand, a singer whose recent attempts to keep up with pop music's changing trends have been artistically shaky, has just released what may be the album of a lifetime. ''Barbra Streisand - The Broadway Album'' contains 15 classic songs spanning more than half a century of musical theater, from ''Showboat'' to ''Sunday in the Park With George.'' Most were recorded with an old-time studio orchestra. ''The Broadway Album'' soars with full-bodied, tender bel canto renditions of ballads by Stephen Sondheim, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Jerome Kern, and a ''Porgy and Bess'' medley that stand among the most thrilling performances of her 23-year recording career. Miss Streisand's return to a style of music she abandoned 15 years ago as uncommercial is a career coup that has surprised Columbia Records by having netted 800,000 advance orders for the album. It is also something of a historic milestone in that Miss Streisand persuaded Stephen Sondheim, who is represented by six songs (eight counting two lyrics from ''West Side Story''), to rewrite three songs for the project, including ''Send in the Clowns.'' In a rare interview last week, Miss Streisand, who was in New York to make a video for the song ''Somewhere'' (from ''West Side Story''), talked about her career in show business and the high price of her legendary perfectionism.

AS we commemorate the 100th anniversary of Ezra Pound's birth (Oct. 30) we think immediately of his ''Cantos,'' written between 1919 and 1961 - 117 of them in nearly 800 pages. Technically they are his most innovative writing and in content they are the most extraordinary. The short poems of Pound's ''Personae'' collection will probably always be his most popular work because they are accessible. His English versions of Chinese, Japanese, Latin and Provencal poetry and plays are among the finest translations made in this century. And his literary essays and such books of criticism as the ''A B C of Reading,'' ''Guide to Kulchur'' and ''The Spirit of Romance'' are as provocative as they are iconoclastic. But Pound intended the ''Cantos'' to be his testament, and many consider them his masterpiece.

The Prince and Princess of Wales arrived here today in a burst of Anglo-American amity and personal celebrity, beaming politely as they began a three-day visit of social, commercial and esthetic tasks. The youthful couple, eye-catching principals in the world's dwindling theater of royalty, stepped down from their airplane and headed off to see President Reagan for a smile, welcoming handshakes and a private conversation over coffee at the White House. ''Hey, Prince!'' an American in the airport crowd shouted as happy British subjects curtsied and bowed after the couple came down a red carpet to shake hands with a group of handicapped people. In brilliant sun, the Prince, in a dark suit, stepped out of a gray Rolls-Royce at the White House and extended a handshake to Mr. Reagan, who stood like a happy householder, dressed in a tartan blazer, at the door of the South Portico. Nancy Reagan, in a beige knit dress, welcomed the Princess, whose stylish blonde presence was heightened by a suit in a bright shade known in the capital as ''Nancy Reagan red'' - an outfit that seemed to outblaze the fall foliage framing the welcoming tableau.

For the fifth time in 10 years, there has been a change in command at the state office responsible for approving cooperative and condominium plans. The move involved replacing James M. Morrissey, the assistant attorney general in charge of the Real Estate Financing Bureau, with Frederick K. Mehlman.

A senior White House official said today that a communique would not be issued at the conclusion of the Soviet-American summit meeting in Geneva on Nov. 19 and 20. The official, Robert C. McFarlane, who is President Reagan's national security adviser, told reporters that a final communique, which usually summarizes points of agreement, ''is unlikely and probably an inappropriate measure of the meeting.'' The disclosure to several reporters indicated that the White House expected little substantive agreement at the meeting. Two Sides Concur on Communique A senior Administration official said that the United States and the Soviet Union had agreed not to issue a communique as a result of preliminary discussions in Moscow earlier this week involving Mikhail S. Gorbachev, the Soviet leader, Secretary of State George P. Shultz and Mr. McFarlane.

The Workbench, a company based in Manhattan that for 30 years has designed and sold a line of modern furniture that appeals largely to apartment-dwellers and people furnishing second homes, has expanded into home-building. It is developing six houses in Litchfield County, Conn., that are suitable for use as country retreats.

Construction is to start soon on a 69-unit residential community planned for a 35-acre site on Shelter Rock Road in North Hills, L.I., but the builder's bulldozers and earthmovers will spare most of the hundreds of specimen trees planted on the property more than 50 years ago by a former owner. The spruce, sweet gum, poplar, sassafras and dogwood trees as well as other species on the site are protected by a North Hills village ordinance that requires builders to have permission from local authoriites before uprooting or chopping down trees that measure 12 inches or more in diameter.

It's been assailed by critics, threatened with dismantling by Presidential advisers, and warned by Cassandras that it would never survive. But this year the National Endowment for the Arts - a Federal agency that has achieved a national presence out of all proportion to its size and budget - is celebrating its 20th birthday in fairly robust health. Lasting through 10 Congresses and more than four Administrations, the Endowment has grown from a handful of employees and six programs to 16 programs administered by a staff of 260. Its budget has fattened from a mere $2.5 million in 1965, the year of its founding, to $163 million for fiscal year 1985. Where its first grantswent to 159 organizations and individuals, mainly in urban centers, so far this year it has handed out $145.5 million to 4,688 recipients, covering every part of the country and an enormous variety of creative endeavor. And by matching outside donations with Government funds, it claims a hand in boosting the total of private gifts in the arts field from $226 million in 1967 to more than $4.6 billion in 1984.