A little lunch hour thread. Over the last six months or so I, like so many others, was going through some sustained stress and grief. I happened to read this great piece in @WeAreMel (RIP) about ASMR and the BLM movement. https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/black-asmr-network-protest-youtube

I had never listened to ASMR before but I began listening to it while I worked sometimes, to try and keep the stress spiral in check. (It didn't really work for me, but I tried!)

ASRM is a huge space and I began to idly explore the different modalities. Most of it's pretty uniformly pretty-girl-pays-attention-to-you. What I enjoyed was the eccentric, stuff - and there's a lot of REALLY eccentric ASMR out there.

Here's one where the creator prepares a luxurious bath for you -- demonstrating it on a miniature plastic bathtub that maybe was designed for a fancy little dog. I find it hysterical and awesome.

In this one, you are a medieval Lord who has just returned from *collecting the debts from a bunch of peasants*!!!! There is a LOT to unpack here and I am in awe of how much work the creator has done to set the scene.

In this one, you are buying a new backpack at an underground marketplace during...a zombie apocalypse

This is a world that I know very little about but it's so interesting. It definitely ties into current issues of burnout, isolation, loneliness, and lack of access to health services. But it's also worth looking at as a medium, and as entertainment.