rain

i'm big into intentional background noise. it gets very quiet in my apartment aside from the sounds of construction and balcony partiers outside. so, youtube on tv. lofi hip-hop was my go-to for a few years and was especially helpful while finishing my undergrad thesis. i've gone through vaporwave and brown noise phases, among others. things to revisit here later.

more recently i've been playing rain ASMR videos. most of them are from the channel "hello korea". they have titles that sound like small poems. i'm actually using some as poem titles in a chapbook i'm working on.

i know much of youtube is now optimized for SEO and that contributes to the kind of endearing strangeness of some ASMR video titles. i don't mind so much. you get things like this:

• rain falls on a pond in a small but unpretentious, beautiful garden. Rain sound for relaxation ASMR
• Rain sound falling on the calmly flowing water. Insomnia Relief, Soothing Rain to Relax & Study
• The calm sound of rain and the stepping stone of a stream in the dense forest, relaxation ASMR
• The sound of the river (the murmuring of the river) that purifies the mind considerably[study,sleep]
• Rain falls on a small pond in the forest with a dreamy atmosphere. Rain Sound ASMR

the comment sections on videos tailored to helping people sleep or get rid of anxiety can be very sweet when you're in the right place for it. i tend to be these days. i want my brain to be gently placed under a small waterfall, or set afloat in a creek in springtime. i'm done skipping rocks with it. it's getting cold again, after all.