Formless & Void

Without falling prey to the “I am SO weird, please think me a special snowflake!” excuse, I quite clearly have sensory issues of some sort:

• certain sounds bother me so much that I have a physical response - and that response would be one of intense anger usually directed at whatever object is closest to me
• certain rhythmic patterns induce in me a feeling of wanting to toss myself off a cliff just to escape the noise
• people not approved by my internal judge and jury, attempting to invade my personal space, will likely get taken out at the knees
• I would rather be punched in the ear than tickled anywhere on my body
• anyone attempting to touch my feet in ANY capacity will be repeatedly kicked in the head
• and so on…

So, while I sit here on an idle Tuesday night not sleeping (as I am wont to do) and slowly passing the time before I have to lumber off to work, I’ve been wandering the endless expanse of the Internet for something interesting to read.

Enter Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR). In a nutshell, it’s a response that certain people have to either internal or external stimuli that produces, primarily, a descending cephalic paresthetic sensation (e.g., tingling or shivering in the head that descends to the limbs) and secondarily, the activation of the parasympathetic system (i.e., relaxation). I should point out this is MY definition based on the reported signs and symptoms.

Apparently, some people have this reaction to any number of different scenarios, some of which you can read about here: http://www.asmr-research.org/

I’ve found this interesting for a number of reason, chief among them being the fact that I am the complete antithesis of someone who enjoys their ASMR. I’ve watched several of the videos on the various sites and, without a doubt, I would resort to punching myself in the ear (repeatedly) just to avoid some of the sounds I’ve heard. The sound of wrapping paper being crumpled, someone scratching their nails down certain surfaces, the hiss of someone whispering close to my ear…yeah, see that person driving off the bridge? That’s me. That’s what I would do to escape those sounds. Someone slowly explaining something to me while whispering to me? Yeah, punching myself in the ear again.

My one exception would be the trigger mentioned on the ASMR Research page: “being touched on the head.” Yep, that’s my one exception. To steal a quote from someone else on Tumblr about a completely unrelated topic, “If I [were] filthy rich, I would pay someone to just hang around and run their fingers through my hair all day. Of course, then I’d never get anything done.”

I’d have to hire the only two people on my Approved List of Humans Which May Enter the Sacred Circle to be at my beck and call for head scratches. *clap-clap* “I desire a head scratch! Proceed Jeeves!” Something like that.

So, while I acknowledge that the vast majority of people are unlikely to want to toss themselves off a bridge for hearing certain rhythmic patterns, or punch someone if they come near their feet, I also suspect it’s an equally small subset of people who get the shivers from having someone paw through their backpack and slowly explain their belongings to them. The two extremes (finding certain sounds abhorrent and producing a maleficent sensation vs finding them euphonious and producing a welcomed sensation) seem to be on the same continuum of sensory responses, albeit at completely opposite ends of the spectrum.

Here, go read about ASMR while I wait for Jeeves to get here:

• http://www.asmrvideos.com/
• http://www.reddit.com/r/asmr/
• http://www.asmr-research.org/

hello-witless:

If any of us become famous painters, film makers, photographers, illustrators, et cetera, we have to hide lemons in all our works. It’ll be our inside joke and it’ll confuse historians for centuries, okay? Okay.

I’m now at the age where I no longer have time on my side to “become famous” at anything, especially an artistic endeavor. Nobody becomes a famous photographer at my age. That bering said, if there’s a redo after this life, I’ll be sure to start earlier and include lemons in my art.

jodvaz:

Does anyone have a video of Andrew winning the Supporting Actor Bafta? Plz..plz…

http://youtu.be/RSjr7KicOPw There go

In honor of this post regarding “when British people talk,” I’m offering up this side of pond’s version (specifically, the Northern Wisconsin version):

Northern Wisconsinite over the age of 30: ”Ohhh yaaaaah, I can goooa fer coffee da’day! Where’d-ya wanna goooa?”

Other Northern Wisconsinite over the age of 30: ”Ohhh, I dun’oh. Somewhere dow’en town?”

Northern Wisconsinite over the age of 30: “Yaaaaah, oookay!”

People from anywhere else: “You sound like you’re from the movie Fargo.”

Northern Wisconsinite over the age of 30: ”Noooa we do’unt.”

People from anywhere else: ”Yes, yes you do.”

Northern Wisconsinite over the age of 30: ”Awwww heck.”