Sunday 15 January 2017

What happened, but didnt really happened.

This Saturday, around 10 AM, we all get an email saying that both Tuesday and Monday are holidays. In that order. Originally Tuesday was declared as a holiday, but then at the end of the same email, Monday being a holiday was added, almost as an afterthought.

Thus began an almost exodus as college students gleefully began planning with their friends to go away from the campus for a few days. Following that, crushed hopes and dreams when they found out that getting their leave approved by their faculty advisor would be next to impossible (But a few managed somehow).

Most of us left and got out and what not.
Many did not.

I was one of those many.

BUT! 
I had a plan! 
I was going to use that time to do stuff! Important stuff! 



I was going to do a movie marathon of the entire Harry Potter Series (Except the order of the phoenix), the LOTR trilogy (NOT the hobbit one. That one needs to get retconned after the second movie...), and possibly The Chronicles of Narnia (Why did they ever stop making those movies, I wonder..)

But then I met an old roommate of mine. Who introduced me to "Salad Fingers."

Now, for those of you who dont know what Salad Fingers is, please look it up, BEFORE YOU GO SEE IT.
THEN, go see it.

I dont normally get creeped out, but good god, this one twisted my mind around along the horizontal direction, then halfway vertically, and then let it snap back like an elastic band.


So I needed some time to recover from that, because it REALLY REALLY got under my skin, and through my head.

So I found the perfect solution:

Music.



Music is possibly one of the two things which can clear and heal the corrosion of the mind.

In my second year, I had started going down a slightly darker path, where I found it ridiculously difficult to get out of bed in the mornings, loss of appetite, lack of sleep, and then sudden reversal.
There were moments when my thoughts would be extremely dark and I would just be staring at things through a greyscale filter in real time.

So what I ended up doing was reading. Reading being the second thing that can help clear the corrosion of the mind.

I guess I must have needed some help back then (Im fine now! Thank you for asking! :D ) because I ended up reading some... 33 books in 5 days on my laptop.

Anyhow, how does that relate to this post?

Salad Fingers got under my skin like nothing on the internet ever has. I say this, keeping in mind that I have read a tonne of Creepypastas, and stories from the interweb.
Stuff like...
The Russian Sleep Experiment (based off stories from Japan's Unit 731, Nazi Experimentation during the second world war, and so on)
Ben Drowned (This one was especially well done.)

But this... for some reason... it just bothered me a little too much. I dont know why but stories about how the mind deteriorates hits me somewhat harder.

So. Music. The cure.

Last time, in my post I mentioned some amazing instrumental music from video games. I tried looking for something similar on youtube this time, and I was really not disappointed.

How many of you guys seen the movies of Pitch Perfect?
Yes! THIS is where I landed up in my internet search after looking for ways to cleanse my mind of that creepy hell which is the 10 episode series of SaladFingers (I am still not 100% over that, and its still got me somewhat shuddering at each memory of that..... voice.....)

But. Pitch Perfect 1 and 2. The Acapella movies which made me regret being born in a family with such musical talent, but having none of my own. (Apparently I used to sing when I was younger, but it hasnt manifested itself anytime lately..)

So what did I find?
Take a look :D


So the guy who made this video, Mike Tompkins makes these amazing videos, all Acapella, and made using people from all over the world. Take a look at his channel and take a look at his videos!

I'll put up the two videos which actually helped me calm down a bit and get back to normal. (or whatever my equivalent of normal is.)


Ooooh.... Speaking of..
Normal, can also be taken to mean mean, or average.
So if you took all the characteristics of all the people in the world, and took the average, or their mean, then you notice something slightly odd.
The "normal" which is considered as the average of all these people is purely theoretical.
Meaning, not one single person exists in this world of ours who is "Normal".
Just thought I would throw this out there. 




Now, I love the song "Closer" by ChainSmokers, and I think this rendition of their track is simpl incredible. I really hope you guys give it a listen and enjoy it as much as I did.


BUT. I wasnt done yet. Through some suggestions here and there, I found some other stuff.

There is this channel, Wintergatan. He made...
You know what, just take a look at this.
He made this through one part trial and error, one part genius. He calls it the Marble Machine, which uses 2000 marbles to make music.


This is... I am in awe of this machine. The guy took one year to make it, and he did it by hand (no usage of computer software except to make the giant programming wheel.) There are "How it was made" videos where he talks about the construction and working of the machine.

As cliched as it may be for me to say this, as an electronics and communications engineer, to me this is honestly an engineering marvel. (That statement may make no sense, so ignore it if it doesnt. If it does, stop, stare, oooh, aaaaah, and continue.)

Apparently, this machine has some major flaws in the construction, and he is making a second machine, this time, using a CNC, and CAD for making the structure digitally. 
That project is going to happen through 2017, so I have some stuff to look forward to besides the release of the Nintendo Switch, and Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. 

So, just to recap:

What happened: VIT Declared a holiday a little too late for us to plan our escape.
What followed: People making plans to go to Pondicherry and Bangalore.
What I planned on doing: Movie marathon of the Harry Potter Series (Except Movie 5), Lord of the Rings (And only these.), the Chronicles of Narnia, and possibly (Now that I think about it, the two Pitch Perfect movies.)
What ended up happening instead: My old roommate creed the crap out of me, and I found solace in music, engineering (or a product of), and inspiration to make this blogpost.



Since I have two more days in my extended weekend, I wanna know something from anyone reading this:
what music do you listen to when you want to "normalise" or just chill out?
Whats your favourite music?


Till then,
Looking Forward To 2017.
Hope you guys are having a great week. :)
- Ryan

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