05 january 2025
Exams are stressful
I have exams in two days. It's kinda stressful... It's one of the first times ever that I experiment stress for exams. Usually I just don't really care that much, but this year my parents and my civil godfather are paying my studies in another city, so I really have to succeed for them.
Also I have experienced insomnia during this first sememster. So much that I missed quite a lot of lessons. Well, I don't know if you could call it insomnia. It's really bedtime procrastination, i.e. I push back on bed time because "I have stuff to do", util it's like 2 or 3 am...
Another factor is that I don't really like what I'm doing. I'm in third year of math, and it's not that I don't like math, but I didn't really get involved in some subjects (namely, topology and integration), so I didn't build any intuition, and now I don't have this grasp that you get when you start to really know a subject...
Physical supports are great
So, for christmas, my father gave me his old vinyl turntable. I already owned a few discs because I had a more-than-crappy turntable. Now I have a nice setup with a Thorens TD166 turntable, a NAD 3020 integrated amplifier (the speakers aren't great though, I'll have to change them).
This experience for listenig to music reminded me of a conclusion I already had : physical supports have a great feeling to them.
It's true for vinyl records vs digital music, but also for many other things :
- writing on paper vs writing on a computer (even though i'm faster on a computer, It's still different on an actual notebook)
- physical calculators vs an app on your computer/phone : when you press these crappy dedicated buttons, it "feels like you are doing a calculation"
- obviously : chatting in person is very different from chatting in a call
- 3D visualisation : even if sofware is great nowadays, you brain often understands better if you actually have the object in your hands
The list goes on... I'm sure you can find an example you encountered.
I can find at least a few reasons to this, but I should really make a proper post about this !
Anyway, I really enjoy the whole process of searching for a record, getting it out of the cover, cleaning it, setting the arm... The whole thing is a great opportunity to take a break, and a kind of relaxing ritual.