Outside Looking In (ASMR)

Stressed out and unable to sleep with a myriad of thoughts on your mind, you leave the comforts of your room and once again roam the ever twisting and expanding halls of Arkham Sanitarium, with the hopes of finding one of the staff members still awake and available for a last minute A.S.M.R. treatment session.

You decide to take the scenic route this evening. Passing the administrative office and the main entrance of the facility, you glance out through the grand, arched windows that overlook the main grounds and the perfectly landscaped lawn with all of its various shrubs cut into representations of the staff members. And there past the portico and patient drop-off is the old, deteriorating fountain where the water hasn't run for a millennia, and its moss-covered, weathered antique brass statue of Cthulhu in the center of it all with its inscription: "Give me your tired, your stressed, your anxious masses yearning to breathe free, the sleepless refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the restless, tempest-tost to me, I bare my tentacles before the golden door!"

As you continue your late night sojourn, you make your way past the various wards that are home to a variety of beings from across the multiverse: goblins, gnomes, Kokiri, Demogorgons, synthetics, Klingons, Lilliputians, Oompa-Loompas, Sarlaccs, Deathclaws, and of course the worst of the bunch: Homo sapiens. And just like you, each species has its share of sleepless counterparts wandering the halls. You even find some sitting on the floor outside their room knocking their heads back against the wall. You wonder if that is a form of Morse code and how they communicate with one another.

As you walk by the cafeteria which has been closed since 9 PM, images of your favorite foods quickly skitter through your mind, so you alter the ship's course and make a direct route to the nearest vending machine. Using a couple of the gold A.S.M.R. tokens you won from this past Wednesday night's bingo tournament, you drop two into the cold machine's coin slot, type the corresponding letter and number code into the keypad, and watch as your favorite candy bar drops into the dispenser. You know it's the worst thing you can give your corporeal form this late at night, but like Rhett Butler once said: frankly, you don't give a dam. You still do not understand to this very day why Mr. Butler was so adamant in not wanting to share a structure that impedes the flow of water with Scarlett O'Hara, or how offering her one would have helped with her predicament. You think that some questions in the universe are just meant to remain unanswered.

As you continue wandering the newly painted halls of the facility, finishing up the last of your delicious candy bar while wondering if you should go back to get another, you finally end up at one of the familiar A.S.M.R. treatment rooms. Hearing an equally familiar voice emanating from within, you slowly approach the room and ever-so-quietly peek around the corner of the door's threshold. While to your delight Doctor Deep One Dave is awake at this hour available for treatments, unfortunately as your luck would have it, it seems Doctor Groot has beaten you to the proverbial strike with a closed fist.

With nothing better to do and no hurry to get back to your room, you decide to camp out and candidly observe the session without being noticed. Perhaps being an observer for a change might just be the thing you need after all. You just hope you won't get caught being out this late past curfew, as you've already had your fair share this month of being buried in Margaret's garden.

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What is ASMR? It is both a sensation and a medium.

ASMR stands for Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response and is the current, non-scientific name given to the feeling characterized as a pleasurable tingling sensation felt in the head, scalp, back and other regions of the body in response to visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, and/or cognitive stimuli, such as crinkling bags, hand movements, whispering, personal attention or watching someone perform a task. It's like goosebumps, but much more pleasant.

ASMR videos are meant to intentionally help induce this sensation, also referred to as "tingles", but also provide a relaxing, calming, soothing, therapeutic and even entertaining experience for the viewer.

Many people who do not experience ASMR still enjoy the videos for their calming and sleepy effect.