🍱 Delicacy of the Day

Vacant - Escape

Alright, let’s end this “hypnotic” week with the best of the best.

British Creature Vacant.

I know, I know, this week was mostly Abnormal Australians and British Creatures. Can’t help but notice that they have the best music in the game.

So let’s talk about what makes this song so good.

To begin, the ambiance. It has that signature “dark” and “gloomy” feeling Vacant builds so well.

The melody is fantastic and will suck you in from the get-go.

The song is captures the rush you feel when you escape the certainty of misery into the misery of uncertainty.

Every phase of this song describes a feeling that goes into the concept of “escaping”

I’ll let you pick what those feelings are for you.

If anything, this will put you in a feeling of “I must grab my car keys and go on a night drive”

Like every song showcased this week, it's a song that will blow your mind from the production quality alone.

For best results, play at night (bonus points if it’s during a car ride).

Njoy.

💭 Quick Drivel

It seems I got invaded this morning.

This creature slipped in the second I opened the door on my way to the shower.

But maybe it was to leave a message…

Or is it a gift?

I can’t tell anymore.

Regardless, I was out of time to analzye it as the pickup was in 15 minutes.

What adventures await today?

Well…

Yeah so uh, this was my pick for an activity hahaha.

We (Clara [Friend #1], Olivia [Friend of Clara], and yours truly) booked one for this medieval kingdom once.

It was one of the most INTENSE rooms I’ve ever been in.

Might not sound cool or shocking, but I’ve done 30 or so escape rooms.

And every time I do one, there’s a “new” way to open an mf lock.

This one had at least 10 new ways I haven’t seen in other escape rooms.

To do this day I am amazed by escape room designers.

They could definitely work on the stakes and storytelling tho.

It’s always some “you must find this formula to prevent the destruction of the universe in an hour before the main villain returns from his bathroom break.”

Like, dawg, we already broke into his office or whatever. Can’t you just hide in the closet to whack the dude and steal his key when he comes back?

Idk man, maybe I’m thinking too deep into this

Anyway, we failed to escape. (This is why you just whack the main villain.)

…and the kingdom fell into corruption or something.

They don’t actually explain what happens to the world they “oh-so-carefully” built. It’s just a “damn bro, you failed. Want a picture commemorating this loss?”

Can’t make this up man hahaha.

The frustrating part is that we got 98% of the way there but ran out of time before putting it all together.

Goes to show that maybe I should focus more on the puzzles instead of easy ways to “beat the villain.”

But we weren’t ending on a loss.

This was a “Munsters Co.” themed room (they changed the name to avoid getting assassinated by Disney lawyers).

This one was incredibly creative and fun.

Can’t spoil the thing, but for one puzzle you had to scream at the top of your lungs.

…I’m ashamed to reveal how long it took us to figure that one out. (“Does that mean we have to find a toy that makes a screaming noise?” → comment by yours truly).

Regardless, we found the hidden world-ending plans 30 minutes before “Rudolph” came back from his "torture break” or whatever evil activity he was up to.

Bet he’s feeling real stupid for leaving the tax evasion docs inside a drawer locked by a 3-number combination lock.

This time we got the “Congratulations! Do you want a picture commemorating this win?” instead of the lore of what happens next.

I sure hope Rudolph gets arrested for the tax evasion (or whatever doc we illegally entered a facility to find).

No more headspace to think about that though. We were mentally burnt after running 2 escape rooms back to back.

So we went to a nearby Korean restaurant.

It was pretty good!

This is a popular Australian chain. I had heard of this place through another newsletter, so I was curious to see what it looked like.

Can you guess what the interior looked like?

Well… it was:

Yeah I definitely gotta get checked for something. I don’t know why I imagined supermarkets are different in other places of the world lmfao.

It’s the same old stuff on shelves assorted neatly. (Which, why change it? How can you even do it differently?)

The ONE cool difference it has are the “automatic grocery scanners”

Before leaving you have to sit behind a glass gate. A camera “scans” your cart quickly before opening the gates.

Never seen this tech before; pretty neat!

We were having guests over in a bit so they told me to help out in the dinner preparations.

Since they weren’t trusting me after the escape room fiasco they had me doing “Fairy bread.”

It’s this incredibly complex dish where you:

Truly revolutionary. Hardest thing I’ve ever cooked.

Had to build an industrial amount of them though.

They didn’t give me any context on why we had to make so many.

But whenever I tried to ask they would just say “stop asking questions and keep making fairy bread!”

Talk about backbreaking work conditions, huh?

“Ah, you must be the American.” Said Tom.

He was the first guest who arrived.

“Here, try these” he said before handing me a bag of candy.

Tom also kindly let me know that “fairy bread” is effectively 5-year-old food. Olivia and Clara immediately burst into laughter when they heard this.

Shortly after another 9 arrived.

Most brought a form of “peace” offering in the form of a "local Australian delicacy”

To give a list:

And thus began the live taste tasting. Everyone seemed taken back by the high score reviews.

I can’t lie, they’re eating good over here. The sweets are actually incredible. They taste like chocolate without 10 billion chemicals inside.

That doesn’t apply to the Caramello Koalas. They put straight-up CRACK in that one.

I was hopelessly addicted and killed a whole 12 piece bag within 30 minutes.

Which was impressive to most there, as the “Endlessly Eating American” stereotype came true right before their eyes.

Apparently Olivia organized this whole surprise activity to provide “a cultural experience” by telling her friends to bring a bunch of Australian snacks and dishes. (including the “terrible” ones like vegemite)

One of the most incredible things someone has ever done, hahaha.

After the food part of the experience, the main activity began.

This is one of my favorite board games of all time.

It’s also incredibly hard to run as you need a minimum of 8 people (I barely know 2 in Miami)

This is also an Australian game. Most people here recognize it and love playing it.

I’ve even heard of people doing side gigs as “storytellers” who charge $20/hr. (Most games can go for 2-3 hours)

The gist of the game is simple:

There are 2 teams, townsfolk and demons. (This game is similar to Werewolf)

The townsfolk want to find the demon and kill it.

The demon wants to kill all the townsfolk without being found.

Classic social deduction game.

The revolutionary thing is that even when you “die” you STILL get to keep playing by getting a one time “ghost vote”.

And unlike other social deduction games, you are allowed to get up, walk around the room, and grab people for private conversations.

It’s genuinely great fun and most who play it get addicted.

I wish I could put all the twists, arguments, screams, and laughs into this email.

But its one of those things that can only be experienced in person.

…And this is already a long email. Adding another 600 words would be irresponsible hahaha.

We ran 2 games which meant 6 hours of nonstop gaslighting.

We also discussed the differences between America and Australia.

It seems most are intrigued by the two-party political system and how divided the country is.

They also were amazed to hear about the housing and grocery price problem as they’re also going through it (though I’d say it’s a bit worse for them).

It seems that covid really messed things up worldwide huh?

After that, it was already late and most people had to work the next day so we called it a night.

Overall a 10/10 day.

If you ever have the chance to meet your online friends, go for it.

Yeah, don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of horror stories, but at the same time you can end up in these unique situations that you can write and talk to other people about.

One of those things that make life just a little bit more exciting.

In any case, only a couple of days remain.

Tomorrow is a different kind of day.

Catch you then

Hz

P.S. TRIP SCORE: (37 days)

Hours slept total: 220.

Times phone died: 15.

Times lost/taking the wrong train: 33.

Strangers met and talked to: 55.

- Got this sent by a friend? Join them and start getting your daily song by signing up here.

- Artists: Want to have your music showcased? Let us know about you here.

- #VibeFind: Need a song for a special moment or the right tune for the vibe? Reply with #VibeFix, and we’ll get you sorted.

- Song Requests: Want your favorite song featured? Reply with it and a short story about what makes it special, and we’ll send it!

-Can't concentrate to screeching sounds or forced vocals? Brain.fm will fill the electronic void while doubling your focus. Get the first month FREE by clicking here