I was surprised at the positive reactions to the piece during critical feedback this week. While I am by no means ashamed of my work, I always feel a sense of anxiety bringing so much of my work, which is oriented in sound design to express narrative in a course that I have found deals so much with recorded and analog sound to create conceptual depth and express artistic philosophy. However, the reactions and commentary from my peers opened up conversations that have made me meditate on my practice a lot, especially as it inspired this piece from the beginning. The comment that struck me the most was that the piece had an element of humor and play and that the complicated sound design all spoke to a sense of joy in its aesthetically dark and synthetic world. This was impactful because the piece’s original intention was to reexamine my practice from the outside, especially after experiencing something dangerously close to burnout and feeling a loss of connection with myself after focusing so much on external response and momentum with my art. The fact that this sense of play was felt by my peers also gave me reassurance that the love I have and put into my work still lives strong and will carry me into the future of my practice, even when the pressure feels like too much, and I lose sight of myself in the chaos of creating and performing. I also felt a sense of progress with the technical aspects of my work, as many of the things I thought I did by accident within the piece were technically impressive and complicated in the eyes of my peers. I understood that I have become comfortable enough with my tools in the past two years that I can now use discovery, error, and accidents as a critical component of creating work, and that is exciting as I no longer am entirely relying on inspiration from other artists to find direction with my sound design. The process and inspiration are very personal, and I feel much more excited about this piece and its place in my work now, both in and outside of school.