There is a drum and bass mix on Youtube, posted in 2012, with a fancy painting of a blossoming cherry tree hovering the top of a cliff in the sunset, with lava flowing from the rocks. I like to listen it from times to times, the first 30 minutes are okay, and it gets more and more entertaining and focused after that. The whole second hour is bliss.

I remember listening to it A LOT around when it was published, while I was still at university, especially during the finals period or when important graded work was being due. It would be the perfect soundtrack to grinding through my biggest code projects back then, somewhere in the middle of the night, in my room in Rennes. What the hell were we trying to build for these classes? Were we using Scheme? Or was it OCaml?

Some friends at uni would listen to that same mix and we all found it fun in its ability to drive our late, almost panicky productivity, and the results we were getting from it. Better than Ritalin I tell you!! (I actually don't know).

When I return to it now, I like to take a look at the comments, and I love that my experience is shared with sooo many people. The video has 27 million views now, insane.

This helped me push so many essays over the line at 19 years old, well into the early hours of the morning. I'm currently 31 and it's now helping me get my mid-year review notes done for work. The more things change...

No matter how many years pass, I somehow keep coming back, it's like this mix is part of me, and watches me grow through life. sending love to you all.

Holy shit, this got recommended to me 8 years later. I used listen to this all time when studying for math exams in high school... 17 back then, 25 right now. Time flies.

I love the fact that so many of us listen to this track and keep coming back throughout our lives. We'll never meet and are travelling different paths but from time to time we visit this holy ground together and all that matters is the moment. I wish happiness on all of you and just know that somewhere out there is somebody who loves this mix as much as you and knows what it feels like to listen to it.

The thing is, there is nothing special to this mix, it's just a pretty nice one. But I like the beauty of having such fond memories of a seemingly trivial object, a Youtube mix, in common with so many strangers.

Give it a listen!