Yannick's Secret Den

A traditional blog about the life of a French guy

My New Single “Twenty Years” (feat. Liam) is FINISHED!

This song has been in the works for a while, but I’m so happy to finally announce that it’s finished! I created everything from scratch—the melodies, the bassline, the kick sequence, and I even wrote the lyrics. It’s far from perfect, but for my very first track using Cubase 15 Pro, I’m pretty proud of…
Anarchy Descends on France: What’s Next?

The catastrophic events happening in France right now reminds me of those in the movie The Purge. In this movie, the government has sanctioned an annual 12-hour period known as “The Purge”. From 7:00pm to 7:00am, all crime—including murder—is completely legal, and all emergency services (police, fire departments, hospitals) are suspended. We are not quite…
Forever in My Heart: A Tribute to My Mum

My mum, Solange, is having brain surgery on November 4th. I hope with all my heart that the bad luck in our family will stop. She is truly wonderful, and I challenge anyone to find a woman as humble as her. She’s undoubtedly my closest confidante because she has a knack for knowing every time…
Killer Melodies: From Theory to Hook

What’s the best online course you’ve ever taken? View all responses As an aspiring musician, I have taken multiple classes, mostly on Udemy. Udemy is an online learning platform that offers thousands of video courses on subjects like technology, business, design, and personal development. Not that long ago, I purchased these courses during a sale:…
My Silent Battle: Living with Social Anxiety

If you could go back in time and give your younger self advice, what would it be? View all responses When I was younger, I made a lot of mistakes… most of which revolved around my social anxiety and periods of agoraphobia. I was in complete denial about it and relentlessly refused all the advice…
My First Polish Class in Three Years

It took place on Monday evening. I was very anxious, but I drew strength from the fact that I already had experience with remote group classes, even though it had been a long time. It went well. Our teacher is very energetic and she pushes us to interact frequently—too much for my liking, of course!…
Initiatives Pay Off

You remember this post: One More Step Out of My Comfort Zone? Today, I faced my fears and I signed up for Glossa’s online Polish course—a full-semester program taught live from Kraków! Yes, I did it! I’m super excited because, along the way, I had to have a 15-minute interview with two Polish teachers so…
Retro Gaming: Wing Commander

I used to be a serious retro video game collector, until I realized it served little purpose other than cluttering up my precious drawers. However, I genuinely cherish what I have collected, and I do not plan to part with my extended collection anytime soon. Today, I’m sharing the story of my very first PC…
Keeping Things Simple…

What are some life hacks that you practice? View all responses … To help you focus on what matters most and achieve great results. I’m using two simple life hacks on a regular basis. The first one is breaking up what I want to do in as many steps as needed so the whole thing…
One More Step Out of My Comfort Zone

I studied Polish for four years at Sorbonne University. Even though I enjoy learning Chinese, I miss Polish and don’t want to lose everything I’ve learned—and that’s no small amount. Glossa, the publisher of the two textbooks we used back then, is opening registration for a semester-long course and, to mark the occasion, is hosting…