Thr33

Night three was more difficult than the previous two. Temptation came knocking. Not nearly enough to be of any concern, but sleep didn't come as easily either. I thought I might go to bed early, but it didn't work. Instead I watched 5 episodes of Lost, and then tossed and turned on the couch. I'm not sure when it was that I finally got to sleep, but I didn't end up waking up until almost 2 today.

I need a strategy. I thought I might wander out into the night and take a few pictures, but I was too tired to do any wandering, but not tired enough to sleep. Today I just feel week and cramped. Perhaps after church I shall eat, and get in a little exercise. See how that effects things. You gotta plan ahead if you're going to survive; like a tiger lurking in a buttery forest of walnut shavings. We must call forth the dogs of war and make them sleepy.

Sleepless In Seatle

Night two went down much more smoothly than its' predecessor. Fewer muscular oddities, and only brief moment of of disorientation punctuated an unspectacular night. I also didn't wake up with a headache today so I suppose that's something else to be thankful for.

I watched a few movies; Last Action Hero (I don't know why people hate that movie so much. It's hysterical), Operation Condor (rediscovering my love of Jackie Chan films), and Eye See You (a passable thriller). I then finished reading Matthew, and received the answer to a question that had been bugging me regarding Matthew 15:24-28. I toyed with the idea of watching some Lost, but decided it best to try and fall asleep since it was about 3:15.

Did I sleep? I think so. The thing is when you're just laying there with your eyes closed it's hard to keep track of when you are and aren't conscious. I do recall waking up and finding that it was about an hour and a half later (around 4:30), and the next time I woke the sun was already up. The next thing to do is to retrain myself to fall asleep earlier.

In between movies and Bible I did a little research on alcoholism and insomnia. Apparently the studies done on the subject are reasonably new, and currently inconclusive, but I did learn a few interesting things. Apparently 50 percent of the alcoholics surveyed claimed to have problems with insomnia prior to drinking regularly, and there is also a high rate of relapse into alcoholism connected to insomnia.

Since I refuse to take medication or even herbal remedies as a pact of faith that I will be healed; that and I don't want to get off of one substance as a means to getting to sleep only to become reliant on another, luckily studies seem to say that behavioral modification works just as well as medication.

So now I need to exercise in the afternoon, and set a regular hour to wake up every morning. I couldn't find much more than that as this seems to be a fairly new area of study, but I'll keep searching for some new tips. Of course if I don't get my daily helping of bangers and mash it makes me frown. And shout to the new blog added to our (the royal we) reading list. Check it out.

Speaking of magic (of which I was not speaking of) what do the Lord's prayer, some Catholic chant, Buddhism, and wearing diapers on your head have to do with Wicca? Nothing! It's the ultimate grab bag of religion and it's nothing but self indulgent nonsense.

Did you ever here the one about the....

I have not spent a sober night in longer than I can remember. Last night, and without the use of sleep aids, I did not touch a drop of drink. That isn't to say I slept at all or was comfortable. The human body is odd, and last night mine was doing unnatural things. Even while sitting up and reading different muscles in my body would spasm causing me to kick out a leg suddenly and uncontrollably or shoot out an arm.

At one point I felt like I was coming down off of LSD. My veins felt like they were coursing with poison, I felt like I was speeding forward through time, and for a brief period my hand eye coordination began to fail. I watched a movie (The Other Boleyn Girl), and did a little Bible study until around 2:30 or 3. I seem to remember hearing or reading something about how you should make small changes to your daily habits when attempting something like this. So I decided to sleep on the couch instead of my own bed. Of course the couch is far more comfortable than my bed so I wasn't making a dramatic shift.

As far as I can recall it wasn't until around 4 that I think I began to doze off. Not sleep, but doze off. My mind would suddenly shoot awake in that state between waking and dreaming. At points I could actually see myself slipping into a dream as if it was beginning to form. The best way I can describe this is that it's like if you ever you've owned an old television, the kind that takes a second to warm up before coming on, you might recall how you could see the image on the screen kind of gray and washed out before it kicked into full color. That's what it was like.

As time went on it started getting worse. I would slip deeper into this dream state, and when I would suddenly startle upward my mind would remain half way between asleep and awake for several seconds despite my eyes being fully open. It was disorienting and kind of frightening. What's more I was filled with this irrational dread that something was waiting for me just out of my line of sight. Interesting stuff.

At some point I opened my eyes, and the sun was coming up. I felt more comfortable and less vulnerable, and drifted off to sleep till my father woke up. Then I went into my room, and slept on and off. My bed is very uncomfortable since they gave my mattress top to my sister so I can sleep about an hour and a half or so before waking up and having to turn to another side. All in all I feel like I slept on a pile of bricks, and I have one of those kinds of headaches you get before you get the flu.

Still not as bad as I anticipated. I figure it'll be another day or two before I kick the insomnia. I'll dry out and keep my partying habits down to one night a week. Till then I'll just have to think of even more interesting things to do with my newly found free time.

On a positive note after a week of trying I finally got my sound card working normally. Praise God. Now here's some one who knows what it's like.

The Lost Crown

Well I charged the batteries and finally got to take my newly found camera out for a spin. I went to Fern Forrest which is located in Coconut Creek. I used to spend a lot of time down there, but I haven't done much more than pass through in the last few years. I got there 45 minutes before the park closed so I didn't have much time to explore and take pictures. Not to mention that there were these gigantic tree spiders all over the place, and their webs were close enough to the deck that you had to duck if you wanted to keep going forward. Some one said they are harmless, but I swear one of them was shooting me some stink eye.

It seems like an interesting place so I will go back. It has an odd esoteric vibe that I was trying to capture. It kind of reminded me of one of those old adventure games. I couldn't find my copy of Lightroom so I had to do what I could with Picasa 3. Not my best work by far, but I hope you enjoy some of the pictures I selected out of the bunch. Of course you can click to enlarge them if you like.


Now here's some Japanese people doing something weird and Japanese in another language... possibly Japanese. At around 5:34 the woman starts making hick-up noises for some reason. Hey wait a minute! Where did Ed's Blog go again?

Heavy Metal

No, this is not my intended update,but you all know how I am when it comes to finishing projects. I'm currently on a diet. One of those ones that requires you to eat every 3 hours in very small portions. Works all right for me so far because I get to eat a lot of fish, but I have to basically give up red meats and dairy, and any one who knows me well enough knows that I can rarely survive an hour without milk. Not to mention I'm eating more than I would normally so that's something to adjust to.

Here's some thing I've learned in the past few days.

1) Do not watch Lady Vengeance.
2) I own approximately 252 computer games
3) I have not played half of them
4) Why you do?
5) I'm not saying don't watch Henry Fool, but I'm not saying you should.

Oh, and I also found my camera. Take that!

A Pig In Hand

Yes I have an update around the corner. It's a long one, and as usual I'll spend too much time writing it so it won't be relevant, but till then take this!

Devils Dance Alone

Considering today's date I feel like I should say something, but I don't have anything new or interesting to add. I think the tone of this one speaks for my mood.

The Conversation

I've been blessed greatly these past few days. I can feel the reigns of our death spiraling culture begin to slip off. I've been selfish. Maybe not to the detriment of other, but I certainly haven't been doing any one any favors that couldn't do the same for me. The willingness to sacrifice, and move out of a zone of comfort is what seems to be lacking these days. In the final days of the health care debate some growing sector of the American republic have stood up to say that once and for all they wish to take no responsibility for their own lives in any way shape or form. But in the age of reality TV and the "MILF" is it any surprise that no one wants to grow up?

On a side note (as my statement was just a statement and not going any where) I took down the Anti-Culture blog. Why? No one was writing anything for it so what was the point? I also went in and checked my gaming blog for the first time in months. Maybe I'll pick that back up. Who knows? I would like to reprint, on these hallowed pages, my thoughts on gaming as art, and the debate that sprang up, leading to me receiving a very nasty comment. For God, country, and big boobs! Me out!

I want this!

Special Announcement

That's right. I have a digital camera. Not a good one, but one that I can use. Tomorrow I'll test it outside.

What's the Best Type of Employment?

The answer: Unemployment!

Today a bit before 4 o'clock I was called into Paul Lynde's Hollywood Square, and given my walking papers. They said they loved the way I sounded on the phone, and that they even ignored phone calls from the higher ups just to keep me another day. I thanked them, and told them I didn't mind another short vacation, and that when they got their next project going in a week or two I would ready and willing to come back. They even let me put in for the rest of the day's hours as an added bonus. I loves, loves, loves it! I can sleep again!


Question: Conan, what is good in life?

Answer: To crush your enemies, have them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women.... and


The worlds first exploding barbwire match



The song that was playing in my head when I walked out the door



this


Merry Christmas!

Obomanomics

If you can read and understand it you are worthy of my friendship. Not that it's terribly complex stuff, but can you apply it? Oh, and shout out to the new blogs I posted up though they probably don't know I did it.

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