Hard Light Productions Forums
Off-Topic Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: achtung on December 14, 2010, 02:16:54 am
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...right before you go to sleep.
What do you do with it?
I mean, do you think yourself to sleep? Do you just lay down and drift away smoothly? Do you hear music? Are you out like a light?
I always start thinking about something, anything at all, and focus on it until it becomes less and less realistic, weaving into a story that leads me into sleep. Alternatively, I spontaneously recall a song I enjoy, sometimes songs I haven't heard in years, and drift away. Sometimes there are even original scores (which I REALLY wish I had the ability to write down, some sound really beautiful).
Just a curious thought I had before I decided to go to sleep. I'm assuming this won't garner much attention, but I'll take a shot at it anyway. I've been dealing with insomnia a bit more directly lately, and it just had me thinking about it.
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I focus my mental energy on the intention of having and remembering a lucid dream. My success rate is running about 15%.
Or I simply shove the cat out of my way and pass right out. Depends how tired I am.
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To be honest, I haven't really paid attention to what I'm thinking about just before I'm actually asleep. I usually mull over something when I go to bed, though.
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I have chronic insomnia :(
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It usually takes me a while to fall asleep, so I always think about things before I fall asleep... such as an existence without existing - life after death if there is no afterlife - and I'm always horrified. If there's truly no afterlife, then you'd die and there's be nothing more of yourself. You'd no longer be able to think, sleep, drink, eat, and so on; however, the horror I feel from this often times ironically keeps me up.
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I don't really know, it's been a mystery to me. I usually try and visualize the cockpit of a Spitfire MK 1 or a Cessna 152 and run them both through the take-off and crosswind turn though, since those two processes are quite familiar to me and often help me relax. Or alternatively, I just try and look into distance when my eyes are closed to clear my mind of all thoughts, but then I usually end up visualizing a whole bunch of odd scenes.
**** it, I hate not being able to sleep. :P
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Even if I'm dead tired, it usually takes me a while to get to sleep, because woo near-nocturnal schedule. I usually wind up thinking about random stuff, like a game I played or a show I watched over the course of the day. The thing is, I never have any recollection of the moments leading up to my actually falling asleep. I'll often have a few "false starts" where I feel myself drifting off and snap myself back to consciousness, but the actual event goes unremembered. I always wake up the next morning wondering when the heck I finally drifted off.
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I've noticed 3 different ways I do or don't
1. I hit the pillow and there is more life in a brick wall.
2. my thoughts go off in random directions, some times I fall asleep despite it and sometimes it keeps me awake.
3. My head just wont shut down and after an hour of trying I usually give up and hit the computer again till stupid o'clock
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It usually takes me a while to fall asleep, so I always think about things before I fall asleep... such as an existence without existing - life after death if there is no afterlife - and I'm always horrified. If there's truly no afterlife, then you'd die and there's be nothing more of yourself. You'd no longer be able to think, sleep, drink, eat, and so on; however, the horror I feel from this often times ironically keeps me up.
Afterlife is nonsense. After you're dead, that's it. What baffles me though is why you're horrified by it? It's natural cycle of life, live your life and then that's it.
As for me. I usually recollect what happened today and curse what I screwed up. Then fall asleep. While it does take me a while to fall asleep, I usually have no trouble getting sleep. Stable sleeping cycle helps, those with irregular sleeping cycles usually have it much worse.
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bot flies are natural, but would it confuse you as to why someone would be horrified at the thought of being infested by them.
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Apples and oranges man.
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It usually takes me a while to fall asleep, so I always think about things before I fall asleep... such as an existence without existing - life after death if there is no afterlife - and I'm always horrified. If there's truly no afterlife, then you'd die and there's be nothing more of yourself. You'd no longer be able to think, sleep, drink, eat, and so on; however, the horror I feel from this often times ironically keeps me up.
Afterlife is nonsense. After you're dead, that's it. What baffles me though is why you're horrified by it? It's natural cycle of life, live your life and then that's it.
Because I guess I value living, thinking far too much. I'm not really sure.
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Apples and oranges man.
both fruit.
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Why do we sleep, and why do we dream?
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I always start thinking about something, anything at all, and focus on it until it becomes less and less realistic, weaving into a story that leads me into sleep. Alternatively, I spontaneously recall a song I enjoy, sometimes songs I haven't heard in years, and drift away. Sometimes there are even original scores (which I REALLY wish I had the ability to write down, some sound really beautiful).
Pretty much the same here...
Lucid dreaming is something that has always eluded me, though sometimes my thoughts continue on in my dreams.
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I learned to control what i dream of :p I just imagine something and as i pass to sleep it goes from "willing imagination" into the dream, yet i can still control what happens. Then i managed to shut the dreams down and i haven't had any in 3 years :D
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usually it's all
'oh, baby'
'battuta, you're amazing'
then i try to shush them both and get them to sleep before they wake up the rest of the *****es
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2? Frakking lightweight. ;)
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2? Frakking lightweight. ;)
reading comprehension failure
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orly
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also, black dynamite failure :mad:
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Pfft, was a ****e movie. :D
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Depends on the day, how tired I am.
Most of the days it's just getting to bed, rolling around a bit and then falling asleep after X minutes, other days it's getting to bed then thinking about random stuff for X minutes and then falling asleep.
X is determined by this function:
X = [(E / Me) - (P / Pf) - (M / Mm)]^PY
where:
P = ** Physical exhaustion
Pf = ** Minutes of Physical exhaustion
M= ** Mental exhaustion
Mm= ** Minutes exposed to mental exhaustion
E= ** Excitation
Me= ** BLAH
PY= ** Amount of liquids stored in pee bag
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Pfft, was a ****e movie. :D
whaaaaaaaaaaaaat (http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/black_dynamite/)
you've never SEEN black dynamite
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Of course I haven't! You know me, Battuta, I'm pisstaker pro. :P
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the first scene was awesome, you would love it
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normally im having an argument with my cat about how much of the bed he takes up. he always sleeps in some spot that prevents me from getting a good sleep. if i change position, he gets up walks around me 4 times, and then finally settles down in some uncomfortable place. if i close the door he scratches to come inside and meows loudly, id hes in the room he does the same to get out.
other than the cat there are two things which will make it impossible for me to sleep, light, and noise. light is by far the worst. if i can see anything in the room, i just wont be able to fall asleep. noise isnt as bad, and ive been known to fall asleep listening to death metal. but if i hear any kinds of talking or vehicle engines, banging or anything like that sleep is practically impossible.
i also find that if i have a good idea in my head, it will be practically impossible to sleep. fortunately for me, ive done enough drugs in my life where that no longer happens.
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Before I go to sleep, I think of something extremely stupid, enough to make me think, "Naaah, it's extremely stupid."
And then I sleep.
It usually involves a young couple sitting on a bench overlooking a coastline at sundown. I try to think of what they might say to each other.
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Why do we sleep, and why do we dream?
So our brain can process the days events and put them into proper storage and because otherwise, wouldn't you be practically brain-dead for eight ours each night?
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Skill learning requires sleep, which bolsters that idea Swantz mentioned that it's a time for neural cleanup, processing and rewiring. Dramatic changes happen in the brains of experimental subjects who have just learned a new skill (say, Tetris).
In fact, I believe playing Tetris for an hour and then sleeping on it will end up with a better player than somebody who plays Tetris for nine hours.
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dreams are the brain's defrag tool.
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It usually takes me a while to fall asleep, so I always think about things before I fall asleep... such as an existence without existing - life after death if there is no afterlife - and I'm always horrified. If there's truly no afterlife, then you'd die and there's be nothing more of yourself. You'd no longer be able to think, sleep, drink, eat, and so on; however, the horror I feel from this often times ironically keeps me up.
Afterlife is nonsense. After you're dead, that's it. What baffles me though is why you're horrified by it? It's natural cycle of life, live your life and then that's it.
I've mentioned the following statement to Zack before, and I think it holds here: There's only one way to find out, but I insist you don't find out with Kool-Aid.
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On sleeping: I usually just think about anything and everything, whatever comes to mind until I drift off. Sometimes I end up thinking too much and can't get to sleep. I have crazy dreams often.
On death being horrifying: I try not to dwell on it, and suggest you don't either, Hader.
On Black Dynamite: Saw it a couple days ago. I pity you jive-turkeys don't know 'bout Black Dynamite. Pure gold. :yes:
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I only go to sleep when i can't keep my eyes open anymore, and even then, there are milions of thoughts keeping me from sleeping, until exhaustion wins. I hate sleeping. :mad2:
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I love sleeping. I think it's best part of all day. I hate getting up from bed though.
Above wasn't a joke btw.
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Waking up is the hardest part of the day for me. Any day.
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I am ****in sick of sleeping.
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I try to blank my mind. Otherwise, it'll take waaay too long to fall asleep.
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I learned to control what i dream of I just imagine something and as i pass to sleep it goes from "willing imagination" into the dream, yet i can still control what happens. Then i managed to shut the dreams down and i haven't had any in 3 years
There's a mention of Richard Feynman saying or writing about controlling his dreams. I recall he decided against it later.
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On death being horrifying: I try not to dwell on it, and suggest you don't either, Hader.
I try not to, but I think it's because I'm more a present and future kind of guy, I guess. I don't let the past chain me down like most humans seem to.
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On death being horrifying: I try not to dwell on it, and suggest you don't either, Hader.
I try not to, but I think it's because I'm more a present and future kind of guy, I guess. I don't let the past chain me down like most humans seem to.
teenager declares superhumanity
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Film at 11.
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Why do we sleep, and why do we dream?
Our bodies need sleep to rest, repair damage, recharge and our brains need the same thing to do the computer equivalent of a good defrag and file storage optimization. Dreaming is a result of that as well. The way I understand it... our brain runs simulations all night of various scenarios. Some are pretty mundane and others are totally outlandish. I read somewhere that if we have dreams about certain situations we're usually faster to respond if elements of that actual situation happens to us.
On a slightly odd note... I'm fairly certain that hamsters have dreams as well. We used to have them and on rare occasion we'd hear them cry out as if they were being attacked. You'd check on them and they would be fast asleep. If only hamsters could talk. Pretty sure most mammals work similarly.
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I think my kitty has dreams. It's adorable because he'll start chittering and twitch his whiskers. :3
I'm curious about the different theories for how/why we dream because this has implications for what happens when we induce lucid dreams. If dreams are simply the brain processing or defragmenting memories, then one might imagine that LD's could have a negative impact on that process by "breaking the intended routine". On the other hand, if dreams are a way for us to simulate and learn/prepare for future events, then I'd think LD's are an incredibly useful tool to assist with that effort. Indeed I like to try to use them for this purpose already, although they usually just end up becoming a HOLY **** I CAN FLY, THIS IS AWESOME dream in the end anyways.
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Why do we sleep, and why do we dream?
Our bodies need sleep to rest, repair damage, recharge and our brains need the same thing to do the computer equivalent of a good defrag and file storage optimization. Dreaming is a result of that as well. The way I understand it... our brain runs simulations all night of various scenarios. Some are pretty mundane and others are totally outlandish. I read somewhere that if we have dreams about certain situations we're usually faster to respond if elements of that actual situation happens to us.
On a slightly odd note... I'm fairly certain that hamsters have dreams as well. We used to have them and on rare occasion we'd hear them cry out as if they were being attacked. You'd check on them and they would be fast asleep. If only hamsters could talk. Pretty sure most mammals work similarly.
The two theories I've heard are IIRC the psychodynamic theory and some other random thing theory. The former basically says that dreams are a mental safeguard to help protect your conscious from your subconscious while sleeping or something silly like that, and that dreams are like an outlet for repressed desires (or really any kind of desire that involves the subconscious, repressed or not). The problem with this theory is nightmares and things like that. The latter theory is where there are electrical impulses or some **** generated randomly in the Pons, and dreams are an attempt to attach a meaningful story to them. The problem with this theory would be recurring dreams/themes in dreams. There may have been a third that was discussed in my psych class, but I forget what it was. Either way, I'm pretty sure that neither of these theories are entirely true.
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I really don't want to sound like a tool here, but your psychology classes are not teaching the science of psychology. Neither of those theories sound like rigorous, data-driven science. :blah:
So yes, you're right to be skeptical. Dream theories I've been taught tend to be much more utilitarian, with a lot of talk about rehearsing motor programs and cognitive schema, or stress relief by something called pattern expectation fulfillment. They may be methods of simulation to help prepare the brain, or rehearsals of lessons learned.
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I really don't want to sound like a tool here, but your psychology classes are not teaching the science of psychology. Neither of those theories sound like rigorous, data-driven science. :blah:
I agree with you wholeheartedly. Intro to Psychology isn't a science class, and only tried to be one for the first two lectures.
(but to be fair, my description doesn't do what was presented justice, either :p)
EDIT: Here's a link to the latter theory I mentioned on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Activation-synthesis_hypothesis
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Psychology, I feel (if the entire spectrum of the field is considered), can be devided into a scientific element and a philosophical element. Introductory classes are more focused on the philosophy element, in my opinion. Not that there's anything wrong with philosophy, as it lays the groundwork for scientific development in a sense. However, most of us don't step beyond Phyc 101. That said, most of us can't match Battuta's training with regards to actual scientific psycology.
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Activation synthesis actually did have some good scientific foundations, in some respects. I'm not up on my dream theory so I don't know how the field views it right now.
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I don't have recurring dreams, but I do have similarly themed dreams more often than not.
It's like I'm logging on to watch the next episode in a soap every other night. :lol:
On death: I've contemplated suicide before. Obviously I've gotten past it but one of the lasting benefits is that I'm not really scared of death anymore. If I died... well I wouldn't be around to care anymore would I? But I'm not stuck in past either...
On a more on-topic note though, I do have those weird dreams where I die. Anyone else have similar experiences?
PS Fish don't dream... apparently they don't even have something like sleep. O_o
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The only dream in a while in which I remember "dying" was one where I was buried in a collapsing building and ended up in some form of limbo. It was a bit disconcerting, although I found it slightly amusing for the fact that it was Kevin Rudd who pulled the roof down (no idea why I dreamt that :p).
Although a few days ago I had a weird one where I was dodging these black and gold cleavers being thrown by a crazy and irate Asian chef... that was rather scary because I was expecting to feel the next cleaver becoming imbedded in me...
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i rarely dream. when i do, about half the time all i can remember is that i was dreaming and if it was generally good. the other half of the time....
no comment.
'that moment' varies widely. if i'm passing out in class or while doing work or otherwise trying to stay awake, **** gets weird. (this got pretty much epicly ****ed up when it happened during the origins of the universe lecture in astrophysics class). going to sleep "normally" (ha!) i'm pretty much straight out. when i have insomnia i contemplate things or listen to music. this typically morphs into the weird **** again.
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I've had many dying dreams, strangely, I didn't care in the dream or when I woke up. The only time I "felt" it a bit was getting shot in the face with a shotgun. That one woke me up, and stuck around in my thoughts all day, it actually hurt.
I have a few recurring themes:
#1 "OH GOD I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW I HAD THIS CLASS"
I start out sitting in class, and I realize I totally forgot about another class and I had never went, or I'm sitting in the one I never went to and I have no idea what's going on.
#2 "Wild Weather"
For some reason, I frequently witness some insane weather from a mountaintop or building. Frequently it involves numerous tornadoes tearing cities all to hell, less frequently involves floods. I always watch calmly from a distance with or without other people, then enter the fray. I always wake up shortly before I actually reach the epicentre of any storm.
#3 "Exploration"
I frequently have dreams that involve me and a group of people I know exploring mountainous areas. We always find pretty amazing stuff. I enjoy these dreams. The mountains are always the type you find in the Appalachians, a side effect of growing up there. Great adventures.
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Once I had this dream where my room was an organ and the wallpaper was skin and there was muscle underneath it and clammy sweat on the walls and the shelf over my bed was a row of teeth and the sheets around me were a tongue and I woke up but the dream was still there overlaid on reality and I tried to pry the damn wet wriggling tongue off me but it squeezed tighter so I rolled off the bed and it pulled me underneath it like it was going to
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You sure you drank water and not a bottle of LSD before going to sleep?
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Nah', I just can't sleep. I keep rolling in bed, cursing my luck, thinking about all kinds of things, until I just can't stay awake anymore. 4 hours later, the clock rings.
#1 "OH GOD I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW I HAD THIS CLASS"
I start out sitting in class, and I realize I totally forgot about another class and I had never went, or I'm sitting in the one I never went to and I have no idea what's going on.
That, and forgetting an exam/expo/lab/whatever, are my usual nightmares nowadays. Extra points when they combine.
Dying dreams? I've had plenty of them. I swear I could actually feel some of them for a second. I actually think it's cool to be able to "feel like dying" while being out of danger.
I also remember, a few years ago, I had this dream about holding my grandmother in my arms. She had died a few days back. When I saw her face, I saw a deteriorating, rotting face. I didn't liked that one.
When I was a child, I had this terrifying and childish nightmares about monsters, aliens, the devil, etc. The thing is, I was always almost paralized. This nightmares always advanced a few more seconds each night, for months, until they finally reached an ironic, twisted end.
I also suffer sleep paralysis, though I eventually learned how to deal with it and how to avoid suffering hallucinations.
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I think my kitty has dreams.
I recall a program on sleep research where they deactivated the mechanism that causes paralysis in some cat's brains. When they fell asleep and entered REM sleep they would get up and start running around chasing things that weren't there.
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Once I had this dream where my room was an organ and the wallpaper was skin and there was muscle underneath it and clammy sweat on the walls and the shelf over my bed was a row of teeth and the sheets around me were a tongue and I woke up but the dream was still there overlaid on reality and I tried to pry the damn wet wriggling tongue off me but it squeezed tighter so I rolled off the bed and it pulled me underneath it like it was going to
Body of the Many? :p
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Once I had this dream where my room was an organ and the wallpaper was skin and there was muscle underneath it and clammy sweat on the walls and the shelf over my bed was a row of teeth and the sheets around me were a tongue and I woke up but the dream was still there overlaid on reality and I tried to pry the damn wet wriggling tongue off me but it squeezed tighter so I rolled off the bed and it pulled me underneath it like it was going to
OH YEAH!? Well in MY dream I was standing by a warm and inviting ocean, watching the tide roll in. I savored the salty air and the cries of circling seagulls, while little sandpipers flitted nervously to and fro as the waves endlessly caressed the smooth-sanded beach. My eyes drank their fill of the surroundings, then I sprinted to the shoreline, leaped wildly into the air, and dived headfirst to the bottom of the sandbar. My muffled screams struggled to find the surface as the course grains of shattered rock scoured my throat, cutting short my last gasp
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Once I had this dream where my room was an organ and the wallpaper was skin and there was muscle underneath it and clammy sweat on the walls and the shelf over my bed was a row of teeth and the sheets around me were a tongue and I woke up but the dream was still there overlaid on reality and I tried to pry the damn wet wriggling tongue off me but it squeezed tighter so I rolled off the bed and it pulled me underneath it like it was going to
You Sir, play too much StarCraft.
:p
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Once I had this dream where my room was an organ and the wallpaper was skin and there was muscle underneath it and clammy sweat on the walls and the shelf over my bed was a row of teeth and the sheets around me were a tongue and I woke up but the dream was still there overlaid on reality and I tried to pry the damn wet wriggling tongue off me but it squeezed tighter so I rolled off the bed and it pulled me underneath it like it was going to
You Sir, play too much StarCraft.
:P
I think thesizzler's guess was probably better.
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When I try to sleep, if I'm even remotely excited/nervous about something/someone, I won't be able to get to sleep until I force myself to calm down. Otherwise, sleep comes pretty easily after 10-15 minutes of just lying there.
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I make sure to keep visualizing FS models such as the HTL Hattie, to try and force my dream to be about FS. At the moment I'm lucky if I dream about anything except finals. Well, technically I'm lucky if I can get into REM at all. :P
On a related note is the top still spinning
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On dreams of school... I once dreamt I turned in some paperwork and totally forgot actually turn it in the next day. Needless to say people looked at me weird when they found out. :lol:
Edit: It doesn't really matter if the top keeps spinning or not does it?
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Depends. Does it really matter if you're in a happy reality or a happy hallucination?
I vote no, unless there's a chance the happy hallucination suddenly becomes an unhappy reality. :<
BUT THEN AGAIN... what if what we call reality is itself a hallucination, and we're all actually stuck in the Matrix?
OH SHIIIII :warp:
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If that's the case, real life is too ****ty to care about it anyway...
Anyone have a Matrix-themed dream before?
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If that's the case, real life is too ****ty to care about it anyway...
Anyone have a Matrix-themed dream before?
I used to dream about flying when I was 4 or something like that, problem is matrix wasn't made then
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When I was younger, I dreamed all the time about accidentally killing my friends and family because of clumsy mistakes. Like trying to help Grandma down the stairs and tripping myself so she ended up falling down to the bottom. Another one involved my future wife getting impaled on a fence post. I cannot remember how I managed that one. But they were always my fault.
Then there were the ones where I died myself. The dreams normally didn't end when I died, either. I was just kicked from whatever I was doing before I died into nothing. And I'd just float there in utter silence and darkness and scream for someone to answer and no one ever did.
And then maybe I'd finally wake up.
I hated dreaming. The best nights were when I remembered nothing. My dreams aren't as teenage-angsty anymore, but they still aren't pleasant 99% of the time.
One kind of weird thing I've noticed, though: I have a much easier time falling asleep if I'm taking a nap on a Sunday or Saturday afternoon than I do trying to go to sleep at night. Why is that, I wonder?
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I make sure to keep visualizing FS models such as the HTL Hattie, to try and force my dream to be about FS. At the moment I'm lucky if I dream about anything except finals. Well, technically I'm lucky if I can get into REM at all. :P
On a related note is the top still spinning
Strange how our relative obsessions drive these matters, no? :) Regardless, this sort of thing has happened to me from time to time, but not by choice. Rather, I've noted that I've had flash-backs from playing flight simulators; my most memorable instances were derived from playing X-Wing. Unlike just playing the sim, when in a dream although it might appear the same visually as the software, the sense of motion is there entirely in a manner which is not replicable by a simulation alone.
The moral of the story? Don't spend hours and hours playing around with those silly games. :p
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Hrngh. I can't get to sleep.
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I always listen to radio plays (e.g. Perry Rhodan Ocean of Stars) since I was a little lad. Works great :nod:
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When I was a kid, the thought of earthquakes scared me to sleep almost all the time.
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Oddly enough, I never had all that many gaming-related dreams until I started playing TF2 fairly regularly a few months ago. I've had quite a few dreams of running through random maps as various classes. I guess it's kind of scary when you're attempting to spy-check in your sleep.
Also, after going on a certain medication over the past several months, I think my dreams have upped the WTF factor by a few levels. I don't know if that's an acknowledged side-effect or not, but it's sure fun. :p
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That reminds me of a dream I had once where I was a random Spartan III killing aliens... I was waiting for my copy of Halo Reach at that time.
None of it made sense though because it had a warped storyline, like a mix of Lord of the Rings and other sci-fi novels. :lol:
Pretty much only thought that went through my mind that night before falling asleep was Halo Halo Halo! So I guess I should have seen that dream coming... I think I even died and "respawned" a few times, too.
Creepy... but fun at the same time. :p
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Man, crazy dreams? I had a dream once, after watching Babylon 5, of me and Michael Garibaldi fighting monkeys on a staircase that boxed around a giant tree with lasers. **** was whack, yo