A lifelong insomniac traces his sleeplessness back to adolescent nights spent listening to Long John Nebel’s midnight radio program on WOR, a show devoted to UFOs, the occult, and certified maniacs that rewired his relationship with nighttime permanently.
My most recent song composition contains these lyrics. The chords drone between Dminor and Bflat maj. "I don't know how I got this way. Don't know how I made such confusion".
Bret, What an incredible feat of self observation! Did you talk to a shrink? I did: twenty years worth. It helped a lot. I knew insomnia. I medicate. My bladder wakes me at 4 without the guilt. I'm 78. My bladder runs my life.
I know what I've done. I admit it freely. I'm comfortable with my history. I use it all the time.
Salutations from a fellow member of Insomniacs Anonymous. I believe part of our anxiety stems from being coerced into the 8 hour sleep cycle imposed on humanity with the advent of the Industrial Revolution.
Ancient peoples had two sleep cycles. When they awoke at 2 or 3, they talked, or reviewed their dreams, or simply stayed silent enjoying the peaceful darkness until they fell asleep again.
Now we're made to feel some kind of weird guilt for not staying asleep for 8 hours straight. Not to mention the lucrative product lines devoted to "curing" this horrible "malady."
Screw that. It's my sleep and I'll wake if I want to.
I continue to marvel at your ability to employ the English language in a way that we can all relate to. An interesting read from start to finish. I'll guess you were a straight "A" English student. Am I right?
Dewd! What is it with 4 a.m.? I used to think it's because that's when the neighbors roosters start tuning up. Or some sort of internal biotics changing shifts, with their locker room located in my bladder. But no. Sometimes I just lay there, resigned, knowing that I may get back to sleep, but probably not. So I can only watch the bizarre feature of the nocturnal mental matinee composed by a director washing down fistfuls of speed with quarts of cheap whiskey.
But sometimes good ideas for stories pop out of the chaos. Maybe we should dial each other up in the dark and compare notes.
By the way, I'm missing a couple of sheep. Have you seen them over at your place?
Ha, funny you should mention that. My bewitching hour is 3:00 AM. As it happens, I listened to a youtube program yesterday, and when I woke up this morning, employed one of their strategies: count backwards in threes from three hundred, and visualize the numbers as you recite them. The mind gets so bored, it falls back asleep!
As usual, I am enchanted by your use of humorous metaphors.
What about Candy?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candy_Jones
My most recent song composition contains these lyrics. The chords drone between Dminor and Bflat maj. "I don't know how I got this way. Don't know how I made such confusion".
Bret, What an incredible feat of self observation! Did you talk to a shrink? I did: twenty years worth. It helped a lot. I knew insomnia. I medicate. My bladder wakes me at 4 without the guilt. I'm 78. My bladder runs my life.
I know what I've done. I admit it freely. I'm comfortable with my history. I use it all the time.
Awesome Bret! Honest, relatable and compelling.
Salutations from a fellow member of Insomniacs Anonymous. I believe part of our anxiety stems from being coerced into the 8 hour sleep cycle imposed on humanity with the advent of the Industrial Revolution.
Ancient peoples had two sleep cycles. When they awoke at 2 or 3, they talked, or reviewed their dreams, or simply stayed silent enjoying the peaceful darkness until they fell asleep again.
Now we're made to feel some kind of weird guilt for not staying asleep for 8 hours straight. Not to mention the lucrative product lines devoted to "curing" this horrible "malady."
Screw that. It's my sleep and I'll wake if I want to.
Until they fell asleep again. That's the challenge. Sometimes, waking up means the mind fires back up and won't quit.
Samantha Harvey, who wrote the brilliant Orbital, also wrote a book about her struggle with insomnia, that I found to be well worth the read: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52920818-the-shapeless-unease
Brilliantly written as always
I continue to marvel at your ability to employ the English language in a way that we can all relate to. An interesting read from start to finish. I'll guess you were a straight "A" English student. Am I right?
I was a poor student. About ten years after school, I began to write seriously, and this is the result.
HAHAHAHahahaha...you sir ruined my night...kept me up and awake reading your wonderful rant!
Impressive to say the least...
I look forward to more sleepnessnesssssssss...
Cheers and thank you
JAK
Dewd! What is it with 4 a.m.? I used to think it's because that's when the neighbors roosters start tuning up. Or some sort of internal biotics changing shifts, with their locker room located in my bladder. But no. Sometimes I just lay there, resigned, knowing that I may get back to sleep, but probably not. So I can only watch the bizarre feature of the nocturnal mental matinee composed by a director washing down fistfuls of speed with quarts of cheap whiskey.
But sometimes good ideas for stories pop out of the chaos. Maybe we should dial each other up in the dark and compare notes.
By the way, I'm missing a couple of sheep. Have you seen them over at your place?
Ha, funny you should mention that. My bewitching hour is 3:00 AM. As it happens, I listened to a youtube program yesterday, and when I woke up this morning, employed one of their strategies: count backwards in threes from three hundred, and visualize the numbers as you recite them. The mind gets so bored, it falls back asleep!
As usual, I am enchanted by your use of humorous metaphors.