[UA] Introduction

[David M Jacobs]

At 12:59 PM 24/02/2003 -0500, Walter F. Croft wrote:

>Welcome, Christopher.

Hey there, as well.  Long time no write (assuming that you're the 
Christopher Gunning of T8 fame).  How goes things?

>I've not been inspired by naps in some time, but I have experienced those
>hypnogogic/hypnopopic (spelling?)

Hypnopompic, IIRC.

>states between dreaming/sleeping and
>waking. Weird and frightening. IMHO, this is where all those alien abduction
>stories originate.

I've had some interesting (and very disorienting) experiences at 
times.  When I was still a student, I had to travel 2 hours each way by 
train to get to and from uni, and would often fall asleep.  I'd sort of 
hover on the edge of consciousness, popping back into waking reality every 
time the train stopped at a station, then drifting back to sleep again.

Often, I'd dream conversations with people (who, FWIW, I never knew in 
waking life) and when I'd awake, I'd utter a few words before I realised 
that I was no longer dreaming.  And then I'd drop off into dream again, at 
least until the next station.  The late-night commuters on that line still 
probably talk about that big, weird guy in the black leather trenchcoat who 
talks to people who aren't there.  #%o)

Ever since then, I've found it difficult to stay awake in moving 
vehicles.  I don't often dream of conversations anymore, but I do still 
dream from time to time.  By far the worst are the times when it happens on 
aircraft; one moment, I'll be awake, then the scene will change.  Somehow, 
the change of scene doesn't bother me.  This'll last for a few seconds, and 
then I'll snap back into reality with a lurching sense of vertigo.

Perhaps the scariest thing is when I awake to find a stewardess leaning 
over the snack cart, looking at me expectantly.  Every time I fly, I always 
buy a pack of Pringles and a can of Coke (the airline I take is cheap, but 
you have to pay cash for snacks, and Pringles and Coke comes to $5 exactly, 
so I don't have to worry about change).  It freaks me out that it's become 
such a common occurrence in my life that I can apparently order snacks in 
my sleep.  #%o)

Sometimes, in the mornings, I wake up to discover that I've reprogrammed my 
mobile phone so that the displays are all in Greek... and I can only barely 
read Greek.  Or that I've reset the alarm on my phone to give myself a 
couple of extra hours of sleep.

I have, once or twice, had the whole hypnogogic "alien abduction" dream, 
but I've also once had a woman appear in my bedroom to tell me that I'd 
rolled over and pinned the cat under my legs.  Usually, I dismiss it, but 
that woman was dead on the money about the cat.  #%o)

What really annoys me, though, is sleep paralysis and dreams of waking.  If 
I fall asleep in an uncomfortable position on the couch, I'll sometimes 
dream that I wake up and roll over.  Then, I'll think about gettting up and 
doing something -- only problem is, I'm still lying, asleep on the couch, 
in that same uncomfortable position.  So, I'll wake up and roll over, and 
think about getting up.  But I'm still asleep in an uncomfortable position 
on the couch...

After four or five recursions, I'll be nearly fully conscious, but I can't 
move; it becomes obvious that I've only dreamt these previous wakings.  I 
then have to put all my concentration into moving a finger or a toe, and 
slowly waking my muscles from there.  When I'm finally mobile, I'll then 
get up and do something.  I still have this nagging doubt, though -- for up 
to half an hour afterwards -- whether I'm actually awake, or whether I'm 
still asleep on the couch, just dreaming all of this.  *sigh*

It just occurred to me... cats spend a lot of time in shallow sleep, so 
they must get a lot of this sort of thing.  No wonder they're so whacked in 
the head...

It also makes me think just how nasty and surreal the Rahyab could get if 
they let themselves go a bit.  Especially since the people that they talk 
to in their delerium might actually exist.



David M Jacobs
dmjacobs at zipworld.com.au
http://www.zipworld.com.au/~dmjacobs/
ICQ UIN: 17027598

"'Kevin,' David interrupted, 'what the Germans should have done
was show the Russians a dead cat and ask them to explain it.'

"'That would have stopped the Soviet offensive right there,' I said.
"Zhukov would still be trying to account for the cat's death.'"

— from Valis, by Philip K Dick



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