Doctor Memory

[infanttyrone]

Ever have one of those days where every train of thought that you board seems destined to take you express to some source of deep and burning embarrassment from your past? I woke up remembering something terrible I did when I was eight, so I tried to switch topics by thinking of what a nice time I had when I went home over the summer-- and

Comments

[ltmurnau]

What you're describing is the main source of my insomnia. For years I've writhed in bed or on the bus or almost anywhere thinking about stupid or embarassing things I've done or said, decades in the past. Somedays you just can't win or get out of the rut - I don't know the answer, unless it's serious distraction: get up and play Warcraft, swerve into oncoming traffic, whatever....

[infanttyrone]

Oh, God I know-- that's exactly when it kicks in: around 5 AM, when all I want is those last couple hours of sleep, and the traffic below my window really starts to pick up, and my brain snaps fully awake and begins to play the "Shame's Greatest Hits" reel. Or sometimes, just for a change, I'll wake up thinking about my teeth, and how bad they are, and how expensive they'll be to fix, and how by this time next year I'll be mashing up bananas with a spoon and sucking baby food through a straw... Why is the human brain such an asshole?

[ltmurnau]

Well, no one can be as mean to you as you can all by yourself.
I think it's a general rule.
And don't forget, when you get older your asshole will likely be giving you as much trouble as your brain...

[bibliofile]

It's that broken record that just doesn't stop! Loud live music sometimes drowned it out, for me. I considered banging my head against a brick wall (if I had a bicycle, swerving into traffic would do, too), but I'm a pain weenie.

[infanttyrone]

I can drown that stuff out most of the time-- it becomes a problem mostly when it actually wakes me up from sleeping, usually right around sunrise (keep in mind I work nights.) It's like the asshole part of my brain comes in and sits on the side of the bed and shakes me awake because it wants to talk about all the awful things I've ever done.

[bibliofile]

Crap. That's when I start looking for my prescription tranquilizers . . .