Friday bullets - 7/10/09
Another installment of bullet pointed highlights from Kelly's life...
- Yesterday I was invited to ride bikes with a bunch of friends and family of my boss. I was lent a pretty nice 12-speed for the outing. Unfortunately, it's been I-dont-know-how-many years since I've ridden a bike at all. SO long I can't even remember the last time I rode one. So I had to re-learn how. Its more or less true that you never forget, as the old adage goes, but there are certain finer points of navigation you tend to forget. So it took me a while to get back into it. Once I got the hang of it again it was a lot of fun. Makes me want to get a bike now. My butt is feeling it today though. I think I'm gonna be sore for a few days.
- I'm still ready for the something new. I think being in a state of readiness all the time is a good thing, no matter wht ends up happening. Keeps you in a state of curious excitement that can only be good for you.
- Week after next is our conference, and I'll be staying in Decatur. Anyone who wants to hang out in the evenings, gimme a call. I'm probably going to go see Monstrosity on Thursday the 23rd. Then that Saturday is shatteress birthday party, if I can figure out how to make it up to Cumming. Strange, I used to go up that way all the time, now I can barely remember it.
- I'm spoiling for some whitewater rafting. One of my FB friends posted pictures from Blue Hole/Ocoee and that with all this heat makes me want to just plunge into 60 degree water. I need it... badly!
- The other night I had another of those strange sleep paralysis episodes. I've only met 2 other people in my life who have had them. To those who haven't, I'll try to explain what they are: They are like hallucinations, dreams or whatever that occur with the sleeper fully awake but unable to move a muscle, even to breathe. The dreams or hallucinations occur in real-time, according to some people who've actually timed it, unlike real dreams which last only seconds. As to the images themselves, they vary - I've never had two that were completely alike, although several have had similar elements. Basically, what I experience usually is a sudden awakening, sometimes with my eyes wide open so that I see the room around me, but I can't move. Then I'll see or hear something that should or could not be. For example, once while living in Chicago, I heard someone at the window (there was a fire escape right outside and my bed was just under that window). Then suddenly a man jumped through the window (which was sealed and had burglar bars and could not be opened), stepping on my chest as he jumped through into the room. When I was able to shake myself out of the state I was in there was of course no one there. But I could still feel the impact, physically, on my chest, where his foot had been. Other episodes have involved people standing around my bed talking, having long conversations that I could clearly hear, but could not recall afterwards. Sometimes I've see ninsects flying at me, or felt something picking up my bedding and shaking it vigorously. I've had these episodes since the age of 14 or so, as near as I can recall. They are nearly always frightening or weird. But in the last few years I've learned to control the terror and try to do something about it. Since I can't move, the only thing I've been able to think of to do was to imagine myself telling the dream/hallucination to "go away" in as forceful a thought as possible. It doesn't matter whether it's a real or imagined presence (some people assert that its some kind of demonic visitation but I don't really believe that). It's the unwillingness on my part to be terrorized that does it, whether to an outside presence or to my own inner psyche. In any case, the episodes i"ve had over the past 3 or 4 years have all been very mild and have always dissipated when I use that technique. In fact, most of the time I hardly even remember them now, as I think I fall back asleep during them - proving that they hardly phase me anymore. But the one I had the other night was different in that it posed a strange puzzle for me. I'm hoping maybe someone here on my friend's list might be able to help with that. I heard a distinct phrase being spoken to me, which is unusual in that I very seldom remember specific words that are spoken during the episodes. What I heard were the words: "Rat skin coat." I remember waking up briefly afterwards and going, "What the HELL?" And then falling asleep wondering what that meant. I suppose it could simply have been one of those random dream moments that might have bled over into my waking state of mind, but I can't help but wonder if there's some significance in the words that my subconscious picked up on. One idea I've had is that I might have read the phrase in a book (probably Neil Gaiman haha) or in a movie. But for the life of me, I can't figure out which one! So if anyone has a clue, I'd love to hear it.