prechance to dream

[the_siobhan]

It's autumn in the northern hemisphere. I love this season. Do you hear me, you poor deprived creatures who live in more southern climes? I FUCKING LOVE THIS SEASON.

It's cool and the leaves are all yellow and orange and it's windy all the time. I was in a conversation once with somebody who told me that everybody needs sunlight to be healthy, and I countered that I could live quite happily without direct sunlight -- but I would wither and die if I never got any wind.

So of course I've been out walking in it. The other day I was noodling home from something or other and my path was blocked by police tape. They had the entire street cordoned off because this fuck-off big maple tree had blown down and crashed across the street, taking out a few cars and the local hydro wires.

Fuck yeah. Neanderthal brain happy.

I once had a conversation with somebody from southern California who had never been north enough to really experience autumn. He'd been assuming all his life that the pictures he saw of trees with coloured leaves were doctored -- I'm not sure if he beleived us when we told him they really did look like that.

I've often wondered why it is that red trees aren't more common in the city, because I see them all over the place in the country. Is it because the city tends to plant species that have more of the yellow-causing chemicals? Or something to do with the content of the soil?

-----------------------------

I finally decided things were getting retarded and set aside time in schedule to go twice a month and deal with all of the health-related appointments that have been piling up. Going to the dentist turned out to be a multiple-week commitment, so getting my neck fixed is going to have to wait until after England.

A word to the wise. Do not ever ever ever wait five years between appointments to get your teeth scaled. Trust me on this one.

So next on the agenda, the chiropractor. Then the booty-check.

-----------------------------

My caffeine monkey has evolved into a 1800 pound gorilla with red eyes and a voice like Tom Waits.

I've actually been getting enough sleep this week, mostly by virtue of the fact that I just cannot force myself out of bed in the morning. This is a good thing. Last week I had so many nights in a row of less than 6 hours of snooze that my brain just melted like Taco Bell cheese.

I couldn't remember anything I actually had to call up the_axel and ask him what I was supposed to be doing that day. Any of you who know us in real life can immediately grok how horribly horribly wrong that is.

I've done some stupid work-shifts before that involved extended periods of exhaustion, but the only time I've ever been this bad was when I was in the really severe stages of depression. I had chronic insomnia. I would go to bed at 4-5AM when I was so exhausted I hoped that I could finally sleep, would get about 3 hours of nightmares and cold sweats, then would lie in bed for hours listening to everybody else in the house moving around and trying to find the internal strength just to sit the fuck up.

Prolonged sleep dep made me literally psychotic. I remember walking through the parks at night just looking for somebody to fuck with me. I needed to hit something so badly. I look back on that now and wonder how the hell I didn't end up in jail or a sanatorium or something.

I read an article once on the subject of prions. (In case you don't know, prions are proteins implicated in diseases, one such being Mad Cow.) The arricle talked about a specific herditary prion that causes chronic fatal insomnia. It drills holes in the part of the brain responsable for sleep. The victim develops psychosis, hallucinations and then systemic neurological malfunction. It's like the brain overheats and melts.

Right now I cannot think of a worse way to die.

Comments

[grimjim.livejournal.com]

Sunlight is healthy? There's a tradeoff between getting vitamin D and carcinomas.

It seems prions are nasty stuff. I wonder how that one was hereditary. Passed via bloodstream?

[verminefasciste.livejournal.com]

A word to the wise. Do not ever ever ever wait five years between appointments to get your teeth scaled. Trust me on this one.

Four years was bad enough. My jaw still aches from the Novocaine injections. Still, it was worth it. No more of that sickly cavity ache when I eat or touch my teeth with my tongue. Flossing completely, though... what a timesuck.

[raindrops.livejournal.com]

Prolonged sleep dep made me literally psychotic. I remember walking through the parks at night just looking for somebody to fuck with me. I needed to hit something so badly. I look back on that now and wonder how the hell I didn't end up in jail or a sanatorium or something.

This is something I go through far too often... not lately, but who knows when it will start again? *sigh*

[purplesofa.livejournal.com]

I like autumn too. Just the right temperature, and lots of nice colours.

Good point that Mother Nature is fundamentally stronger than humans or their products, whether she is blowing wind or erupting a volcano. Maybe I should work this into my efforts at strategic thinking.

[elixxir.livejournal.com]

Oh Christ...I feel your pain babe. I swear the 'cleaning' was worse than the root canal...but do you think I've remembered to floss since then? I must be a masochist. :p

[otheronetruegod.livejournal.com]

I'm with you on the Autumn thing. I love it. I love the smell, the sights. I like how it's a little bit cool, but not uncomfortable in a sweater and jeans. My fave as well. :-)

[lisiblac.livejournal.com]

I couldn't remember anything. I actually had to call up the_axel and ask him what I was supposed to be doing that day . . .

Heheheheheehee . . . (depressed and exhausted giggle of commiseration.) Yeah. It's weird as hell. Getting slightly better now for me, though I did embarass myself horribly in front of a professor recently by not knowing what he was talking about when he mentioned the manuscript that was the topic of his (published) book (that I really have read, honest. Recently even.) Of course I came across as an idiot, when in reality I simply have no access to my short term memory due to 18 months of sleep dep.

*sigh*

[the-fury.livejournal.com]

Had to get my teeth scraped down to the roots.

I never would have though you could jam that pokey metal bit that far up ones gums.

I'm still suprised that I was able to have an entire quadrant done with no anaesthesia

[Error: Irreparable invalid markup ('<bwithout</b>') in entry. Owner must fix manually. Raw contents below.]

Had to get my teeth scraped down to the roots.

I never would have though you could jam that pokey metal bit that far up ones gums.

I'm still suprised that I was able to have an entire quadrant done with no anaesthesia <bwithout</b> clocking the hygenist.

[montieth.livejournal.com]

I'm happy to have what you're having around christmas and not have the 40 days of white icy stuff on the sidewalks, roads, yard, driveways and totally avoid the entire shoveling the sidewalk bit. Plus, I pay less for heating my house in the winter.

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

No anaesthetic for me. But she's spreading it out over three appointments so maybe it's not so bad.

Although she did warn me that she's going to be going under the gums on the next one so I should take some ibuprofen before coming in. :-p

[hellsop.livejournal.com]

IIRC, the brilliant tree color comes from radical shifts in temperature from one day to the next. Daily highs seesawing back and forth from 30°C to 15°C with lows down close to 0° make good colors. Cities are big heatsinks, and don't get the variations as wild, so don't get the prettiest colors.

[verminefasciste.livejournal.com]

No anesthetic?! Pray, tell me why? I can't imagine enduring that sort of pain willingly?

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

I knew somebody here would have the answer. :-)

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

They don't normally do anaesthetic for cleaning. Although I could probably get it if I asked for it.

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

It seems prions are nasty stuff. I wonder how that one was hereditary. Passed via bloodstream?

At the time of the article they didn't know -- just that it ran through families, so they hypothesized a genetic component.

I still don't think they've ever isolated one.

[verminefasciste.livejournal.com]

Oh, I see. The way your original response was written, I had assumed that you needed the drill. Nevermind.

Several data points

[50-ft-queenie.livejournal.com]

I love the wind too, especially on dark blustery nights. I never thought I needed sunlight until I developed SAD last winter, caused in large part, I think, by moving from a desk by a window to one where I got almost no natural light.

I once waited two years between dentist visits. I had a throbing headache for a full 24 hours after they were done with me.

Chronic insomnia runs in my family on my father's side. I thank whatever deities exist that I appear not to have inherited it. If I had to endure my father's sleep patterns, I'd shoot myself.