On Polyphasic Sleep:I'm trying polyphasic again. I know that siestas work well for me and are easy to accomplish, but have been interested in something more drastic for some time. And my schedule is more regular (wake at 7, hour lunch at 12, etc.) so I'm trying everyman (everywoman?
). But, other than eliminating the problems presented by 12 hour shifts with only 30 min lunches, I still have issues... The biggest one being that I don't fall asleep quickly unless I'm really tired. I never know how long to set my alarm for if I want a 20 min nap. If I set it for too long, then I sleep too long. Or worse, if I set it too short then it jerks me out of hypnagogia and I don't really get to sleep at all. And if it takes me 40 min to fall asleep, I'm not sure it's even worth it to do a sleep schedule like this. It makes me wonder about the people who are able to do it and about the nature of the schedule itself. Are they just people who fall asleep quickly? Or does everyman induce sleep deprivation that allows for quick slumber? If sleep deprivation is the answer, then the people who use it, claiming that they are well rested on it are wrong. There is a difference between feeling well rested and being well rested. If I go a week with only 4 hours each night, I may
feel well rested... So maybe I'm just wasting my time with this. Ideas anyone?
A Strange House -- October Meeting Place (A DILD)I'm at a museum with friends. We look around for a while then go to the cafeteria. My nose is running and I go to find tissue while by friends get Indian food. I find a paper towel. I notice that my breathing is all congested. I grab some food myself and go to sit with my friends. One of my friends tells me that there's a tick on my arm. I'm saying, "What!? Where!?" and "No, there's not!" Although I can't see because it's the back of my arm. But I'm feeling and there is a bump but I'm thinking it's just a pimple or something. And she's saying, "There are ticks all over your arm and it's disgusting!" And there is this contempt in her voice. My friend wouldn't be so rude to me: must be a dream. I do a nose-plug RC and I'm still breathing through my nose with it plugged in the congested way that I'm breathing.
I kinda want to stay with my friends and see what happens, but I remind myself that I have things I want to do in my dreams. I don't feel very dream-empowered. I feel much like I do in waking life, and like I can't fly. I tell myself that I can to the extent that I believe that I can. I fly off through a concrete wall (all the walls are concrete with no windows) and snag a painting on the way out.
The world that I exit into is all brush strokes in bright colors forming a horizon, an ocean, and all sorts of man-made structures and man-made islands among the waves. I stop at a few structures jutting straight up like monolisks out of the brush-stroke waves. They do indeed have strange architecture, and I suppose that they'd count for the meeting place. But I want to find something similar to what others have already found. Something like Dr. T's house with it's multiple floors, lots of stairs, and a basement. As I fly onward, the horizon looks flat. And I know that I'm not gonna get anywhere in the flat world of a painting.
Although it still tries to move away from me, I concentrate on making it past that horizon. As I meet it it bends and I burst through into a more real world. It isn't long before I see the house. Or, the ruins of a house. It appears to be two stories with a staircase on the side. Most of the walls of the second story are have crumbled and barely any of the back ceiling remains. All the concrete is exposed. Except, the floor is covered in bright mustard tiles that one would see in the 70s or so. These conceal the floor below, which is fully encased with no doors or windows. I land on the tile and find a hole to peek down through. I can see that there is floor after floor beneath. I try to squeeze through the hole but don't fit. I walk down the concrete stairs and find a hatch on the wall. I open it, and it reveals another beneath. I open several more hatches getting deeper into the wall. I think that if I just keep going I'll eventually make it in. I hear scraping sounds from within. I get the feeling that something is messing with me.
