Mysteriously Stagnant...

It appears my after-hour conversations have ceased to entertain my recorder. Although an unfortunate circumstance this is, there is light at the end of the tunnel...

Surreality is right this way... follow the light...!!!

The Wait

I don't understand...

After listening to hours of me snoring, tossing, turning, and rustling my blankets, I have failed to capture the very essence of this entire blog on my new recorder...

I think my sleep-talking disorder is "recorder-shy." The fact that I'm consciously trying to capture my somniloquy and setting up this recorder every night before snoozing, I think, is preventing this natural process to occur. I also don't think it helps that I purposely turn and face the recorder in hopes to verbalize louder and clearer into the mic, which can be uncomfortable. I've also tested out both the long-recording option as well as the automatic voice recording (AVR) mode and neither have succeeded in picking up any useful sounds.
To top it off, my method of exhausting myself into sleep-talking mode has back-fired and I've upped my cups of coffee from 0 to 2 during the workday. I never used to drink coffee!!! (Although, my smiling-rate and hyperness has increased exponentially...)

I did notice one thing that is worth noting...

.........................I chuckle in my sleep.......................

It's brief and sounds something like, "heh heh." Although it doesn't happen every night, it's happened a few nights so far and it's clearly not a sigh or cough. Last night, my short-lived chortle was somewhat smug. Like I was a power-hungry, obnoxious, self-centered responding to a commoner, who mustered up enough courage to ask for a second bowl of gruel.

Does this count as sleep-talking???????

hm...

I'll keep trying my methods and hope to have some fun recordings to share with you soon. In the meantime, I'm completely open to suggestions you have or any logs of your sleep-talking escapades!

The Recorder

In my absence, I've been searching the depths of the world-wide-web for the key to start the engine on my sleep experiment. After hours of intense research, funky customer service with buy.com, stupid paypal issues, and non-existent package updates from USPS, it's finally here!

I'd like to introduce....

The RCA VR5220 Digital Voice Recorder

This TINY digi-recorder can store up to 200 hours of recording time with 3 selectable recording settings (LP, SP & HQ) all on a 512MB internal flash memory. With it's automatic, voice-activated record option, I can cut out all the dead silence from my slumber and record only the sounds and voices that this wondrous gadget picks up. The built in speaker/microphone on top picks up sounds clearly and plays back recordings audibly. It's very compact and easy to use thus far (I haven't test-uploaded anything yet so not sure how the downloading process works) and lays well on the side of my pillow!

FYI - Batteries not included... unless buy.com gypped me on that, too.

For those of you who are familiar with the different brands of digital recorders out there, you may be wondering why I chose RCA over Olympus, Sony or Panasonic. The assist came from a customer review on Bestbuy.com.

Sshevie from Hudson MI says,

"I run a paranormal travel business and i was looking for a easy to use good quality recorder for my clients to use on a ghost hunt. With these recorders my customers get the recordings they do while ghost hunting as soon as the hunt is done just download the recording and burn to a CD they take it home and search for EVP on their own time and the recordings are super clear."

Chills ran down my spine after reading that and soon after, excitement. This recorder MUST be flippin' awesome. Got it for $30 on buy.com with free, upgraded shipping (only because of some issues I had with the order...and a few complaints...)

I've tested out the AVR mode on high-sensitivity and it's pretty cool. It picks up my heavy sighs/snores/rustling of my blankets and then stops recording when it's quiet again. But no sleep-talking! (...and no ghosts)

......................so................................

For the purpose of this experiment, I will be participating in an "insane" work-out program that will exhaust my body (and hopefully tone the jelly) into sleep-talking mode.

Sweet dreams till then!

The Dream Generator

Can't sleep?

So, what do you do? You can read, play games, web-surf, watch a boring TV program, count sheep, or just stare at your ceiling until either sleep or madness consumes you.

Me? I turn to the Dream Generator. This method, which I have successfully been using for years, requires a great deal of patience but once you let your mind drift, so will you to sleepsville.

How it works:

Once you're comfortable and ready for bed, close your eyes and let your mind wander. I like to ask myself questions like "What if I won the lottery?" or "What would I do if I had super powers?" These types of questions give my imagination a starting point. Then, I think about what I would do and all the possibilities until eventually, my "unconscious" steps in and I stop thinking and start dreaming.

Sometimes, if I'm or about something, these negative thoughts creep into my "Dream Generator" process and prevent me from falling asleep. I bust out the big guns when this happens. A compilation of classical/instrumental music strategically placed on my IPOD awaits to boost my imagination some more. Generally, the melodies are from movies or shows (mainly Korean dramas cause they're so heart-wrenching, yet sweet) that had some emotional affect on me. Sounds from the TV work, as well. Once I can get my mind off the trials and tribulations of my Persona, I can start to relax and, soon enough, fall asleep.

The only problem with the Dream Generator is assessing the validity of your dreams the next day. Did I dream of those things because I was thinking about them or are they important themes that my unconscious is trying to tell me about myself? (One of those questions I'll ask myself on the train ride to work the next morning if the dream had an impact on me.)


I DREAMS THAT MAKE ME THINK THE NEXT DAY.

Anywho, hope to have more sleep logs for you, soon.

The Dream Killer...

Dude........

The weirdest thing happened last night...

I didn't dream.... of ANYTHING

I tried producing images in my head but to no avail ... tried leaving the TV on in hopes the sounds would induce thought bubbles filled with blue omelette's running through a field of caramelized onion lilies with bread and butter flies buzzing about.
(whoa, brain explosion!)

Who's to blame? Or...what?

Robitussin (supposedly non-drowsy cough suppressant)

Have you ever had one of those nights where you're suffering from a bad cold/flu and you've hopped on the train to drowsy's ville off cold-medicine? I find this to be the perfect conditions for CRAZY DREAMS AND SLEEP-TALKING. Generally, this is the time when I have dreams like the aforementioned scenario.

but....

WHAT HAPPENED LAST NIGHT!?!??!

Robitussin is a dream killer.

As weird and somewhat creepy this sounds, I've decided I must invest in a digital voice recorder. Till then, beware of robitussin and sleep comfy, my friends.

The Medical Scribe

Name: Daniel
Age: Quarter-life crisis
Persona: Medical Scribe (The person in ER that writes everything down/Dr.'s Wingman)
Quirks: Heavy sleep-talker

As a fellow heavy-sleeper, Daniel has slept through natural disasters (ie: earthquakes) as well as shrieking fire alarms.

His awesome girlfriend of years simply describes him to be "somebody who definitely thinks before he talks." One friend characterizes him as "confused and trusting."
(Due to the PG-13 status of this blog, I can't quote the rest of this statement...)

From my observations, Mr. Daniel's "Persona" is polite, calm, and intuitive of people and his surroundings. His profession requires thick-skin and a strong stomach (for those who've been inside the ER, you see some pretty wicked sh*t...)

On to the good stuff! Here are some logs of Daniel's slumbering tête-à-tête.

GF: Daniel, wake upppp
[raining outside]
Daniel: I can't brush my teeth with snow.

GF: Daniel wake up... we have to go...
Daniel: The runners all have to start at the same line and wear the same uniform.

GF: [hitting him] Daniel.. GET UPPP!
Daniel: ... zacket away!!
GF: ... WHAT?? [laughs]
Daniel: THE ZOOM BUG!

[alarm goes off]
Daniel: Does that sound like renal colic to you??
GF: WHAT?? [laughs]
Daniel: [laughs] iono...

GF: Daniel... wake UPPP
Daniel: I want to be numerous like you!!

There's a pattern! Perhaps Daniel's sleep-talking is triggered by sounds, which disrupts his transition from one sleeping stage to the other.

His GF explains this phenomenon occurs when Daniel's REALLY tired [Fatigue and stress are some main causes of sleep-talking]

GF: "like the 'runners all have to wear same blahblah..' is when he was TKD (Taekwondo) competition team captain. The 'zacket away..' i think he was cursing at me in his private language cause i was like GET UPPPPPPPP!! 'Renal colic...' was after a 10hr shift at the ER.."

So, Daniel's sleeptalking is potentially triggered by sounds... I wonder what triggers mine? I always seem to start the conversation...

The Gibberish

-- Date not recorded... sometime in late 2009 --

Me: "Why is my omelette blue?" [zzz]
BF: ......???

-- Date not recorded... sometime in late 2009 --

Me: "This is fun..."
BF: "What?"
Me: "This section has super jumbo-sized baby stuff"
BF: "What kinda stuff?"
Me: "Just stuff!"
BF: "What kind??"
Me: "...I'm not crazy..."
[pause.......]
Me: [begins to rub/itch ear uncontrollably]
BF: "...hey....are you awake? ..... ??"

I woke up at that moment with no recollection of this conversation.


~ 2010 Brings More ~


-- Jan 1, 2010 @ 10:50PM --
(I was exhausted and passed out early...)

Me: "It's blue, right?"
Sister: "What's blue?"
Me: "The thing..."
Sister: "Are you talking in your sleep again?"
Me: "You just asked me ... didn't you?!"
Sister: "No.."
Me: [zZz ... starts snoring]


-- Jan 20, 2009 @ 12:56 AM --
Me: "(Laughs) ... [pause] ... What's that electronic? ... [zZz]"

I do recall asking my sister just before falling asleep where this strange, turbulent sound was coming from... it was from her ginormous air filter...