kazu googoo

existential reality

as none of you may know, insomnia runs in my family. my father and younger brother both have it fairly severely, while i have it in the more "mild-to-no" category. so it only hits me now and again.

last night was one such night and when i couldn't get to sleep by 2:30, i decided to catch up on my netflix movies. i had attempted to begin watching richard linklater's (dazed and confused ... suburbia et. al.) existential quandry of a film waking life several times, but i really wanted to be able to get into it.

the film is amazing--it's a series of pretty heady philosophical discussions through which the protagonist is witness and sometimes contributor. the film ends with a discussion of lucid dreams and whether-or-not our hero is living in the waking or dreaming life.

after finishing the movie, i went to bed thinking of what is really real and all of the clues that the film gave for verifying a lucid dream. so a few hours later while sleeping, i had a bizzare dream and several clues told me that i was sleeping. there were pictures of family i knew had never been taken, my driving was deplorable, the only trick i wasn't able to try was adjusting the light level. just as an aside, if you think you are dreaming, try turning a light switch on or off. evidently light levels can't be changed in dreams.

so while driving a convertible that i knew i didn't own, i realized that i was dreaming and i tried to give the lucid dream thing a go. so naturally, i decided to drive myself off of a bridge. the result was amazing. i flew through the air, and landed the jump with no damage other than a burst of pure white light. i could have stayed in the dream, but i was so excited that i woke myself up and began to freak out. needless to say, this has been the most excited that i have been to get two-and-a-half-hours of sleep.

that or i should just stop taking those horse tranquilizers!

posted by kazuhank @ 4:22 PM