5:29 and I think tonight there will be no sleep.

[crim son]

Anybody else awake? I just can't sleep.

[Droopy]

1. I'm here

I work 3rd shift so this is my normal awake time. How are you doing? I remember that you were going through a rough time. Are things getting better?

[crim son]

8. Yes, things are better. Things are the same but one becomes

immune I can't believe this is your normal awake time! It seems like it would be tough.

[Droopy]

16. Through the week I'm at work at this time

I start out at 10pm and work until 9am. The hardest part for me is dragging my ass out of bed at night and getting going. Once I have made that first delivery and get the blood pumping I'm ok for the rest of my shift.

[crim son]

19. I can imagine.

We do what we must. Right now I'm unemployed but it won't last forever. In the meantime, bless you for getting your ass out of bed in the wee hours. :hug:

[VenusRising]

2. Ugh. Always awake.

:hi:

[crim son]

11. Why, VenusRising?

Insomnia? I am noticing that once you pass five and the birds begin to call, it feels natural. Not after many nights though. I'd go nuts.

[VenusRising]

13. I'm just weird.

:rofl:

I want to go to bed at a normal time, but I have always been a night person. Then, when I am ready to go to bed, I don't really want to. I would rather stay up. I have pulled more 24 hour days than I would like to count. It's my brain playing pranks on me I think.

[crim son]

15. Wow. That's me, except I normally resist.

Kids, all that nonsense. For me, the hours after midnight = peace. I love them.

[VenusRising]

33. Oh, see.

I don't have kids yet. :rofl:

[crim son]

35. All hell will break loose!

Mine are beginning to look after themselves which is why I'm able to indulge this mood of mine, and stay up all night. However it's been years of servitute, I'll tell you.

If you have 'em, you'll love 'em.

[VenusRising]

46. That's what I hear.

:rofl:

I like being a godmother right now. I can spoil her. She's not my kid!!

[crim son]

49. None of my three are mine either!

:rofl:

[VenusRising]

50. I think it's against the law

to pick up random kids off the street and take them home. :rofl:

[Guava Jelly]

3. Awake and at my first job.

You are gonna have a rough day today i don't envy you.

[crim son]

12. Nah. I'm resilient as hell.

Also I am as yet unemployed which makes it easy. Good luck with your job!

[ForrestGump]

4. Allegedly, the most boring book ever written is "The House of the Seven Gables," by Nathaniel

Hawthorne.

*ahem*

Page 13. Chapter 1.

"Half-way down a by-street of one of our New England towns, stands a rusty wooden house, with seven acutely peaked gables, facing towards various points of the compass, and a huge, clustered chimney in the midst. The street is Pyncheon street; the house is the old Pyncheon-house; and an elm-tree, of wide circumference, rooted before the door, is familiar to every town-born child by the title of the Pyncheon-elm. On my occasional visits to the town aforesaid, I seldom fail to turn down Pyncheon-street, for the sake of passing through the shadow of these two antiquities -- the great elm-tree, and the weather-beaten edifice.

The aspect of the venerable mansion has always affected me like a human countenance, bearing the traces not merely of outward storm and sunshine, but expressive, also, of the long lapse of mortal life, and accompanying vicissitudes that have passed within. Were these to be worthily recounted, they would form a narrative of no small interest and instruction, and possessing, moreover, a certain remarkable unity, which might almost seem the result of artistic arrangement. But the story would include a chain of events extending over the better part of two centuries, and, written out with reasonable amplitude, would fill a bigger folio volume, or a longer series of duodecimos, than could prudently be appropriated to the annals of all New England during a similar period. It consequently becomes imperative to make..."


Are we there yet? Is it working?

:P

[crim son]

14. No, because the wordier and more obtuse the book

the better I like it. What else is ther in this world besides the perceptions of others? amd let's face it, it was very fashionable at one time to describe the obvious in all it's minute detail. Maybe not fashionable; more a matter of course.

[ForrestGump]

18. I tend to do that, too...look at half of my posts here for proof.

:D

I think what we need here is something more like:


"it was a dark and stormy night..."

[crim son]

22. No kidding.

I like making my way through the language. Every story has been told; it's all about the telling.

[ForrestGump]

29. True

Without that way of looking at things, art would be a redundant irrelevancy.

[hfojvt]

21. I made it through Seven Gables

There's gotta be something more boring, like "The Brothers Karamazov" or something by Nabokov.

[ForrestGump]

28. I was going to excerpt something from a technical manual, but

a Google search revealed that old Nat's book about Ann of Seven Gables was considered by many to be the most boring book ever published...it's possible there's ethnocentricity at play here, though, and they're referring only to the output of English-language or American authors.

[crim son]

34. That or, you know, they read the book.

:P

[ForrestGump]

43. Well, yes, sure

Use logic on me, will you?

I'm impervious to logic! :P

Besides, if it was really the world's most boring book, they'd never have been able to get past the first page or remember even the gist of that first page's contents. :-)

[crim son]

48. People were simple back then.

They laughed at clowns.

[BuelahWitch]

53. What about "Silas Marner"?

That one's pretty boring...:boring:

[GaYellowDawg]

5. Late onset sleeper here.

Every so often it really keeps me up and I have to cycle around the clock until I hit a decent sleep time again. Tonight's one of those times. Blaagh.

[crim son]

17. Wow, I've never seen your screenname. Sorry about

your insomnia! It's rare for me but I'm now gonna go with it. :D Listening to the soundtrack of "Rent" and it works for me.

[GaYellowDawg]

20. It's my first night in the Lounge in some time.

I lurk around GD, much more than I post. Tonight I felt like hanging with a more relaxed crowd. :-)

On edit: You're quite photogenic.

[crim son]

23. Kind of you. I'm not, actually.

I started off in GD but really I was here just for the like minds. The Lounge is less confrontational.

[GaYellowDawg]

27. A less confrontational atmosphere is good for me.

I am trying to be less confrontational online. I rely so much on nonverbal cues in communication that it's sometimes hard for me to not take something badly and go overboard.

If "I'm not, really" refers to you being photogenic, then in the spirit of less confrontation, you and I will have to agree to disagree. ;-)

[crim son]

30. Hokay, we can disagree although only a moment's persuasion

will cause me to melt. Anyhow, DU is a good place to grow that thick skin so necessary for... whatever. That's how I view GD: an exercise in tolerance, etc.

[GaYellowDawg]

38. It's kind of funny

I found DU to be a refuge for quite some time. Georgia isn't exactly progressive.

I've noticed that things have become much more abrasive since we took control of Congress. We won, and lots of people started focusing on what their disagreements were instead of what theeir common points. Given that we've all had to play some real hardball with right wingers, I suppose it was almost inevitable that people on here would escalate very quickly in internecine arguments, too.

Edited for grammar. I think.

[Omphaloskepsis]

6. I'm awake..

But I just woke up after a eight hour nap. I spent most of the day cutting down blackberry bushes. I went to bed around 6pm. Now I am very sore. I'm not used to using my upper body for anything other than typing.

[crim son]

24. I know blackberry bushes can be weeds, but - what - are they

taking over your yard or something? Here we have trouble growing decent strawberries. I'd have trouble killing any berry bush.

Visualizing you with machete in hand.

[Omphaloskepsis]

41. It wasn't pretty.. I'm not very good with swinging sharp things.

My sister wants to build a fence in her backyard and there is about a hundred feet of very thick blackberries blocking the path. I went to drop something off for her this morning and saw that her husband was trying to do it by himself. The guy works 60 hours per week running wire to feed his family. It was bullshit he had to that alone on his one day off this week. He bought the beer, and I agreed to not touch the machete (it took about three minutes for him to take it away from me). I mostly loaded the truck and used the chainsaw.

[Random_Australian]

7. I'll be asleep soon. Did you get the thing in the email?

[crim son]

25. Hang on, I'm checking.

No! I got a note, plus your email highlighted (thank you - I will be hounding you with requests for money shortly) but that's all. No attachment. :cry: You are cruel, to get my hopes up.

[Random_Australian]

31. Drat! What! How is that possible? You're sure there was no attachment?

Checking that the .wmv was attached not the .cue

This will be solved shortly.

[crim son]

36. Of course I'm sure!

My intellectual disability is a minor one. :hi:

[Random_Australian]

40. Well, here is the next attempt. Hope it works this time.

:)

[lildreamer316]

9. Yep.

Surfing over to JK Rowling.com to while away the time; wishing for the next Harry Potter book to come out and distract me. Sorry; I am one of the sheep in that respect....

[crim son]

26. You are allowed to enjoy what you enjoy.

I envy your ability to read. For many months it's been a problem for me and I hope the urge returns.

[lildreamer316]

45. I went through that.

It will return, but maybe not as strongly as before. Try not to stress.:hug:

[GaYellowDawg]

32. Baaaa.

Count me in. I started reading the Harry Potter books because I couldn't understand 1 in 3 words of what my niece (whom I adore) was saying. Then I got hooked. Hard.

It's funny. I usually go for things like hard science fiction, alternate history, and nonfiction science books (in fact, my last read was "Power, Sex, Suicide: Mitochondria and the Meaning of Life"), but I found Rowling's world to be absolutely enchanting.

[crim son]

37. You must have an active imagination.

Mine's dead. Give me the biography of Mary Baker Eddy and I'm thrilled for a week.
edited for typo. I guess that means I'm still awake.

[GaYellowDawg]

44. I don't have any choice!

I'm a grad student, and the field is education. No choice but to exercise the imagination; if a teaching strategy isn't working, you have to change gears on the spot. Sometimes you can plan for that, and sometimes you just have to create on the fly.

[lildreamer316]

42. Oh, yes.

she reeled me in like the Susan Cooper books did when I was young. Love the escapisim.

Other books beside the bed: The End of Faith (Sam Harris); and Holy Blood, Holy Grail (just wanted to see what Dan Brown had ripped off).
I sense a theme...
I forgot I have a Richard Bach compilation there too..and Sudoku.

[GaYellowDawg]

47. Richard Bach, as in Illusions?

I wrote a paper in a history of Christianity class one time that referred to "Illusions" as a modern Gnostic work.

Funny thing about the da Vinci Code - I had a roommate who detested it. Said that it was fraught with errors (and he used the exact phrase, "fraught with errors") when it came to the art.

[lildreamer316]

52. Yes..

I do think "Illusions" is a seminal work; and strangely enough, the more I explore my spiritual side; the more I come back to it and realize the genius of its' simplicity (sorry about the punctuation; too early to tell if it is correct or not). I've had it since age 14; and now in my 30s I still find it relevant; unlike almost every other form of literature I have read. A bit of a sweeping statement; I know; but mother was an English professor so I had the classics beat into me at a young age.

Da Vinci Code was interesting; I found it so in the way that it exposed a decently possible theory to the masses that had been speculated about for a long time before. I kinda view it as the cross between real-life speculation and Mists of Avalon fantasy (based in real goddess worship practices).

I know Bach doesn't want to be put on a pedestal; and I certainly don't want to tout any book as being a 'bible' (!); because they are all written by humans; but it comes as close as anything else to truth that I've found.
And to tie this in to Harry Potter..
I was just reading in the Fantasy group on HP--someone said they cried for two hours at the end of Book 6; and was ashamed that the fictional characters had become so real. Of course it stirs my memory to this:

"If you will practice being fictional for a while, you will understand that fictional characters are sometimes more real than people with bodies and heartbeats."


Boy, I'm boring this morning. Sorry... :)

[GaYellowDawg]

54. I didn't find that boring at all.

I enjoyed "Illusions," but it didn't tie in with my personal beliefs enough to really resonate (I'm Presbyterian).

Funny story about the da Vinci Code - I didn't have any real interest in reading it until a Presbyterian minister whom I didn't quite like said from the pulpit that it was a very well-written deception. I thought that if it was that well-written, I might just enjoy it. Again, I didn't find it that believable (I tend to think that people have a hard time keeping secrets, especially big ones), but I enjoyed it.

I got just as much of a lump in my throat over Sirius as I did Dumbledore. When I read, I really do lose myself in a book. It's like a movie playing in my head. One of my least favorite sensations is coming back to myself in the middle of a page. I think anyone who reads like that can't help emotional reactions. I do have to admit that I won't allow myself to cry over books or movies (fictional ones, anyway) because I save my tears for real people. Also because crying is like throwing up for me - I always feel better afterwards but I find the process extraordinarily unpleasant.

[lildreamer316]

55. Exactly..

I don't ever cry, myself, when reading--I too lose myself in the book; but enjoy the fact that I am aware at the end it was not real, at least not to the point where I become seriously emotionally invested.

Yes, it is definately like a movie playing in my head-so much so that if the movie made from the book dosen't jive with the one in my head I can get irritated.

I liked Da Vinci Code just because it helped everyone to think outside the spiritual box as it were- and to put a human face on people that have almost been lost to myth. I have never had any argument with the fundamentals of Christian faith; but I personally believe something like this can help to be able to see that the spark of divinity can live in one's self. It seems you can do that easier when you realize that Jesus really DID walk among us....know what I mean?

Eh, it was fun, anyway.

[Horse with no Name]

10. I want to sleep but can't

:(

[crim son]

39. Me too. At about four I came to accept the fact.

Then the night passed swiftly. Already the crows are calling.

[Skittles]

51. when you are awakened at 2 o'clock in the morning by Girl Scouts selling cookies

I'll feel symapthy but until then you daytimers can just SUCK IT UP :)