CONFORM CONSUME OBEY

From the 1988 classic "They Live". Great movie, you should totally stay in and snuggle up on the couch and watch it.  Or better yet

TV in bed is the best. Why ever get out of bed, really? Oh yes, work.

But hey at least the shopping is good downtown.

Don't let anyone tell you otherwise: Selling out is the best!

Trek Robe and Kicks

I've never really worn a bathrobe, except for brief larks at the fancy hotel but I quickly put it back, considering all the warnings on the coat hangers.

They seem awesome. I'm reminded now of The Dude and how comfortable he seemed in a bathrobe. But how much more awesome would it be in a Federation Bathrobe? An infinite amount, that's how much.

Both robes available at ThinkGeek. I'd be careful with the Red Robe, however. You're just begging for trouble.

I assume once you take the bathrobe off for the day - is it a weekday article of clothing? Or weekends only? You need some logical kicks. Why not Fed it up? Man.

Command colors, the kind of color that says "Hey, you, green alien babe, what are you doing tonight?"

A break from your life

Hail, fellow travelers! I am on vacation this week - and I'm doing my best to make it a real vacation. So little computer action, no damned email or phone calls, and instead hours of something else - rest. Sloth. Sun. Food. Letting go of all the insignificant concerns of the "real world". This is strange for me, since usually even my vacations are action packed stress bombs of do this, do that, do something else.

But today? I stop by to give you this. And then off to the beach.

Home is where you sleep on a regular basis

Osaka Japan. I'm sure it seems fairly normal when you live there after awhile - yah, I'm down over by the Pesky Pole. Or maybe not - as the old koan goes, how can you go home when it's already been stolen?

Also, good zombie proofing potential for a whole town - you'd have lots of internal storage space and good infrastructure (water, sanitation, etc). Just lock up them doors!

Dispatch from the London Fashion Scene

Sleeping bag suits! Apparently, they're going to be huge this winter. BUY NOW!!!

Wish you were here

I have some stress in my life - perhaps you do as well? This stress would often cause me difficulties sleeping, as my mind would race around the track of "All the things to do!".

So I searched about for solutions. No drugs though, as sleeping pills are pure evil, and except for the fun drugs, I am firmly a "Just Say No" kinda redshirt.

I tried tea, milk, curtains, sound machines, fans and fans and more fans, and nothing worked. I tried counting sheep, and I felt like that was getting me somewhere, but not far enough. And then I came upon a realization: Your brain is keeping you awake with thoughts of "All the things to do!"; if you can redirect that mental activity somewhere else, perhaps you can bypass it. This is the principle behind counting sheep, after all - the visualization of sheep jumping over a fence is mentally engaging enough to distract you from your normal thoughts, and the procession of counting more and more sheep creates a hypnotic effect whereby you are talking yourself to sleep in a gentle manner - self hypnosis of a sort.

Counting sheep simply gets boring, my mind drifts back onto the stress, and so I was dissatisfied with the technique. But the principle is sound, so I developed it - what about some kind of complex scenario that would require you to spend that limited mental activity, but also not create any new stress or drama? This last part is key.

For example, one of my early attempts at a "go-to-sleep" scenario was "What would my dream house be?" And I would try and imagine all the cool things I might have in a house if money were no object. But I found this scenario quickly led to thoughts of money, of responsibility, and those thoughts would then lead back to the "real world" of stress and anxiety and etc.

So I searched about for different scenarios, and came upon one that has worked for me for years and years now - stuck on a desert island. Please note this started BEFORE Lost. Ahem! Now, your mileage will vary, and if you try this technique, you'll have to come up with your own scenario, as each of us is unique in our way and no one specific path is necessarily meant for another.

Stuck on a deserted tropical island, with a big chest of whatever I wanted to pack in that chest. Tarps, knives, lighters, pots, fishing gear, etc. How would I drink water? What would I eat? How would I build a shelter? What about bugs? The bathroom? Etc. Endless permutations of mindless repetitions, essentially, for me, disconnected entirely from the "real world" (as in, it's highly unlikely I'd ever find myself stuck on a desert island). Counting sheep writ large, in other words.

It worked wonderfully for me, but alas, some 8 years now doing this, I've found it's gotten a bit stale. So I'm trying out some new material. If you're having any difficulty sleeping, I encourage you to give this general technique a try. Remember, the keys are it has to be quite disconnected from your "real world" so as not to lead to any stressful thoughts, and it has to be engaging in a harmless way in order to distract your brains from the habitual thoughts it wants to engage in. Maybe you could envision a great garden with all types of different plants. Or maybe imagine building a model train set to minute detail. Whatever works for you, but it might take you some time trying out different scenarios, so be patient.

To finish, in all this time, I don't recall ever once dreaming of being on a deserted tropical island, which I find exceedingly strange.