Last Thing You Think Of Before You Fall Asleep??

[Aldo]

Who actually remembers when they fall asleep? Think about it.

There are a few days where I'd wake up and be able to pinpoint the exact moment I fell asleep the night before. Now this doesn't happen all the time, it's just happened a handful of times.

 

[Gov Kodos]

As I like to read before going to sleep, I'm usually thinking over the stuff I've just read.

 

[DonIago]

I've fallen into a bad trend of not knowing when I'm too tired to read...I'll be reading, brain will go off on its own little tangent, and I'll abruptly become aware sometime later that I haven't been reading...

 

[Gov Kodos]

I do that often when reading. I take up some thought from the book and the eyes are still casually scanning so I'm aware of the text. Then I have to go back to reread.

 

[Gary Mitchell]

I think "boy am I tir...." SNORE. Then I wake up in the morning. My head hits that pillow and I'm down for the count.

 

[trekkiedane]

I've fallen into a bad trend of not knowing when I'm too tired to read...I'll be reading, brain will go off on its own little tangent, and I'll abruptly become aware sometime later that I haven't been reading...

I do that often when reading. I take up some thought from the book and the eyes are still casually scanning so I'm aware of the text. Then I have to go back to reread.

I've made it into an art to catch myself falling asleep while reading:
You know that feeling of actually falling, you get just as you fall asleep -I love that so much that I have trained myself to stay right there for (what feels like) very long, and to wake up again and do it over

The problem is that I during the process keep reading the same page over and over and over...

 

[TerokNor]

I am also one of those who likes making up a story in mind and then falling to sleep while in the middle of it.

TerokNor

 

[PKTrekGirl]

I am also one of those who likes making up a story in mind and then falling to sleep while in the middle of it.

TerokNor

Alright! Another one! I'm feeling less freaky by the moment!

 

[SiorX]

I am also one of those who likes making up a story in mind and then falling to sleep while in the middle of it.

TerokNor

Alright! Another one! I'm feeling less freaky by the moment!

I do it to, and have done all my life. It's very rarely stories about myself though. Usually I make up stories about minor or original characters in various fandoms. At any given time I have maybe five or six favourite characters whom I'll script stories for before I sleep. And like you, I tend to replay scenarios and refine them and things.

I've often wondered what people who don't do this do with their brain's downtime.

 

[RandyS]

Usually?

"I can't believe I have to go AGAIN! I just got comfortable....."

 

[Jenee]

Another one who makes up stories to put myself to sleep.

Couple years ago, my life was ... in a rut, so were my stories, so I concentrated on ... that feeling of being half awake and half asleep, that usually did the trick in getting me to sleep.

But, the last year has been so full of change for me, that I'd gotten back to making up stories.

Then, after a bout of insomnia last week, figured it was time to put the daydreams away and get back to concentrating on the half asleep feeling.

 

[auntiehill]

I am also one of those who likes making up a story in mind and then falling to sleep while in the middle of it.

TerokNor

Alright! Another one! I'm feeling less freaky by the moment!

I do it to, and have done all my life. It's very rarely stories about myself though. Usually I make up stories about minor or original characters in various fandoms. At any given time I have maybe five or six favourite characters whom I'll script stories for before I sleep. And like you, I tend to replay scenarios and refine them and things.

I've often wondered what people who don't do this do with their brain's downtime.

I have done this my entire life. As soon as I was old enough to have favorite characters, I was making up stories ("little movies" in my head) about what I *wish* had/would happen in my favorite books, tv shows, movies, etc. I do it all the time--waiting at airports, in the car, at home, lying in bed, in the shower,at work, even in the middle of conversations with people---All.The.Time. To put it in computer terms, it's like a program that's always running in the background.

It's like some sort of mental illness.

 

[PKTrekGirl]

I have done this my entire life. As soon as I was old enough to have favorite characters, I was making up stories ("little movies" in my head) about what I *wish* had/would happen in my favorite books, tv shows, movies, etc. I do it all the time--waiting at airports, in the car, at home, lying in bed, in the shower,at work, even in the middle of conversations with people---All.The.Time. To put it in computer terms, it's like a program that's always running in the background.

It's like some sort of mental illness.

Wow! You win the prize. I prefer to do it with my eyes shut (blocking out my RL surroundings tends to help me concentrate and also makes the story more vivid and 'real' to me) so generally only do it as I'm going to sleep at night. Although sometimes on a day I can sleep in, I might lie in bed for a while in the morning and treat myself to some more time with my story.

I have tried doing it in the car while sitting in traffic as a way of passing the time (in Atlanta, we spend a LOT of time sitting in traffic), but it doesn't work nearly as well. Telling myself a story about one 'world' while my eyes are seeing the grim reality of bumper-to-bumper gridlock on an Atlanta freeway just doesn't seem to 'mesh' very well, I guess.

I wish I could do it in more places...but at night in the dark, it is much easier to put myself mentally into that setting in a very 3D way....and I end up with a lot fewer 'takes' on any one scene I'm into at the moment if I'm really 'in' the universe.

auntiehill, can you do it with just as much 'vividness' when you are doing all those other things as when you are going to sleep at night? Or do you just work on easier pieces when you are multitasking with real life?

 

[thestrangequark]

^I definitely do it at other times too. However, to take it a step further into mental illness territory, I can't do it in close proximity to other people -- like on the train, or in a cafe, because (and this is going to sound really nuts, but I am aware that it's nuts and that's how I know I'm sane), I have this irrational discomfort that other people might somehow know what I'm thinking. It's not that I believe people can read my mind -- I know, rationally that they cannot, but I am still irrationally embarrassed. I do make up stories on my long walks, but never on a bicycle, and if I drove certainly not in a car. The reason for these prohibitions is that I become so lost in my stories that I often find I've walked all the way home and don't even remember the walk -- imagine dangerous that would be driving!

Ever since I was a very little kid, though, I've had one consistent story for long car rides: a girl who can run the speed of the car on the freeway and leap the highes obstacles along the roadside. She entertained me for hours as I watched her running and leaping along side the car, and even now, on really long drives (though I rarely am in a car), I find myself imagining her, looking as she did when I was 5 years old, running with us.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I 'daydream' all the time about what I would do if I was playing in the major leagues. (For some reason I always imagine myself as a closer. I think that's what I'd most like to be.) I even have detailed imaginings of how my career turns out, with every team in the majors!

Spoiler: me

I remember that in my 'dream world' I start in the major leagues in about '94. I tell my manager that I won't haggle over salaries or anything like that, I'll take whatever they want to pay me. For some reason word gets out about this and the 1994 strike never happens. Guess that's kind of pathetic for me to think that I can make such a huge difference like that.

 

[Jenee]

^I definitely do it at other times too. However, to take it a step further into mental illness territory, I can't do it in close proximity to other people -- like on the train, or in a cafe, because (and this is going to sound really nuts, but I am aware that it's nuts and that's how I know I'm sane), I have this irrational discomfort that other people might somehow know what I'm thinking. It's not that I believe people can read my mind -- I know, rationally that they cannot, but I am still irrationally embarrassed. I do make up stories on my long walks, but never on a bicycle, and if I drove certainly not in a car. The reason for these prohibitions is that I become so lost in my stories that I often find I've walked all the way home and don't even remember the walk -- imagine dangerous that would be driving!

Ever since I was a very little kid, though, I've had one consistent story for long car rides: a girl who can run the speed of the car on the freeway and leap the highes obstacles along the roadside. She entertained me for hours as I watched her running and leaping along side the car, and even now, on really long drives (though I rarely am in a car), I find myself imagining her, looking as she did when I was 5 years old, running with us.

I do something similar, but it's me stepping over crossroads and buildings and other obstacles. If there isn't anything along the road - on long stretches of interstate - then I jump over the dashes separating the lanes - or sometimes I make a game of stepping on those reflectors in the middle of every other dash separating the lanes.

 

[thestrangequark]

^I think the moral is that we're all a bit mad.

 

[Nick086]

I think of many things before I go to bed right now. I need to do my American History paper, I need to study for my Human Biology Test, I want to buy those two shirts I saw at Express, and I wonder how much money I have on that suprise cash card.

 

[auntiehill]

Wow! You win the prize. I prefer to do it with my eyes shut (blocking out my RL surroundings tends to help me concentrate and also makes the story more vivid and 'real' to me) so generally only do it as I'm going to sleep at night. Although sometimes on a day I can sleep in, I might lie in bed for a while in the morning and treat myself to some more time with my story.

I have tried doing it in the car while sitting in traffic as a way of passing the time (in Atlanta, we spend a LOT of time sitting in traffic), but it doesn't work nearly as well. Telling myself a story about one 'world' while my eyes are seeing the grim reality of bumper-to-bumper gridlock on an Atlanta freeway just doesn't seem to 'mesh' very well, I guess.

I wish I could do it in more places...but at night in the dark, it is much easier to put myself mentally into that setting in a very 3D way....and I end up with a lot fewer 'takes' on any one scene I'm into at the moment if I'm really 'in' the universe.

auntiehill, can you do it with just as much 'vividness' when you are doing all those other things as when you are going to sleep at night? Or do you just work on easier pieces when you are multitasking with real life?

Actually, at night it can be a problem, because I will be so into whatever scene I'm imagining, that it will keep me awake for quite awhile. If I'm in the car or in the shower, I find it fairly easy to come up with scenes and dialogue--I guess any time when my body is on "autopilot"---but that's probably not a great thing while driving. If I'm around people, it's not hard if I don't know them, say, at an airport, for instance. I find it very hard, though, to get too involved if hubby or someone else I know is watching me.

The best time for me is when I'm home alone, listening to music. Then, I'm completely off in my own little world.

For example, on the way home from a birthday party tonight, hubby was very tired, and so wasn't talking. We were headed home, and the radio was on, it was dark, so I immediately flashed into this scene with two buddies (from a fandom I used to like) and they're having a conversation. I saw them in my head, heard what they said, saw their facial expressions, and even decided how I would describe it if I were to ever write it out.

I am my own entertainment system.

It's always a fictional character, though--from TV, movies, or a book. I never make up stories about me---but I suppose I identify with some aspect of the characters I'm always thinking about.

 

[PKTrekGirl]

^I think the moral is that we're all a bit mad.

I don't know about 'mad' ...but do have to wonder if this 'habit' is one that attracts some of us who are generally pretty creative people - writers, artists, etc. Even if on an amateur level.

Because it's more than just the need to get to sleep that drives this - at least for me. In fact, it's one of my almost necessary creative outlets, I think. Sometimes, I play a particular scene 2 or 3 (or more) times in my head as I'm lying there, tweaking it to make it better each time, make it flow better, make it a better setup for the ending I want. I am very particular about my dialog - if a character 'says' something that sounds lame, I reboot the conversation and try again.

But why the need for perfection? I have no idea. I mean, it's not like anyone but me is ever going to 'see' this thing.

But I'm driven to perfect the thing, nonetheless - tweaking the dialog, the flow of the conversation between characters. Even the 'set' - what room a conversation takes place in - must be right. Because you know, there IS a right room for every conversation! And man, do I have an extensive - and exceptionally awesome - backlot! Everything from the beach camp in LOST to a fabulous winery in the Napa Valley to a Nob Hill mansion (I love the San Francisco area, btw), to a plane crash in bush Alaska, to a 90's grunge club in Seattle to that beautiful country home in Remains of the Day, to a house on Minbar (Babylon 5) to the castle and neighboring gardens in Himeji, Japan. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Himeji_Castle ). I guess it really helps to have traveled alot, huh? But yep...I've got an awesome backlot all right!

It's craziness. But very comforting craziness, I guess.

Interesting that some of you guys have these fairly simple running, skipping, jumping stories. I'm actually a runner IRL, and I don't have those. No....my stories look alot more like Merchant-Ivory Productions than anything else. My stories are WAY big budget.