I was reading through some of the postings and noticed that Sid is a George Carlin fan. This gave me the idea to share with you an idea that has been bothering me for some time now. I’m also a huge Carlin fan, I have most of his shows on CD and I also have his book he wrote a few years ago. In his book he mentions the simple idea of sleep and how we take it for granted that it is actually simple. In his words “For the next several hours, while the sun is gone, I’m going to become unconscious temporarily losing command of everything I know and understand. When the sun returns, I will resume my life.” Very true, but also quite scary. This is his idea, not mine, but I’d like to, if I may, express my feelings on the matter.

“Losing command” That scares the shit out of me. Anyone who knows me, knows that I don’t sleep too often, and this idea isn’t helping one bit. Who knows what happens in those hours when we’re dreaming? I once had a dream that I stood on my bed and actually removed the window above it. When I woke up, the picture that actually hangs above my bed was on the floor. The dream seemed so real, but it WAS real, but at the same time it was just a dream. Nothing I could have done to prevent myself from moving the picture, I was unconscious. It scares me to think of what I’m capable of doing when I’m asleep. And so, I don’t sleep.

I saw a news story once that told of a University student who was sleepwalking. While he was asleep, he left his residence (I think he went to Western in London) drove to Mississauga (1.5 hour drive) to his aunt and uncles house, stabbed his uncle to death, strangled his aunt, then drove home. He woke up while driving back, saw the blood on his hands and drove himself to a police station. I know that consciously, I wouldn’t be able to kill anything. Even subconsciously I feel safe in saying the same. But UNconsciously, can anybody really know what they’re capable of? I wonder who was more frightened, the aunt and uncle, or the student?

I would rather never sleep again, or never wake up again. By never sleeping, there’s no chance of doing any harm to anyone. By never waking up, there’s no chance of taking responsibility for what you did while you were sleeping. Maybe I’m paranoid but so far I’ve been choosing to avoid sleep. Also, when I sleep I think I miss too much.