The Most Extreme Lights in the Neighborhood

I don't really want to write another tribute to my mom tonight - well, I do, but I think it would be redundant, and very much less than brilliant, given the current state of my sleep-starved brain.

For the same reason, I won't attempt to write anything deep and philosophical about the human brain tonight [Oh, yeah? I think I just did!], except to point out one weird thing I've noticed. When I'm really really tired, I can't concentrate, partly because all I can think about is how tired I am, and partly because the barrier between conscious and subconscious grows weaker, and weird thoughts and ideas and impressions start to surface - almost little dreams. I think what the brain is basically doing is misfiring a bit, and making odd connections that have little to do with logic. This is good for the creativity, but not so good for allocating QCs. And no, I'm not going to explain that.

I'm finding it hard to write about this. As I told one of my friends in IM tonight:

Mavarin: I'm trying to write about what my brain does when I'm really tired. But it's hard, because I'm really tired, but not quite tired enough.
Mavarin: So I've got the poor concentration, but not the subconscious breaking through.
Friend: get tireder

The result of all this is that up to a point, my brain rewards me for not sleeping by throwing up neat ideas and weirdness, and maybe helping me a little bit with the fiction. But that's probably an illusion, because what the brain giveth, it also taketh away. My terrible typing skills get even worse, and I'm less able to notice the errors. From there it's but a short step to collapse, and I just have to go the heck to bed.

But I'm not quite there yet. I'm not getting the half-dreaming thing, and I'm curious to see whether I can do anything with that state of mind, and write something interesting - or at least get some editing in. Since this entry is going to be finished several hours before my usual 1 AM posting time, tonight will be a good chance to at least try to get some work in on Heirs. And if my brain can't cope with that, I'll see what it can do.

And then I'll sleep until 2 PM tomorrow.

Kids, don't try this. But if you do, try this at home. You will notice that I'm not at work, not driving, and not operating heavy machinery. And yes, I know I need to start getting more sleep. I fully intend to do so. No, really. I mean it this time. Then again, I always mean it. I just have to follow through.

And no, I'm not on drugs, either, unless you count the daily dose of Nasonex and Benedryl at bedtime, or the moderate amounts of non-coffeenated caffeine earlier in the day.

Yes, I did mean to type that. I hate coffee.

It is perhaps a measure of how tired I am that I don't have a punchline to end this entry. Perhaps that's the answer to my little experiment.

Or maybe I'm not quite sleepy enough yet...!

Karen

[The self-portait photos above are from a past Round Robin Photo Challenge, on the theme of "Secrets." Just in case you were wondering.]

Result:

I actually woke up for a while, but now my eyes keep closing. I simply must go to bed, much earlier than usual. I've made it to page 240 of Heirs, though.

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Oh, and I totally forgot that I titled this entry to reflect what was originally going to be a quick and easy posting of photos from the largest display of Christmas lights in our neighborhood. I got sidetracked with my brain rant and decided to put off the Christmas pictures until tomorrow, while neglecting to change the title. Oops! Having explained all that, I will now post the pictures anyway.

It doesn't look all that extreme, does it? Well, maybe it does. But this is just the leading edge of it.

The big thing about this display - and I do mean big - is the gigantic tree in the front yard. The lights are on it all year, but they're only lit at Christmas.

I can't get the whole thing in one photo, but this comes close.

Another attempt. Well, you get the idea. This is not the best display in the area, just the largest.

I'll have more Christmas lights in at least one entry, sometime in the next week or so.

K.