I've been sleeping better lately, thank you, but for times when I don't I've invented a couple of games to put myself to sleep. Mostly it's ways of keeping my mind occupied with non-stressful things -- otherwise I just sit in the dark stewing and adding people to my shit list (see prior entry -- chris, can I link to prior entries somehow?).
Anyway, I find counting sheep WAY too complicated -- I have a really hard time visualizing the fence and grass and stuff, and if I'm not careful my mind will start playing tricks with me and a sheep will miss its jump and impail itself on a picket -- not relaxing, you know?
So here are a couple of things I've done to put myself to sleep:
Saying the alphabet backwards. I find this pretty hard.
Sexing the alphabet: this involves going through the alphabet and assigning a gender to each letter. This was really interesting, yet sleep-inducing, to me the first 20 times I did it.
Sexing the numbers: Assigning a gender to each number. This is hard -- each number, for me, anyway, can easily be male or female.
Categorizing things by color: thinking of all the things I can that are one color or another. This is a lot like a kid's book, but is still harder than it sounds. I end up cheating and it will go like this: "trees, peas, pistacio ice cream, green tea, green book, green socks, green car ..."
Saying a fruit or vegetable for every letter of the alphabet. This has been my latest game and honestly, I don't think I've made it past "G" -- this is how well I've been sleeping lately!
I am really curious about other people's games to put themselves to sleep. I'm sure there's a book of them (or should be): "Counting Sheep and Other Somnialisms" or here's a better word: spmnialis "dream bringing" unfortunately I only find it on one website and it's not in my dictionary. It's LATIN.
my god, do you actually post here every day? I can see my daily productivity taking a turn for the worse.
cuz
Commenting on my own blog again, but I liked this animation of the evolution of alphabets which I saw linked on memepool:
http://www.wam.umd.edu/~rfradkin/alphapage.html
If for some reason I can't read or watch TV (like I'm sleeping with someone in the room), which is what I usually to do lull my brain to sleep, then sometimes I imagine I'm at a flea market and I'm looking over the tables imagining each object on the table.
that's a nice one, Kathy.
I remembered another of the things I do (because I've been doing it lately): I try to spell everything I think. This kind of slows down my thoughts a bit, esp. as I'm not a great speller.
One time I drank the alphabet. You know, 'A'=Absynthe, 'B'=Burbon, etc. I wasn't trying to go to sleep, but I did - I didn't even make it past 'M'.
maybe I could add this concept to the Everclear Cocktain Starter kit idea? you could get the alphebet set, which would have an essence for every letter of the alphabet. What is "m" anyway -- Midori? Hmm.
sometimes i try to remember in detail places i've travelled, or apartments i used to live in, but usually my mind gets sidetracked after a little while and i wind up thinking about something else and not falling asleep any faster anyway.
i clear my mind and concentrate on gentle motion, like swinging, or waves. then anything i think about becomes exaggerated, its hard to explain. then im asleep.
WHEN I WAS 3 OR 4 YEARS OLD, I ASSIGNED A GENDER TO THE ALPHABET AND THE NUMBERS. IT WAS AS IF THEY ALREADY HAD A GENDER. IT SOUNDS STRANGE BUT 44 YEARS LATER LETTERS AND NUMBERS STILL HAVE A GENDER LOOK TO THEM.
I masterbate! try it!