Dear J-
Chalk it up as one of my less useful talents, along with remembering scads of trivial trivia and turning off the alarm I selected specifically for its old-school oddness solely by touch, like some robot at 4AM) — I’m able to hold up my side of a conversation while falling asleep. Granted, the answers may make no sense, but it’s not usually until the words start to slur together that the other person realizes I’m asleep.
It’s a strange feeling from my side, too, I add in defense. Imagine being trapped in a strange heavy body that you want to be awake, but can’t quite manage to keep alert and aware; unfortunately sleep doesn’t quite steal over me with a gentle touch — it mugs me and claims me for a good few hours of unconsciousness. Apparently, the conversation may not stop after I lose awareness, too, as I apparently readily agree to tasks no one in their right mind should do. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to clean the litterboxes again (only 99,872 times to go!).
Mike
Tags: sleep conversation, slur, talent, tasks, unconscious, words
16 August 2008 at 10:28 am
Dude.
Seriously, it’s a little more expensive, but the convenience factor is huge, and if you multiply that convenience factor benefit x 99,872, it just HAS to make sense, I swear. Henry didn’t have any trouble adopting the new system when we switched boxes on him, unlike the reviewer’s cat “Max”.
As for sleep conversations, Spouse will tell you about an incident one night a couple of years ago – I was in the middle of a lengthy trial and had been burning the candle strongly at both ends for about a week and a half. For the first time in ten or twelve days, I lay down on the couch for a few minutes to watch some trash TV, fell promptly “asleep” and proceeded to tell her over and over again something about “the ribbon guy” – a phrase about which I have no recollection and concerning which I have never been able to even guess the associated meaning.
16 August 2008 at 8:44 pm
Our cats have their separate issues (one will only go on the very front edge of the box; the other must have the world’s largest bladder) that preclude modern devices, not that we’ve tried them in anything but silent contemplation.
I’m sometimes reminded that I’m like some character in a Tintin book — I can’t remember who at the moment, and my Tintin collection is woefully inadequate — something about frightening away burglars through inadvertent sleep talking.
20 August 2008 at 6:02 pm
Hey, at least you’re getting some benefit (security services) from your sleep disorder.
I forgot to mention an incident about a week ago. Huge thunderstorm here one night, and at around two-thirty in the morning, I am told there was a flash of lightning and a simultaneous tremendous crash of thunder. Evidently, I leapt out of bed, stood straight up in the middle of the room, said “What? What?”, spun around three or four times, then lay back down and immediately returned to a deep sleep. I have no memory whatsoever of this happening.
20 August 2008 at 7:23 pm
This whole sleep talking thing would be far more amusing if I could see/remember it. Sadly, it sounds like I’m much more impressive when asleep than awake.