Fun With Insomnia Blog

The cause may seem self evident, but by in large I disagree with your premise. The appeal to this insomniac is a place to let you mind race in the hopes that it will idle down. Oddly enough I’ll also assert some of the crappiest diners also have some of the best coffee, burnt to perfection at times, genuinely quality stuff much less frequently but it does happen. It’s not the coffee keeping me up, it’s everything else I was thinking about before I even considered the destination. Meeting people and discussing ideas is not only good intra personal practice, on occasion you even meet that perfect stranger that just changes your perception of reality. scratch that, more frequently than not. Weather for the good, bad or indifferent at the very least it’s a good place to people watch and self evaluate. On occasion it’s actually relieved my insomnia, either by way of burning out my neurons by way of over stimulation (coffee and or conversation), or by allowing me to self actualize whatever the hell is bothering me. But don’t take my word for it, give it a go yourself next time you run into a bout. It’s either that or smack as far as I’m concerned… just kidding… maybe…

I suppose you could do that who clinical evaluation, “therapy”, head drugs, blah, blah, etc. but if you didn’t know I’m not the biggest fan. It has it’s place for those with genuine physiological problems, but for the mass majority of us I think it’s our own actions, reactions, attitudes and the like that may even cause some of those physiological issues. If it hasn’t got to that point … it is in fact all in your head. Think about it.

It’s amazing how many pills we as a nation ingest, my fellow insomniacs being part of the problem. I do so assert that it’s a problem because the quality of life enjoyed by Asian Monks seems, at least from a distance, to be much higher. The human race has survived for thousands of years without this wonderful cacophony of manufactured drugs and daily boosts of vitamins and the like. Why do we feel the need to pop pills? It’s the pillz effect I believe or the placebo effect. Countless studies have proven that people who think they are being treated for an illness indeed feel better, if not actually are better than when they began the study. What does this mean? I believe it may simply be a testament to the lack of care, TLC or sense of being important that is part of our culture today. Ego is well defined and is being found to be an essential part of our mental health, which appears to translate directly to our physical health.

In short, take a few pillz in your daily life and see how many fewer pills you think you need. It’s vital to feed you ego regularly, take pride in yourself, smell the roses, enjoy the small things as these directly translate to a longer and more enjoyable stay on this earth. The orient has had this little gem down for some time, isolated tribes still have it down, until we come along with all of our pills to screw it up. In my humble opinion.

I’m a bit of a talk radio connoisseur, as are many of us that travel cross country on a regular basis. I was introduced to talk radio some eight years ago now, and one of my first found favorites was Coast to Coast AM with Art Bell.

At the time Art was not actually the host but Ian Punnit. Not having heard Art I thought Ian was a fine host (and still do actually). Art returned and I found a certain magic that Ian was lacking (although slightly). Art could take an obvious imbecile or nut-job and live on the air and make the call not only tolerable but enjoyable, even believable when it clearly was not. Later on I got the impression that some of Art’s guests and callers were scripted – which you wouldn’t know if you hadn’t been listening for a substantial period of time.

Art then handed the show over to George Noory, who I did my best to give time and credence to, although always felt he just didn’t quite cut the mustard (not for lack of trying). My issue with George is that he suffers no fools, which frankly the supernatural, alien, Bigfoot, conspiracy circles are chock full of. Although I appreciate his earnest search for the truth, he almost always comes off as that empirical scientist who cuts and explanation short simply because it does not fall into conventional thinking.

I have always considered Coast to Coast to be an odyssey of the mind for my insomnia and other insomniacs. Although we all yearn to find the definitive proof of the above cornucopia of what are currently considered pseudo sciences, the fun at midnight is sorting out the riffraff and grifters.

My advice to George: Take a page from Art’s play book – listen, then respond in a way to intrigue the audience, instead of quashing all hopes at the first sign of shenanigans. Maybe even consider allowing a script every now and again (wink).

I recently traveled through western Montana, and to my relief it was just as beautiful as I remember. Definitely not my choice for a winter retreat as I’m adverse to the cold, but to those that crave that kind of weather it would be a delight. Regardless of your temperature preference I find it difficult to choose a more scenic and peaceful place in the country than the north west in a general sense. I’m a bit of a rock buff, so that does slant my opinion I’m sure but it’s hard to deny the grandeur that the tectonic plates have produced. Just driving over the mountains gives you a dramatic shift in temperature and precipitation.

Gambling is legal there, if you’re into that. I saw a lot of video casino’s which are definitely not my cup of tea, I prefer physical card games. Of which there are most assuredly some, but were not the dominating game of choice.

Rock climbing should be one of the states main attractions, the limestone walls of the Rocky Mountains are located in the central part of the state, Montana’s hands off personal responsibility roots offer plenty of freedom allowing you to get yourself into limitless trouble.

Montana also has a plethora of historic interests from dinosaur bones to the colonization of the west. The state is also the natural habitat of many animals not seen throughout much the rest of the country. Some of the highlights being antelope, elk, black bears, grizzly bears as well as a number of unusual and migratory birds.

I’m not a good enough author to even begin to due the state justice in these few short words, and honestly I’m somewhat disappointed with the states official sites. My best advice would be to visit, and plan on staying a week, minimum.

I don’t know about the rest of you but I’m tired of politicians making promises they can’t keep regarding things they shouldn’t have their hands in to begin with.

If indeed you are with me on this, my question to you is what will it take for YOU to get off your butt, get out of the house and actually physically get to you polling place and VOTE these two faced, slimy good for nothing so called public servants out?

We now have early voting, absentee voting along with a plethora of other options from voter turnout groups that will actually transport you to your polling place if you so desire.

My primary point is this. I’m a patriot, through and through. I genuinely hoped this election cycle with such a massive response to the $700 Billion bail out bill (which we overwhelmingly opposed and they passed anyway) that enough Americans had sat up and took notice of the one party system which we have been living under at least since Vietnam that we would actually do something about it. The Green Party and Libertarian Party are viable alternatives that would at a minimum give us some diversity of opinion on the hill. I’m sorry but if more of us do not become more informed and participate in this great political system we have we may just loose it. All those great Americans that fought and lost their lives to ensure our liberty may have indeed done so in vain.

Get up, vote! Vote for anyone but the incumbent, vote for anyone but a Republican or Democrat! Vote Mickey Mouse in for crying out loud but we need real change, less government not more. If you doubt my point ask yourself what have they done for you lately? Really? Tax rebates? Giving you your own money is not an accomplishment.

I loose sleep over it I tell you. I’m not an insomniac entirely by my own virtue.

Bill O’Reilly is anything but no-spin. I enjoy the guy just because he is much more fair and balanced than many other right wing nut-jobs that claim to be. He did a great interview with Obama here before the election which I do respect, but the slant with which he attacks some of the issues he chooses to comment on is undeniable.

I must say, the way he frames things to make a point is rather excellent, as with most talking heads but similarly disingenuous. In his most recent column O’Reilly states that Obama’s pole numbers have steadily risen since the economic meltdown. This was true until recently when Obama’s lead has dropped from as high as 8 points to as low as 3 depending on the pole, but the column is indeed dated after this most recent decline in margin.

The rest of the article is spot on save a few points of conjecture, but this is just one example of how the talking heads skew their arguments. The best lie is 99.99% truth and the spinners are masters of this fact. Like I say, at least his percentage is that high.

The point here is simply to remind listeners and voters alike to check the facts when they find themselves agreeing with any of these propagandists just a little too much. This goes for the left as well as the right.

I apologize for waxing political, but this stuff does keep me up at night. I’m not an insomniac entirely by choice and I worry about the future of our country when these spin masters are influencing the vast majority of public opinion.