The Old Hag

A few nights ago, I had a very unsavory experience...



I was tossing and turning all night. I kept falling in and out of sleep. I just couldn't get comfortable. Well finally I had been asleep for some good amount of time, when I woke up suddenly. I opened my eyes, but I couldn't move. My eyes focused past my feet, towards the door to my bedroom, where an old woman was standing. She was fairly tall for her age (maybe 5'7" or so), had mangled gray hair, and was wearing a long tattered, brown, monk-like dress with the hood up. She had a long crooked nose (think: your typical "witch") and appeared to be in her 60s or 70s. I believe she was also carrying a large walking stick or cane.

I was terrified. I tried to move, but I was paralyzed. Even worse than that, I wanted to scream, but nothing came out. I was able to separate my lips slightly, and tried with everything in me to scream and wake up everyone around me, but nothing. I closed my eyes and when I was able to move again, she was gone.

I believe I experienced my first bout of sleep paralysis. Or perhaps it was just a very vivid dream. Most likely it had to do with my weaving in and out of consciousness as I struggled to sleep. Either way, it frightened me pretty bad.

I typed in "Sleep paralysis old hag" and there seems to be plenty of relevant sites. The only problem is, I never felt like someone was sitting on my chest. And I actually witnessed the old hag, rather than just assuming she was there. Also, contrary to being frightened, I didn't feel this woman was "out to get me". It was more of a "whoa, wtf is she doing in my room!?" combined with the terror of being unable to move.

Sleep paralysis is a condition in which someone about to fall asleep, or just upon waking from sleep, realizes that they are unable to move or speak, but can still breathe and move their eyes...Your conscious mind has begun to drift into sleep but is not yet there, therefore you still retain a small amount of your waking conscious. It is a very transitory stage indeed, and one that seems to leave you "open" to certain experiences you would not otherwise be receptive to when fully conscious or fully asleep. It is also accepted by most researchers that although this can happen in any sleeping position, it most commonly occurs in the supine position (laying on your back).

Once the person realizes they are unable to move, they usually, but not always, leave this "twilight" stage and become fully awake, but still paralyzed. At this point the experience can go either way. The person may only experience a temporary paralysis, and after several seconds or up to a minute or so would then regain their movement and the event would be over. Researchers believe many people experience this at one point in their lives.

But the other scenario is much more frightening. Upon realizing one is paralyzed, a whole gamut of hallucinations may occur. Many people report hearing, seeing, and/or sensing a person or people in the room with them while they are paralyzed. There is also the common experience of a usually sensed, malevolent presence (or SMP). Note that not all sensed presences are felt as being malevolent, but very frequently they are. These SMP's usually seem to be just out of view of the person experiencing the SP, who from here on in I will refer to as the 'subject', for the sole purpose of easily identifying the one experiencing the SP. As a frequent sufferer of sleep paralysis, I know that for me its relatively rare to have an episode complete with the SMP, but it does happen, and when it does, it is terrifying. The SMP is so incredibly intimidating and I feel that this very evil, terrible "thing" is just right outside my field of vision, and if I weren't paralyzed and was able to turn my ahead just an inch or so, I would be able to see this horrid thing. At least, that's the feeling I get, and other sufferer's of SP have reported the same.

Sometimes it is reported that the subject feels crushed, smothered, or pushed into the bed. There are auditory hallucinations as well. A voice or voices may be heard, as well as footsteps. A loud buzzing noise is sometimes reported.

Also, a summary of the medical look at this:

"...it’s the exact opposite of sleep walking. Whilst you sleep the brain releases certain enzymes that paralyze the body, this is to prevent the sleeper from moving around and harming themselves whilst they sleep, in sleep walkers the body does not produce enough of these enzymes, and as such the sleeper is able to act out their dreams. In the case of sleep paralysis the brain at times produces too many of these body paralyzing enzymes and as such the mind sometimes wakes whilst the body remains asleep."

I don't know what to make of all this, or even if I was truly awake and paralyzed or not (but it sure felt like it). But at least I can find some comfort in knowing I'm not alone in this experience.

Acid.

Apparently I blog in twos? Haha. Well either way, I felt this quote deserved its own special post. I can't remember where I first heard this, but I saw it again yesterday and instantly recognized it.



"Today a young man on acid realized that all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration, that we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively, there is no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and we are the imagination of ourselves. Here's Tom with the Weather."
— Comedian : Bill Hicks

Morning Time

So I spent way too long developing a playlist on Grooveshark, but I'm pretty happy with it and I absolutely love this website (so thank you, Basia). If you have a quirky taste in alternative/rock music, feel free to check out the playlist. I developed it to have more to listen to while chilling it the a-p-t, but now I feel like I'm going to have to download a lot of those songs so I can take them with me on my ipod haha.

I signed up for classes yesterday.

Summer:

SSC F306

STATISTICS IN MARKET ANALYSIS

UTC

1.104

MTWTHF

10:00-11:30

Now I'm a bit confused about my summer class, I must admit. I'm going to have to call the office for help, haha. I read online that there are 3 kinds of summer classes... 1st term, 2nd term, and then ones that last for both terms. How am I supposed to know which kind I'm registered for? I'm really hoping this is a first-term only thing, because it would REALLY suck to be in class from June 3rd -- Aug 15th, or whatever it is. I feel like vacation would be really nice.


Fall:

ADV 344K	ADVERTISING RESEARCH	UTC BUR	3.132 228	MWF T	11:00-12:00 6:00- 7:00P
ADV 345J	ADVERTISING MEDIA PLANNING	CMA GAR	A2.320 1.126	MWF M	12:00- 1:00P 1:00- 2:00P
MAN 320F	FOUNDS OF ORG BEHAV AND ADMIN	UTC	2.112A	MW	9:30-11:00
MIS 302F	INTRO TO INFO TECHNOLOGY MGMT	UTC	2.112A	TTH	11:00-12:30P

I know that's only 12 hours, but I just couldn't find any other classes I need to sign up for right now. Either I don't have the correct pre-reqs (read: Statistics, hello summerschool) or the class was already full. Lame. Oh well, I'm sure it'll get sorted out on drop day....


ALSO,

It kind of kills me, because I think 45 was a very attractive number, but I realized there was at least one (if not more) restaurants that deserved to be added to "the list" :). I think I'm going to write them out all on paper and then put them in a jar and it'll be like a raffle next time I feel financially stable enough to eat out hahaha.

46. Juan in a Million

Instead of Making the Last Post Longer...

I thought I'd just say it right here. Sorry to my dear, imaginary readers for the rambling on the last blog. I know it is long and incoherent and probably boring.

But that's okay, right?

Haha.

My First Blog. (Since Xanga).

This is my first official blog, although arguably I blogged incessantly throughout middle school on xanga. Oh my, those were the days. I've been having lots of half-cracked ideas running through my head lately; they especially like to ambush me when I lay down for bed at night. It's like I'm put into an accidental trance... I'm so exhausted that I can't move, yet my mind races. Can't move, can't sleep. I'm hoping that starting this blog will cut down on those situations, since I really am quite a fan of sleep :).




Random picture of Dixie looking innocent. Haha. ;)


I've recently decided to get out of my "Chili's" routine every time I go out to dinner. It's my fall-back restaurant, and it's starting to get boring (especially with so many local places around). So it has become my new mission to slowly but surely try out a list of restaurants in Austin. I emphasize SLOWLY, because I usually go out to eat less than twice a month.

Here is the list:
1. Threadgill's
2. Chuy's
3. Guero's
4. Alamo Drafthouse
5. Opal Divine's
6. Kerby Lane
7. Salvation Pizza
8. Magnolia Cafe
9. The Clay Pit
10. Madam Mam's
11. Cain & Abel's
12. Plucker's
13. Cuatro's
14. The Salt Lick
15. Fogo de Chao (ok, so not local, but I've still been wanting to try it!)
16. Estancia's
17. El Arroyos
18. Iron Cactus
19. South Congress Cafe
20. Roaring Fork
21. EZ's Diner
22. Huts Hamburgers
23. Dan's Hamburgers
24. Fran's Hamburgers -- Dan and Fran were actually married for a few decades, before getting divorced and opening competing hamburger joints!
25. Reds
26. Doc's
27. Stubb's BBQ
28. Spiderhouse
29. Sao Paolo's
30. Hyde Park Bar & Grill
31. Mother's
32. Romeo's
33. Russell's
34. Hula Hut
35. Oasis
36. Torchy's Tacos
37. Bone Daddy's
38. Z Tejas
39. Casino El Camino
40. County Line
41. Cover 3
42. Third Base
43. The Boiling Pot
44. The Mellow Mushroom
45. Home Slice Pizza


Ok, so I fudged the list a little bit. I've actually been to a few of these places (although they're on the list because I definitely want to go at least one more time).

I might as well give a quick review of the places I've already been to. What is this, now? Am I blogging restaurant reviews from now on? Oh well. *shrug

OPAL DIVINE'S: Amazing, amazing, amazing. Okay, so I'm talking about the alcohol selection here. Over 25 imported draught beers. 40+ types of tequila. This place has THE largest drink selection I've seen from a restaurant, ever. I think they boast 100+ beers on tap, but don't quote me on that. I began with the Live Oak Primus (on tap, of course). It was a dark, rich beer. Delicious, but definitely packs a punch to the taste buds. The menu hinted at tastes of "clove and banana". Unfortunately my descriptions of beer lack complexity :(... but I can tell you at 8% alcohol, I definitely felt "happy" after finishing my first one.

Side note: Live oak is a local brewery that is too small to bottle their drinks, but they've acquired land a little further out from the city and have plans to expand in a few years. And from then on, will commence bottling! :D. Overjoyed. I worship the Live Oak company and their mastery of crafting beers.

Kay, back to the restaurant. Has a great atmosphere. I went at night and the inside of the restaurant was fairly dim, which created a sense of intimacy... and a promising place to take a date. Very relaxed and trendy -- two things that typically don't correlate well. I ordered myself a tuna melt -- which was good but somewhat forgettable -- and a side of homestyle macaroni and cheese, which was incredibly awesome. After that, ordered a 512 Pecan Porter (another local company). Although I haven't tried many porters, I was attracted to the promise of local pecan-infused flavor. It was dark and delicious, despite smelling oddly like the Arabic supermarket. Smelled like olives to me for some reason, haha. But tasted like dark chocolate and pecans. It was smoother and easier to drink than the Primus, although the Primus still ranks higher in my opinion.

I ordered apple cobbler, but unfortunately realized I was completely full as soon as it arrived at the table. I had to force myself to take a bite, just to try it fresh, before quickly shoving it into a to-go box.



My decent tuna melt, excellent macaroni, and my 512 Pecan Porter :)



Daniel enjoying his Devil's Backbone Three Ridges Belgian Triple. It's a mouthful (pun intended, har har).



Anyways, moving on....

Reggae fest was awesome this weekend, although I wish I could have spent more time there. A couple hours really wasn't enough for me. But I'm really glad we went ahead and brought those folding chairs... it was nice to have somewhere to sit other than muddy ground! I WOULD have had longer to enjoy it, had I not spent a good portion of my morning waiting for a friend who decided never to show up, without much explanation. And definitely with no apology.

This is a short video I got of a mustached man dancing in the mud. He danced for HOURS. I wish I had the energy that this guy has hahahha. Unfortunately I caught a clip of him when he wasn't as into the dancing as he'd been previously, but at least it gives you an idea of the Reggae Fest atmosphere!