Somnography of Somniloquy - Dandan's Sleeptalk

Oh yeah, this thing

2010-02-25T14:44:00.001-08:00

Hey,

I didn't exactly forget about this. I think about it every morning, pretty much. For some reason, I remember this being a hassle to keep up. But it's not. So here I am. (I guess it helps that I sort of have news)

I haven't been recording my sleep too much the past year. Every once in a month. I recorded maybe a dozen nights since last April. I got so caught up in living, then depression, then re-learning living, then...well, now I have no excuse.

I had surgery last Wednesday. Septoplasty and turbinate reduction. As you know, I snore; this wasn't about that though. I had a deviated septum and my left side was quite often stuffed up. I went to my trusty ENT and he looked up there. Swollen shut. He looked up my left Eustachian tube. Totally swollen shut. This explained the weird ear pressure issues I've had for...who knows how long--15 years or more? I'm a chronic yawner/ear popper, and this is why.

So I opted for surgery. So far, I think it's been the right choice. I'm still swollen a little from the surgery, and I still have scab tissue that hasn't shed. So we'll see.

One interesting side effect: I'm taking vicodin for the pain, and I've been having SUPER CRAZY WEIRD dreams...which I enjoy. Also, my girlfriend kept telling me that I was laughing in my sleep. Now, this isn't really a surprise, because I've ALWAYS laughed in my sleep. But she told me it was creepy. So, what's a boy to do but to fire up the Cool Edit Pro v1.2 and see what the hubbub is all about.

So........this is last night. Hee hee.

24 Feb 2010 - Laugh, then mumble

24 Feb 2010 - "D'you try it?"

24 Feb 2010 - "Kiwi groupie, meow!"

Two month recording hiatus

2008-10-06T14:01:00.000-07:00

Hey errybody,

In one week, I'll be on an aeroplane, pointed toward Delhi, India. I'm working on a travel show for public television called TravelScope. I've been helping them out with post production stuff here and there since March, but this will be my first foray into location sound recording for them. The show is currently shooting the third season, and I'm very excited to be a part of the India trip. Three whole weeks in India!

Since I'll be traveling, I probably won't be able to do any sleep recording, although I will have all the necessary equipment to do so....we'll see. A traveling somniloquy feature might be really fun!

A week after I get back from India, We're going out again to shoot in Guatemala for two weeks. When I get back from all that, I'll try to post a big travel story, with pictures, and maybe some sounds.

In the meantime, here are some recordings from earlier in the year. Bon chance, y'all!

14 May 2008 - "...Nymph: A series of lies"

08 Jun 2008 - "Interface numbers"

17 Jun 2008 - "Pretty tight, straight up and down...ten feet"

<3 Dan

A Family Affair, Part 2

2008-09-19T19:24:00.000-07:00

Last night was Ellen's last night staying with me. Boo-hoo! We had a lot of fun during her stay, and it seems awfully short.
She said just one more thing in her sleep, but we can't agree on what it was. If you can figure it out, please leave a comment with your interpretation.

18 Sep 2008 - "Choose your own translation"

<3
Dan (and Ellen!)

A Family Affair, Part 1

2008-09-18T12:21:00.001-07:00

My sister is staying with me this week, and I lent her my bed while she's here. It's more comfortable than the futon in the office, which is where I'm sleeping (quite well, actually--it's also where the A/C is!)

She asked me to record her sleep each night, because she told me she also talks in her sleep! And boy, does she!

16 Sep 2008 - "The wedding"

17 Sep 2008 - "Take your trailer to lunch with you?"

The Beard Blog

2008-08-12T14:43:00.000-07:00

This blog seems to be less and less about sleeptalk, and more about beardtalk.

...which I just shaved off last week. I left the mustache.

There's been a very mixed response--from "awesome," to "you look like a train conductor," to "ew."

Luckily, I only really care about one opinion. It was my decision, and it's helping me through a semi-tough time. You're welcome to your own opinions, and don't worry about sharing with or offending me. It's just not going to change anything. The 'stache stays.

14 Jun 2008 - "Ever tried so hard?"

13 Jun 2008 - "What you doin' over there?"

13 Jun 2008 - "That sounds exciting"

<3 Dandan

I have very little to say, aside from...

2008-05-10T02:56:00.000-07:00

...I'm back!

08 May 2008 - Singing!

08 May 2008 - "Ride on, barely!"

08 May 2008 - "Oh, silly"

All in one night. Yus.

I love my friends

2007-12-23T11:00:00.000-08:00

I decided not to make holiday cards this year, mainly because I'm lazy, and also because I didn't really have the inspiration to come up with a clever card photo. Although, Monkey Adams almost ended up as my santa hat model. But then, I'd have to make a mini santa hat. I did take the five minutes to do this in photoshop, though:

...but that doesn't mean I'm not thinking of all my lovely friends, old and new.

I hope you all have a happy, safe, warm, sexy, contented, hibernative, spine-tingling holiday season (depending on what you're into.)

Even if I don't know you.

01 Jul 2007 - "Bongle"

♥

I'm growing my beard out again

2007-12-20T02:23:00.000-08:00

A person in my life who has recently gained abundant influence, suggested I grow back my beard. Thus, I have begun as such. I'm getting pretty gruff-looking.

07 Jul 2007 - "Beards, candid"

Better watch out, ladies. And men, I suppose.

19 Jul 2007 - "Simple margan"

How my moods swing

2007-12-19T22:24:00.000-08:00

Lately, I've been feeling a mix of this:

13 Jul 2006 - "Not help me"

and this:

21 Jul 2006 - "Get down, yer stuff"

But mostly, everything just kind of feels like this:

10 Jul 2006 - Speaking In Tongues

We are not alone

2007-12-09T04:45:00.000-08:00

I always assumed I wasn't the only one, but the last time I checked, I couldn't really find anyone else who recorded their sleep and posted it on the Internet. But they found me. I must've been sleeping under a rock all this time (quite a possibility...)

So, out of respect for mutual insanity, I post these links to my sleep-talking brethren:

Evangelical Enthusiast Extraordinaire - Make of this what you will. Delve deep before you form your opinion.
Sleep Talking On The Mic - Direct from England! (apparently)

These two kind gents have posted lovely links to my blog, and for that, I thank them deeply.

While I appear to be the "original" somniloquy recorder (Mr. Matthew James has been posting for longer), these fellows somehow find the time to post WAY more often than I do, and for this dedication I offer them my respect. Lots.

Now, if you'll pardon me, I must sleep so I might finish my music video proposal for Oglio Records.

<3

Delirious mornings

2007-11-13T13:35:00.000-08:00

The past few mornings have been strange and non-standard. Not for any reason, other than maybe I'm not sleeping much. Maybe it's diet related?

Anyway, the other morning, my cell phone alarm went off at 11am to remind me of something I had to do. I was so delirious when it went off, I started sort of talk/singing along to the tune. I should note, I was awake when this happened. I remember the alarm going off, but I do not remember doing what you're about to hear. It's important for me to say though, that this doesn't qualify as sleeptalk in my mind.

09 Nov 2007 - Alarm Delirium

Even my somniloquizing mind seems confused lately!

11 Nov 2007 - "Doesn't make any sense"

And just for kicks, here's an old one I just rediscovered.

17 Jan 2005 - "Half-naked party with waving flag"

Happy-Go-Sleepy

2007-11-08T01:05:00.000-08:00

I barely spoke in my sleep the past month. Am I too happy since I'm not working anymore? Am I too drugged?

What am I?

I spoke last night.

06 Nov 2007 - "Can't drink it anymore"
:]

I've been trying to remember my dreams more in the mornings, for the other blog I'm contributing to, but I have the HARDEST TIME remembering anything! I even have the extra benefit of having a microphone next to my bed, that's recording in the morning so I could possibly dictate what happened in my dream.

But instead, I sit in bed, think about my dream a bunch, and never say a thing, immediately falling back asleep. Then I forget.

My short-term memory has always been awful--since early childhood. I can never remember people's names when they are first introduced to me unless I make up some sort of mind trick to connect them. Faces too. I'm not the "I never forget a face" guy. I never remember anything. Events too.

Sometimes I wonder if there's a connection between my recent lack of sleeptalk and my apparent inability to talk when I wake up in the morning.

Yeah, too drugged.

Uh...quarterly update?

2007-10-02T01:42:00.000-07:00

Wow, so it's been three months. Here's a quick condensed update:

My last sleep study was successful--I spoke a couple times in my sleep and they captured it. Other than a PET scan a couple weeks later, I haven't heard anything from them. Also, one of my friends is getting the same sleep study tomorrow night. Wish you luck, JT!

I and my job parted in early September. I am not in the business of actively looking for a new one (sorta...)
One would expect this to lead to more free time to work on artistic endeavors, and maybe to more posts to one's blog. You can imagine the actual outcome of all that.

My band, Doom Dong, played a week's worth of shows in mid-September. It was a fantastic time, full of lots of inspired moments, fits of lunacy, and tones of new recordings. It also meant I kind of didn't record a lot of nights of sleep. But I did catch some dooseys!

Since I've been so successful with posting regularly to this blog, [cue the sarcasm fairies] I'm also going to try some contributions to my friend's blog about dreams. You should check it out. At the very least, there's a bunch of other people posting their awesome and bizarre dreams, so it'll definitely be updated more often than this blog.

Just don't stop reading this blog too. :p
I promise to be good. Err, better.

27 Sep 2007 - "Goodby! Goodby! (She Left)"

01 Aug 2007 - "Oh no! What happened?"

21 Jul 2007 - "Herbivorious"

♥

Polysomnography Test #4

2007-07-03T11:38:00.000-07:00

Professional sleep test #4 last night.

Yep, it's been a month filled with sleep tests for this project. The first two tests had less than favorable results, so they decided to try to test in my home. The first night of remote in-home recording didn't go so well, but last night I felt very comfortable with all the wires and the procedure. I wasn't nervous at all.

I had lots of vivid dreams during the night, which makes it seem very promising. And although studies say there's no direct link to dreaming and sleep talking (as somniloquy occurs during both REM and non-REM sleep) I feel like my mind was more active last night, and I think that's good.

In fact, I dreamed about the test! I dreamed that I woke up immediately after talking in my sleep, rejoiced, took note of the time and went back to sleep. When I "woke up," I went to check the audio and video around that time (119 minutes) and was surprised to find there was a water tank or some large body of water outside my bedroom window, and moments before I talked, a man and woman in SCUBA gear were floating outside my window, looking in at me. The weird part of this, other than the obvious, is that in the video, I became aware of their presence and sort of woke up--and that's when I spoke--like, directly into the camera. This is strange, because I do not think of myself as awake when I talk--in my sleep. But I was definitely still asleep--in my dream--just in a different state.

When I actually woke up, I just HAD to check the audio file at 119 minutes, even though I knew it was just a dream. Wishful thinking, I suppose.

--not that I want people in SCUBA gear swimming outside my window anytime soon. Don't be getting any ideas.

I've never videoed myself during sleep talk, and I can't wait to see how my body physically reacts when talking happens. Hopefully, I can gain some level of copyright to the media, so I can display the results here.

Pardon me while I wash the electro-conductive paste from my hair.

♥

10 Jun 2007 - "Looked like it was dangerous"

28 Jun 2007 - "Gumbo"

Sleeptalk Extravaganza (Call me Double-O Sleep)

2007-06-06T13:05:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure how much I'm able to say at this time or how far I am allowed to elaborate, so I'll keep these descriptions vague (what a great way to start a blog entry!)

Last night I went to a sleep disorder center to get my very first professionally-administered polysomnogram. They recorded my brainwaves and cardio, as well as audio, and infrared video. They were specifically interested in catching my sleeptalk, for an upcoming project (the one I'm probably not supposed to talk about.) And the word on the street, as of this morning, is they got something! Tomorrow I find out about when I get my daytime PET scan.

I was so excited last night, driving to the sleep center at 3am, after work. I wasn't sure how or to what they'd hook me up, or if I'd even perform. But the staff was VERY nice and jovial, and they all answered my ridiculous questions with grace and candor. I signed my rights away in some forms, then was put in an isolated room with a bunch of sensors attached to my head, and chest. I was left to sleep until about noon, when the daytime technician came in to gently wake me. I slept most of the night, although there were a couple bouts of sleeplessness, mostly because of my excitement, but also because of nagging neck and back pain. Not to mention, the wires attached to my skull with tape were more than a little itchy.

Tomorrow I'll find to what extent I spoke in my sleep. As all of this transpires, I will continue with updates, all the while hopefully gaining more clearance to talk about why I'm doing this, more detail, etc. Maybe I'll even be granted the rights to display some of the somnogram results on this blog! I can't wait to see it!!!

Since I wasn't home last night to record my sleep (boo hoo), here is something I recorded from a recent night. 'Scuse me while I go wash electro-conductive paste from my face.

02 Jun 2007 - "Oh my goodness!"

Swapping File Servers (hold on to your pocket protectors!)

2007-05-24T13:15:00.000-07:00

I'm letting my old, archaic domain name expire in a few days, so I've moved all the somniloquy media files to my new domain, doomdong.com. [Cue the nerdy techie music and badly done 3D rendered graphics splash screen, and start pumping up the kegs filled with Jolt.]

Please let me know if you find any broken links or other bogus razmataz. Just leave a comment on the offending page, and I'll get right on it.

I've been thinking about revamping the look of my blog--anyone have any ideas or otherwise useful input? My main concern right now, is not everyone is able to listen to the audio files...which basically renders the blog useless ('cause we all know you aren't coming to read this blog for my witty banter.)

On a ranty note, how come there isn't a youtube.com for audio files? I know there are music sites, but none that seem to cater to my needs. Unless y'all know something I don't (which collectively, I wouldn't doubt.) It kind of sucks having to hand-code these pages everytime I want to post an audio file. I think that if there was a better, more automated way of posting the sleep files, I'd be more likely to post regularly. Or maybe it's a GOOD thing I don't post more regularly...Heh.

So here's some sleep stuff of recent vintage. I'm in a talking mood lately, so I've been feeling good each morning. It really helps me keep up my spirits when I find lots of good sleeptalk, and it keeps me from falling behind on my listen-back routine.

...and stuff.

04 May 2007 - "8-and-a-half pounds"

07 Apr 2007 - "Oppity oppy oughta be"

02 Apr 2007 - "Early show rainbow"

Two days, one year, today.

2007-05-12T16:08:00.000-07:00

By the way, this month marks my one year anniversary of active posting.

If you read and like, please show some comment love so I know this isn't just a complete waste of my time. Only partial. :]

Love, Dandan

I LOVE CEREAL

2007-05-12T14:01:00.000-07:00

Those of you who know me, know I have a bit of a love affair with cereal. Actually, those of you who know me may not be aware of this at all. But I absolutely love cereal. I think about it all the time. I even DREAM about it.

For the past year or so, I've been faithful to one cereal: Barbara's Shredded Spoonfuls.

They are like whole wheat versions of Life cereal. They are so good. Just the right sugar content, they soak up the milk at the perfect rate...I can't dole out enough praise for these little squares of sweet joy.

However, sometimes you have to mix it up so you don't get burnt out on one taste. And I always wanted to eat frosted mini-wheats, but they are ALWAYS made with gelatin (even the organic brands), which makes them un-vegetarian, which in turn makes them inedible by my dietary guidelines. Until the day I found this cereal:

Kashi -- get this -- Autumn Wheat

These woven wheaty chunks, while not frosted, make me feel like I'm eating pure jazz. Maybe that's just the power of suggestion from the name. But still! They are grand. Super grand.

Don't get me wrong, they could never replace my current love for the spoonfuls, however they serve their purpose perfectly. It's basically my weekend cereal. I just ate a bowl right now. They are so good.

In other news, I've been mildly depressed lately, because I haven't been saying much in my sleep. I look back at how often I used to sleeptalk back in the day, and it's just no comparison. I blame my meds mostly. Recently, I dropped my dosage (don't worry, it was for reasons other than increasing somniloquy) and the results have been somewhat favorable. This past Thursday night, I spoke 5 times or more! In one night! That's some good stuff. And, while I've been sick a lot lately, I haven't been snoring as much he past few days. If you can imagine the extra amount of work created by my snoring--80 minutes of audio to wade through instead of 15--maybe you will share in my rejoicement.

So here's some of the best of the past few weeks:

12 Apr 2007 - "Somebody's Buddy Buddy"

10 May 2007 - "Can I calieve like this half?"

10 May 2007 - "She knows what she's talkin' about there"

The fabric of our lives

2007-03-13T15:36:00.000-07:00

Here's an oldie from the archive. It was recorded over three years ago, when I lived in Oxnard. The sound quality is lesser than usual. I make no apologies though. That would be tacky. [as if I was worried about being tacky, right?]

01 Mar 2004 - "I got the touch, OK?"

Songs in my sleep

2007-03-10T03:25:00.000-08:00

Here are a couple sound bytes from the archive where I'm singing.
Or something.

27 Oct 2005 - "Whatever Happened" song
["Root beer embattled?"]

01 Dec 2005 - Lil' Ditty

This Week In Sleep

2007-02-27T18:28:00.000-08:00

Sunday night, I was so exhausted, that I went to bed at 1am for the first time in months. I slept in until about 10am, stayed in bed until 12, and felt refreshed. Good start to the week.

At 3:55pm, I mount up on my bike, and make the short trip to work. I'm a little late. Right before I got to the corner, I noticed a bit of traffic in the bike lane, so I decided to cut across the CPK "ASAP" to make the right turn. Now, I've done this dozens of times, and everytime I cross to the sidewalk, I am aware of the uneven lip where they built a new driveway for said pizza kitchen. I always take it very carefully, making sure to get the angle closer to 90 degrees, than parallel. For whatever reason, that day I didn't quite hit the angle.

Next thing I know, my bike is not under me anymore, but on the ground. I am flying chest-first towards the sidewalk. I have not fallen off my bike in over a decade, maybe longer--it was so long ago, I don't even remember it happening. So I have no idea how good I am at falling.
My right knee and left hand got the brunt of the fall, which was more like a chest skid across the cement. I immediately turned to a sitting position, and made sure there were no cars about to hit me. Somehow, I came out of this virtually unscathed. I had little scuffs on my palms, and a little black dirt in a small blood-red pit in my left palm. My knee felt swollen and wet, but was only bruised. I got up, brushed myself off, didn't find ANY dirt or tears on my shirt or pants, got my bike up, it was fine, and continued to work, a little shaken.

I felt pretty confident when I got to work. No real pain, just a little sweaty from the adrenaline. And the pebble in my palm, of course. I washed my hands, felt a little sting, but decided to get to business.

Five minutes later, I consulted with my co-worker, and he said I should get it patched up at the Nurses office, since I didn't have a bandage myself. It's free. I thought it would be fun, so I went. And it was fun, in a sort of dorky "mommy kiss my booboo better" sort of way.

Back in the office, I started to feel a little woozy, but I attributed it to my mild trauma and adrenaline rush. By the end of the night, I have decided that I'm coming down with something. Maybe a cold, maybe a fever. I bike home in an unexpected and therefore fairly unprotected rain shower. I go to bed at 4am.

Then, at approximately 8:37:28 (give or take a second) in the morning, I hear this.

26 Feb 2007 - "Disturbed Sleep 01"

Now, sometimes the dumb neighbors get picked up by their dumb friends in big dumb pickup trucks in the dumb morning. And instead of being polite and knocking on their friend's dumb door, or calling on thier dumb cell phone, they honk. Often multiple times. This bothers me, but I've come to accept the dumbness and can usually mostly sleep through it.

But this, this was different.

*BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP* *SNORT*

This is a broken horn. why isn't anyone fixing it? Maybe they are? Maybe they aren't home. Maybe...it's MY car. Nonsense. My battery couldn't maintain that loud of a honk for that long without wavering in pitch...

26 Feb 2007 - "Disturbed Sleep 02"

Uh oh. So I get up, half-sleepingly put on a trenchcoat to cover my bedclothes, hobble down the stairs, put on sandals and peep my head out the door. It's someone else's car and there are two guys working on it with the hood up. Good. I go back inside. Maybe they'll pull the battery leads and try to figure it out in peace.

26 Feb 2007 - "Disturbed Sleep 03"

Oh man. I am so sleepy right now. I can barely think. I can barely stand. I have a sore throat and a snuffly nose. My eyes are staring at vibrating focusless walls. I know I can't go back to sleep until this is over. *BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP* I go outside and walk towards them, maintaining some distance from the racket.

"Hi," they say to me.
"Hi..."
"He's got a broken horn."
"--yeah."

I am utterly stunned. I cannot say anything else. I rotate and slink back into my apartment. There's nothing (legal) I can do to get them to stop, or that I have the mental capacity to implement. I take some pills. I go to the bathroom. I check my email. I stay up for half-an-hour; it's over, they won. I will have a miserable day.

Then they drive away, with horn babbling randomly down the street. Time to sleep.

I called in sick to work today for the first time in months. There was no way. Just no way.

Uninterrupted Sleeplessness

2007-02-22T14:21:00.000-08:00

Since my long, late birthday, three weeks ago, I haven't been sleeping too well. My sleep schedule is pushed forward, making it harder for me to stay asleep in the morning (since my morning is the neighbor kid's afternoon.) A side-effect of this lighter sleep seems to show up as less coherent sleep talk. Maybe. (this is science, right?)

Here's what I said last night, when I went to sleep around 5am and got up at noon.

21 Feb 2007 - "Wonderful"

And here's what I blurted a week ago, also probably during a night of interrupted sleep.

15 Feb 2007 - Mostly Gibberish

I'm working on returning to a more regular sleep habit (like getting to sleep at 3 or 3:30 instead of 4 or 5). Hopefully I'll be back in form soon. Maybe I just need some more stress to deal with. Anyone want to volunteer?

Post Birthday

2007-02-08T15:22:00.000-08:00

This year, I didn't plan anything for my birthday. Maybe half out of depression, but mostly because I'm sick of planning my own birthday events. This tactic lead me to four free meals, a couple free drinks, and a wide variety of excellent friend hanging-out. Not too bad for no plans, if I say so myself.

It was a crazy, non-stop day, starting at 10am for brunch at Cafe Crepe, a quick lunch at THE VEGAN JOINT!, dinner at another vegan place in Hollywood, and ending at 5:30am, with me driving home from Fred62.

After all that eating, it would naturally follow that I would talk about food in my sleep, right?

28 Jan 2007 - "Potato Chips"

28 Jan 2007 - "Slurping"

I am not alone

2007-01-14T17:07:00.000-08:00

Other people are recording their sleep too, apparently.

[EDIT 1/31/07] Looks like NBC standards caught this unauthorized clip usage on youtube. Here's a link to the clip on NBC's webpage (sorry about the lame ads):
Sleep Blowing
[END EDIT]

Pender plays trumpet, I hum.

13 Jan 2007 - "Humming lots"

China Dream

2007-01-09T14:14:00.000-08:00

This morning, I dreamt my friend Zeb and I flew to Northern China--I think just for fun. Once we landed, we had to take a long bus trip north. But once we got there, I realized I had to go home for a little while because of some party my parents were having. So I left Zeb in China, and flew back home (home being some non-existent half-city, half-countryside California spot. Maybe Salt Lake City?)

Once I got there, I met this uncle I never knew about, and his Vietnamese fiance. We were in some sort of gazebo or at a luau or something. At some point during the visit, I walked back to my house because my Mom was resting there, and I wanted to make sure she was OK. It had been raining really hard, but had just let up. When I got to the house, I went for a walk with my Mom and sister. It was really windy and we watched the clouds dissipate very quickly. But then, a new wave of clouds was blowing in over the mountains and they looked dangerous. Then, ice started forming around the low-flying clouds and started to fall on us. Ten-pound chunks of ice. Some were bigger. I almost got hit in the head by one.

So we ran for cover, but as soon as we were safe, it stopped. I drove my car to this other part of the neighborhood and picked up my van (which I just retired last week after 9 years of bitter love.) Then Zeb called my cell phone. I had this idea in my head that I was going to somehow get back to China with my car (which in the dream was a red two door Geo Metro hatchback), so we wouldn't have to take the bus back to catch the plane. It was during this time I realized I didn't kow how to get my car TO China, and that what I was doing with my van was probably unneccessary. (Exactly what I was doing with my van, I'll never quite know--I was just as confused in the dream.)

I was about to go back to China and meet up with Zeb and Reaux (his girlfriend, and my friend) when I was awakened by a real-life phone call from my friend Sanaz.

The moral of this dream is that my friends all have awesome names.

Like I've stated, the past few nights I've been remembering a lot more of my dreams, of which under normal circumstances I generally remember nothing. This memory was, by far, the icing.

08 Jan 2007 - "Too Fast"

07 Jan 2007 - "Some sick case"

07 Jan 2007 - "Good to know"

Bad dreams

2007-01-06T17:08:00.000-08:00

I don't often remember my dreams, but I know I had many many dreams last night. I only remember small details, lack of control things like the right temple of my glasses slipping around about to break off. I also was much more verbal last night than I have been in a long time. As I've pondered what triggers my somniloquy, I've gone through many hypotheses. My lastest concept is that, when I'm dealing with massive feelings in waking moments (crying, introverting), I talk less in my sleep. Conversely, when I start bottling up feelings (social interaction, denial), they come out more in my slumber. This might seem obvious, but when you're living through it, it's harder to tell when you're denying and when you're expressing emotional truth. At least that's my deal.

So, whatever all that means, whatever causes it, here's the choice reap of the harvest from last night. This being the one of the first major utterances for the new year.

05 Jan 2007 - "Be patience"

Tossin' and Turnin'

2006-12-28T13:33:00.000-08:00

An hour after I went to sleep last night, I woke up to find myself half-suffocated. My head was sandwiched between the tucked-in sheets at the foot of the bed. When I was finally able to free my head, I was disoriented and baffled. I finally figured out where I was (although an errant mic stand made that orientation difficult) and fell back asleep. In that same position. Another hour later, I woke up again and righted myself.

The moral of this story is: I need to change my sheets, or wash my feet more often.

18 Aug 2004 - "The USA ones are $2"

23 Feb 2005 - "She's got the step"

20 Aug 2004 - "Oh, you're smart"

Happy new year, all you Gregorian-calendar-using people. Everyone else, have a great next few days. And beyond.

Crispin Hellion Glover

2006-12-14T14:03:00.000-08:00

I had a chance to see Crispin Hellion Glover and his film What Is It? this past weekend at the Egyptian Theatre. I couldn't pass up the opportunity, and I'm glad I went. I found him to be a real savant when it comes to describing his art. I was mesmerized by his slide show prior to the film. He read from 8 of his books, while the pages were projected behind him. There was a dim, orange, rectangular spotlight on him, which cast a dramatic angled shadow onto the slideshow screen. It was breathtaking.

The film was quite good as well. I had some difficulties dealing with certain audience member's reactions of mirth early on, although by CHG's own definition the film is a "drama with humor." I feel most of these reactions were borne from discomfort of watching a cast almost entirely made up of people with Down's syndrome. But after about ten minutes, it either sunk in or I stopped caring. I don't mean to sound like a snob, but I suppose I am a little bit. I prefer a more controlled atmosphere during film viewing. Reaction isn't bad, but overreaction can be distracting.

Ultimately, from arrival to departure, it was definitely worth the 5 hours of my evening.

Here's a picture with me and Crispy, kickin' it old school.

Now, on with the show:

12 Dec 2006 - "Where Are You?"

Back From Hiatus

2006-11-16T03:01:00.000-08:00

So, as of one month ago, I'm newly single, which sort of explains my sabbatical (funny to think I'm taking a rest from sleeptalking...)
Actually, lack of sleeptalking and lack of inspiration has mostly contributed to this chronogap in my blog. But now it's time to get back on the wagon. The somniwagon. Whether or not I have anything to unconsciously say.

Interesting that during a time when I'm under emotional distress, I've ended up speaking LESS in my sleep. But maybe it's unrelated. During the last half of last month, I had many very strange and vivid dreams, like witnessing children being smashed into red play-doh pancakes by passing cars. I wonder if that was my body's latest way of expressing feelings when I don't sleeptalk--dreaming (that's a new concept! ha.) I rarely remember my dreams. Or maybe it's because I'm sleeping alone now, so I've no one to chat with. That's never really been the case before though.

I expected to speak a lot last night, because I had a wee emotional breakdown, but my computer crashed overnight, so I'll never know. Isn't that always the way?

---------
[2:20pm]
I started writing this last night, and since then, I found that I spoke quite a bit this last recording night. I'm back in form!

15 Nov 2006 - "A few of my favorite things: Rabbits"

07 Nov 2006 - "Last Orangey Swing"

03 Nov 2006 - "Want us to bring"

03 Nov 2006 - "Cracking up"

Halloween photos from Comedy Death Ray

2006-11-03T14:02:00.000-08:00

Look, I'm famousish!

Holga polaroids by Lauren the unicorn.

Futon dreams

2006-10-14T12:42:00.000-07:00

This is what happens when there's turmoil in my life.

13 Oct 2006 - "Don't Do That"

Science of Sleep

2006-09-30T13:17:00.000-07:00

Last night, I went to see the new Michel Gondry film, The Science of Sleep. Finally, a movie I can relate to! What an inspirational film.

And, of course, last night I spoke in my sleep after a two-week hiatus. Oh man, I should watch that movie every night before bed, with these kinds of results.

29 Sep 2006 - "All This Stuff"

Here's my attempted transcript:
"Won't get anything like, all the stuff on, all this stuff, the um, the um, tho co-cochineal, the coke-meal pad. I built one on this side. So you can, you can um, cut your, cut your tomate or yer...cut your tomatoes on this side of thur, sides at the same time.

Not much to say - but raccoons!

2006-09-11T13:15:00.000-07:00

I haven't been saying too much in my sleep lately. I notice that when I talk less, I snore more. Maybe I'm too tired to enter the somniloqy state? I have been ultra-tired these past couple weeks.

Two nights ago, when I was taking the dogs out, I met a family of raccoons sitting on the fence at the next complex. It was a big mama and her four babies. They were adorable. The dogs didn't like 'em too much, so I tied them up inside and went out alone to watch. The mama was a little concerned about me, but I just stood still, told her "It's okay," and she went about her business of trying to get her kids off the fence and up on the carport roof. I didn't watch the whole time, but I know she got at least two of the kids out of there. The other two must've gone at some point too, because they weren't there in the morning. Heh. Here are some pictures.

The four babies, huddled together.

Mama trying to scare me away, standing and hissing. I took a snapshot, then slowly backed away. I wouldn't want to tussle with a mama raccoon.

These guys were having a bit of trouble getting up that wall. I think Mama helped the other two by letting them crawl up her back. I can't be sure, as this happened when I was walking the dogs.

As foreboding as this looks, that kitty wasn't the least bit interested in eating these babies. Moreso, just interested in what was going on.

And, because this is a sleeptalk blog, here's an old one. It's me sleep-revealing why my sleep recordings are so hi-fidelity. Ha, ha.

17 Jun 2004 - "Soundproof Booth"

Oh yeah. Happy Terrorist Day.

Copycat -- or should I say copydog?

2006-08-28T14:00:00.000-07:00

I now have some competition in the somniloquy racket (because, you know, I'm making some beaucoup greenbacks through this blog).

My girlfriend's chihuahua, Stewie, also talks in his sleep. And now I have recorded proof of this. He has a lesser sleep vocabulary than I, but he might win a cuteness award in a sleeptalk contest.

17 Aug 2006 - "Dreaming Stewie"

And just for some friendly competition, two clips of me.

17 Aug 2006 - "The Bottom -- Ooh!"

16 Aug 2006 - "The Highlights"

Busy August

2006-08-27T16:03:00.000-07:00

I just went through most of my sleep recordings for the entire month of August, to date. I was so wrapped up in summer projects, that I rarely found the time to post.

...So now that the cliché procrastination excuse is over with, here are some of the August highlights, several that I wanted to post a couple weeks ago.

12 Aug 2006 - "The Artist Artist Isabel"

02 Aug 2006 - "Wait Until MacAdams"

01 Aug 2006 - "Throw Itself Out"

Writing Sleep Music

2006-07-28T14:05:00.000-07:00

I'm in a position where I feel obligated to write two or three songs for an upcoming performance with my new band, Doom Dong. However, that sort of pressure is usually the cue for my brain to shut down and no songs get written (or at least anything useable.)

But my unconscious mind is writing songs, so that's a good sign. This one came from out of the blue last night.

27 Jul 2006 - "Madeline Stilettos"

One could also interpret this as "Metal in Stilettos" which seems to make a tiny bit more sense. If I flesh it out, it'll be the new '80s big-hair metal revival hit. Too bad I left my hair in the '80s.

Heat causes stagnation

2006-07-26T02:28:00.000-07:00

I installed an A/C unit in our apartment two weeks ago. Best decision I ever made, and perfect timing too. The heat, mixed with high humidity, has been stifling. Everytime I have to run an errand I don't walk or bike, I swim.

One of the benefits to A/C, other than coolness and regulated humidity for all my sound equipment, is I was able to remove the fan from the bedroom. This makes for a quieter room, which makes for better-sounding recordings. Yay for that, indeed.

It reminds me of the first few months I really started experimenting with sleep recording. I had to find the right gain settings to make the silence stripping work properly; I tried several different mics and mic placements, until I found the optimal setup; and I tried different sampling rates to balance filesize and sound quality. Some of the early recordings were done at such a low sample rate, they sound pretty bad. That they are still listenable, is a testament to the entertainment factor they provide (at least to me.) Sometimes I wonder if people accept lo-fi recordings because it allows them to hear something they want to, that otherwise wouldn't have been recorded. Like 911 phone calls in Nightline "news" pieces. It sounds crappy, but it's still interesting.

The following sample, one of my favorite early utterances, was recorded at a trashy 11kHz sampling rate back in 2003 (I've since settled on 22kHz), but it still provides me with much joy to this very day.

3 Nov 2003 - "Seamus Song"

And two more recent clips:

14 Jul 2006 - "Comb Bellows"

15 Jul 2006 - "Tall One" Song

A lot to say in my sleep

2006-06-27T13:00:00.000-07:00

Not much to report on my life, however my sleeptalking increased noticably last night. There were several one-worders, along with a couple weird phrasey things. Unfortunately, I never think the one-worders are worth saving seperately and sharing, so they never go on the record.

I've been worried lately that the medication I just started would inhibit my somniloquy, but it doesn't seem to be affecting it negatively.

Here are the highlights from last night:

26 Jun 2006 - "What's Wrong? What's Mo Skwo?"

26 Jun 2006 - "The Jesus-ers"
The above seems mildly inspired by the following bizzarity from last year.

7 Aug 2005 - "Jesus Diseases"

This one's a very challenging listen, as my voice is very quiet and often indistinguishable. A partial transcript might be "...It involves helping so that your baby is not allergic to scary diseases from around the globe because already's been exposed to them...I'll explain it to you someway--I'll show you. No, Jesus asked me to collect his diseases from a host of would-be mothers and to spread them to soon-to-be mothers..."

Day of the beast - don't forget to vote!

2006-06-06T12:48:00.000-07:00

Devillish day. I'll say! I think I invented a new work-related injury: scroll-wheel finger. I'm trying my best not to use my right index finger on the computer, but I think the answer is to just not use the computer so much.

I said lots of interesting things in the last half of May, but never found the time or motivation to post any of them. So, to make up for that, here are some clips.

20 May 2006 - "Not So Good"

28 May 2006 - Mumbly Singsong

26 May 2006 - "Stop It Completely"

29 May 2006 - "I Got It"

...and the best one I've spoken in a long time--a new classic:

28 May 2006 - "I Saw You"

Birds of Paradise

2006-05-12T15:12:00.000-07:00

Over the past month we've had lovely feral parrot visitors on our street. They are Mitred Conures and are very beautiful. The lastest news is they seem to be roosting in the palm tree right in front of our apartment building. Neat.

I bet a lot of people around here think they are nuisances (similar to the nasty people trying to ban pigeon-feeding in Hollywood), mostly because they are kind of loud. But I adore them. You can read about my first encounter with them here, on my Myspace blog.

I caught their squawks on my sleep recordings. Here's an example:

29 Apr 2006 - Mitred Conure calls under snore

Today, I've decided to post something current. It's from last night. Maybe you can answer me this: I've been thinking about trying to transcribe approximately what I'm saying in some of the clips, but I almost think it would be better if you, the readers, tried to transcribe what you think I'm saying by way of the comments section. Your thoughts are welcome.

11 May 2006 - "Here They Are"

-Dd

[edit @ 10:27pm]
Added a photo I took today of the conures. They are apparently cleaning nesting material out of this palm tree. It was a stunning experience, as a mash of feathers and string and paper and hair rained down. I would've posted this earlier, but I ran out of time before going to work. Excuses, unnecessary excuses.

Title change

2006-05-11T14:27:00.000-07:00

So I changed the title of my blog from "Polysomnography of Somniloquy" to "Somnography of Somniloquy" for two reasons:

One, I thought the "poly-" prefix made it sound like I was recording other aspects of my sleep (visuals, heart rate, etc.), which I'm not. Just sound. Maybe it should be Monosomnogprahy? Maybe Monotonosomnography if it gets too boring. Anyway, it sounds more accurate now. Just not as cool.

Two, I can never settle on anything. Anything. Tweak tweak tweak. I also want to change the "dansleep" part of the URL, but I think that would be too confusing.

Last night, after posting my first real post, I got really excited about posting more. Strangely enough, I was thinking more about posting binding copyright statements and FAQs about my sleeptalk. Where's the art in that? I'm a hopeless analytic.

So, to counteract my desires of boring you all to death, here's some sleeptalk from years ago.

1 Jan 2004: "Brown Equals"

Even in my sleep all I can think of is numbers. And brown.

Sleeptalk example

2006-05-10T14:12:00.000-07:00

It's been difficult for me to dedicate any time for this blog, but I thought I'd test out the embedding function to see if it's even viable.

As I've said, I have a backlog (soon to be backblog?) of over 200 different sleep samples to choose from. My intent is to update mostly with current sleep samples, interspersed with various "greatest hits" from my archive. Today, I'll start with a classic.

Attempt one:

Magical-agical

If this embedded mp3 doesn't play on your computer, please leave a comment saying what type of computer you are using (WinXP, Mac OSX, etc.) and what browser you use (IE6, Netscape 3.05, Opera, etc.) I'll see what I can do to make the site more compatible.

On the personal front, I hit my head on a picture frame today. It left a small welt.

First post

2006-04-09T22:42:00.000-07:00

My hobbyist background is in music recording, and during the time between 2000/2001, I was living in a house where my bedroom was my control room. I had tons of recording equipment laying around my room, mostly dormant.

The girl who I was seeing at the time told me that I talked in my sleep. A lot. I'd always kind of known, but obviously never knew to what extent.

So, the natural course was to try recording a night of my sleep. Thus, on September 5th, 2001, I set up a mic pointed at my head in my bunk bed, attached it to my DAT recorder, and recorded 4 hours of my night.

The next morning, I was surprised to hear SEVERAL utterances that were not only fairly clear, but painfully hilarious. I tried again the next night and got some more stuff. I was pretty excited.

Then I stopped. It was a lot of work, recording to a DAT, then having to listen back to it. Even in hi-speed, it took a good 30-45 minutes to listen for anything--not to mention the time it took to capture the audio bites to my computer.

A year later, it dawned on me--cut out the stupid DAT middleman and record directly to my computer. The program I used, Cool Edit Pro, had a feature that allowed me to set a volume threshold and strip out anything that was below that threshold (basically, silence.) A 6 hour night of sleep was suddenly reduced to anywhere from 3 to 15 minutes of audio. This was much more manageable, so I started recording every night. I thought, "What better way to learn my TRUE inner voice, than to listen to myself talk in my sleep! Unfettered by social pressures and my slurry way of speaking." Of course, I found out I was a much bigger showboat in my sleep than awake. But it's still fun to listen to.

Since then, I've amassed over 200 distinct and semi-meaningful utterances.

The intent of this blog is to share these audio snippets with others, enmasse. I've shared them at small art parties and even had the opportunity to play them in between poetry readings on a night my sister performed. But this would be the first large-scale sharing of my blurtings.

So, hopefully I'll keep up with this and start posting some interesting audio files. I first have to find a simple and easily-repeatable way of posting these files without clogging too much bandwidth, or taking up too much time everyday. Any help would greatly be appreciated.

Thanks,

_Dandan