insomnia

From time to time, when I'm feeling particularly contemplative, I often turn to music for refuge. I strap on a pair of headphones, lie back and close my eyes and let the thoughts wander like the wisps that escape evaporating dry ice.

In my high school years, Tori Amos was at the forefront of my developing adoration of singer-songwriters (I obviously have a soft spot for them). Probably the classic prototype artist of the this genre - there exists something just so haunting and full of emotion yet delicate and articulate in her artistic delivery.

I wanted to put up my favourite track Precious Things but of course it's like the only video that has disabled embedding. So instead: Mr. Zebra:



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I do this exercise when I can't fall asleep at night. Often it doesn't work, but it's kind of fun just to encourage my mind to put together a string of words and just let my thoughts run rampant. Basically, it's stream of consciousness - not a novel concept, but a fun one to play around with. Think up a thought, any thought. Whenever you feel like you're going to stop thinking about that though, grab that concept and think about whatever comes to mind - however ridiculous. Follow that thought and continue endlessly.

Here, let's try it:

When I think of calculators I think of Texas Instruments. Texas has that camel spider that Ellis was talking about or maybe not Texas as it is Texan soldier in Iraq - wait, never mind it was just a soldier with a Texan accent on Youtube that was in Iraq and found a camel spider. Camels have many humps, but I'm not sure how many they have on average - is it three or four? Three is Mags' favourite number. I always take four paper towels when I'm drying my hands in the bathroom. Either that or I take eight if I've lost count, or if eight is not enough I will take ten, but it always has to be one of those numbers - I'm very superstitious about it. Superstition is a great song by Stevie Wonder. I wonder how blind people get so good at navigating - is it true that their other senses are enhanced as a result of their disability? It must be true - the brain is malleable. I want to get a brain tattoo on my arm.

That last one is true.