*Transcendental *Logic

Today, all over the world, empathic hermits cried out in pain at the defection of an illustrious member of their order — me.

It was all so…normal. In fact, it was so normal that it felt like work, which is the only other place in my life where occasionally normal surfaces (in the guise of a partner or customer; my co-workers are such a rarified level of abnormal that I wonder sometimes if they might not be a new species). I sat at a bland little table in a safe neighborhood eating very good salmon and potatoes and organic spinach and really cool wild rice. There was an empty wineglass in front of me, because our friend’s new girlfriend hadn’t really fully moved into her place yet and didn’t have a corkscrew.

She was shy, but nice. My boy and I did a lot of the talking. We’ve had a hellish, busy-ass day involving work and lawyers and broken cars and other flotsam, and our friend likes to listen and so we were just talking about everything — school, work, kid, comic, rpgs and card games…and then somebody asked about polyphasic sleep.

I realize now that this was the first time I’ve really had to explain it to a stranger in Real Live Conversation. It was pretty nerve-wracking. So far everybody I’ve really told about it is either a) digital or b) has a prior knowledge of my personal quirkscape. She seemed a bit confused as to why anybody would want to do it, which I suppose I can understand (with difficulty, but I can do it). Also though, she was impressed that I did do it, and that was even more nerve-wracking than her confusion. I didn’t like how much of the talk about it had to be about me…but okay, yeah, I just don’t generally like that anyway. I make such a boring story. ;) But, well, there isn’t too much to say about polyphasic sleeping that isn’t from my own experience; the objective knowledge about it is just isn’t well-developed yet.

Hopefully it will be soon, so I can stop stammering uncomfortably at dinner conversations. Well, or at least stammer about other things. ;)

-PD