Monday, February 21, 2011

Blow me to Bermuda.

One of Those Days. You know the one. Get up tired because you couldn't sleep properly (I'll tackle that in a sec), covered in a clammy sweaty sheen, head still filled with nightmare-funk,  you're bloated and puffy from over-consumption, and the Millennium theme is stuck in your head because the dvd player's been stuck at the main menu since 3.30 AM.
Yeah. It's Monday.


Friend and I had a discussion last night. He's the one that just had the lap band surgery done, and it seems to have brought back some of his old mental processes. Like freaking out and wanting to kill yourself because you ate something Forbidden. So we discussed that for a bit, and Friend came up with one of the greatest terms I've ever heard. 


The Gateway Food. 


So you know how parents and teachers and the DARE Program all tried to drill it into us kiddies that marijuana is NOT ok because it's a "gateway drug?" Because it will apparently ensure that you go from weed to ecstacy and then eventually to heroin and crack. 


Well that's a load of bollocks, but I believe that this rule DOES apply to food. 


I think we've all got a couple gateway foods. I know I do. Cereal and peanut butter are probably the best examples. With other junky and even binge-trigger foods, I can usually have a little and then stop before I do any serious damage. But not so with cereal or PB. 'Tis the same pattern over and over and over again. 


1 tsp peanut butter--> 1 more tsp peanut butter--> whole tub of peanut butter, melted, with ice cream--> add cookies, crushed--> use bowl to consume entire box of Cocoa Pebbles --> more cookies--> fiber bars--> everything else, I don't even know at that point-->ex-lax--> cry.


It's bullsh*t.





~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*


Sleep is evil. Being a chronic insomniac, sleep is also very hard to come by. Proper sleep, I mean; not the rubbish-half-sleep from sleeping pills or alcohol. 


For the first time in I don't even know how long, I managed to get the point of Proper Sleep this past Friday night. Did I get a good night's sleep?


OF COURSE I BLOODY DIDN'T. 


It's these incredibly rare occasions of Proper Sleep that remind me why I have shied away from Proper Sleep since the age of 2. I don't like where Sleep takes me. I don't like the fact that Sleep also seems so bring other things to me. I don't really give an eff if this makes me sound completely out of my mind either, because whether or not it is all in my head, whatever It is Exists and makes my sleeping hours hell. 


Friday (or rather, early Saturday morning at that point) was bad. 


First, I had to deal with my deceased Grandmother sitting on my desk chair, berating me for allowing her children to destroy her house and throw away all of her things. She has done this three times now, since she died in May. At least this time she was interrupted, at about 4.02 AM, by something outside my window. 


Something SCREAMING. 


For some reason, all the nocturnal animals like to congregate outside my bedroom window and make a whole lot of racket in the middle of the night (And never outside anyone else's window, JUST MINE). This time, 'twas the raccoons. So between the insane wildlife and the Dead, I would really rather just not sleep at all. 
Schizophrenia? Psychic vibrations? Full moon? Dairy? All of the above, plus general madness? I don't know, but it's been this way as long as I can remember, all the way back to f*cking kindergaden when I was terrified to go to sleep every night because of what might find me in the dark. 


And don't even get me started on haunted houses. I've no problem with those kinds of ghosts when I'm awake, but I will not sleep in a haunted house and you can't make me. I've gone incredibly long stretches with no sleep (medicated or otherwise) because of such houses. Granny's house has forced me to stay awake for up to 6 days before I caved and went next door to sleep at my cousin's. Sure I have loads of fond memories of that house, but there is something incredibly old and cranky in it. Something older than the house itself. And it f*cks with my head. Even Mum admits that it exists, though only when she's drunk. 


I should become a traveling sideshow like John Edward. I could make a fortune. 


Hope all your Mondays are better than mine! I'm not as strung out as I sound--I promise. Just irritable. 


:D

24 comments:

  1. Gateway food. Love the term. Peanut butter and cereal are the same way for me. I can't even keep them in the apartment because, should I happen to go to bed without eating them, they will call to me as I lie there, preventing sleep until I finally feel like I'm going to lose my mind and trudge to the kitchen to eat like a fiend.

    I have a hard time with sleep, too... though not quite so terrifying a time as you seem to. My sleep is generally mingled with nightmares about demons, the stomach flu and binge eating. Lol

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  2. Peanut Butter must be a universal Gateway Food. This term is brilliant.

    How could you possibly sleep with the clickity-clack peeps outside my window? I had nightmares about those ominous little bastards for years. Glowing little trolls with sprinkler heads are not cute or endearing, no matter how exotic your anime taste may run.

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  3. Ugh, gateway foods. BANE OF MY EXISTENCE! Motherfuckers.

    xo
    Victoria

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  4. my gateway foods are chocolate and anything sweet. and anything savoury really. so all foods are my gateway foods. go figure
    x

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  5. God. If I crave anything it's peanut butter. I put it on everything. Ice cream, apples, bread of course, and cookies. So I know exactly what you mean by Gateway Food lol
    Those are always the first things I crave, too. Like WTF. Why cant I crave a facking vegetable for once?
    This is beyond me lol

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  6. Wow. Gateway food. Makes a hell of a lot more sense than gateway drugs at least. I can't stand peanut butter. I freaking love it, but seriously, binges drive me insane. So I hate it. I haven't gotten a good night of sleep in god knows how long, so I really know how you feel. Hope your week gets better.

    ~Cora

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  7. oh the gateway food...we just got onto this subject in therapy. cereal and pb are mine too.

    Im like obsessed with sleeping now (drug induced is the way to go) to avoid night eating/binging. But randomly I started having nightmares in the past few months. I kind of enjoy them in a sick masochistic way....XP

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  8. god i wish i could get some proper sleep

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  9. Oh my gosh your description of the morning AND your binge progression through the gate are so very very similar to mine. What is it about freaking cereal? "I'll just measure out a serving." "I'll just measure out one more serving." "F*ck it I'm going to finish this box, with cookies, and applesauce, and peanut butter."

    Bloat, cry, repeat.

    I hope your sleep improves :(

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  10. peanut butter and ice cream...and honey...and sweet potato chips. fml.

    also...as for things that live in houses that are older than sin...does it say something about my character that not only can I sleep in houses like that (I grew up in one) but I sleep just fine so long as we all respect each other's personal space?

    I have fucked up dreams, though. Not that I mind. It's like watching horror films combined with sci-fi flicks every time I close my eyes.

    ;p

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  11. I think you are definitly on to something about peanut butter being a gateway food. And I won't even touch cereal.

    My deceased grandfather once visited me after he died. I wasn't scared, but normally I am about that sort of stuff. Your grandma sounds entertaining. Sorry about that lack of sleep though, it definitly doesn't make the body any stronger/better.

    lots of love your way<333

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  12. EUREKA! That's it. Gateway food... I used to see a lady who would sit on the washing machine outside my bedroom when i was 9-12 years old. She sat absolutely still. Hmm. weird.

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  13. Damn you gateway food! I'm mid binge right now, know I will hate myself tomorrow but my mind just snapped and went ravenous on me.

    The sleeping! My mom was telling me that one time ,when she was still living in Jamaica, she got in a fight with her sister and decided to sleep at the other end of the bed. My aunt told her not too but she did anyway and the next morning my aunt told her that a 'man with no head and glowing eyes was watching her all night.' She never slept at that end again.... neither will you. But for reals, I'm so sorry you have that ability. And also, the princess mononoke characters outside of the window are awesome.

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  14. dude i freakin' love death to smoochie. now i really want to watch it. my monday was HORRIBLE too, such a gross bloat. i agree with the gateway foods as well, does this friend of yours have disordered eating behaviours as well?

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  15. I get it! Mine aren't specifics so much as 'healthier foods' - like peanut butter and cereal - where I think, 'well it's not great but at least it's not chocolate/sweets/ice cream' then I go and eat way too much, feel bloated and disgusting and think fuck it I'll eat a family size bar of chocolate to punish myself.

    It's so tiring, bingeing. I'm exhausted!

    Love xxx

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  16. i have those foods too. once i start on them there is absolutely no stopping me... horrendous.

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  17. "Gateway Food"...mine is actually a drink, but it works the same way, dammit...will i never learn?????

    Angry Grandmother and all the night creatures? Geeze, no wonder you can't sleep...i only have the bad dreams and etoh promoted anxiety....well and regular anxiety! Wish you could get some...sleep, that is!!!!!

    Love, love, love you and your drawings are freakin' awesome!

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  18. I can never tell what is going to be a gateway food for me.. if its in the might start a binge category, it might, or I might take a bite and feed the rest to the garbage or my dog. Peanut butter is fun to watch dogs try to eat, it also melts under hot water which is kinda fun, its like its the wicked witch of the west and I'm torturing it by melting it slowly.
    Uh.. yeah.. anyway..
    :/ that is a terrible thing, need to find you an unhaunted house and a room without a window or something.

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  19. i agree. peanut butter is a gateway food. have you ever had bread covered in peanut butter topped with chocolate chips? i was gonna put it in the microwave, but it didnt get that far before it was down my throat. damn, i hate binges. i hope you get some sleep soon. <3 stay lovely.

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  20. Life is hard, but life as a medium is hell! No wonder you don't sleep!

    John Edward is a lying, cheating wank-stain! Sorry, it had to be said!

    I totally agree about the drug myth! Moreso about the gateway foods.

    Hope your sleeplessness takes a serious hike! Love you! <3. XXX.

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  21. Gateway foods. That's it. They exist as exist things that dwell in certain places, the places that are filled with negative energy, where people have felt despair, anger, pain and intense misery. I grew up in such a place, the only ones that felt the negative vibes were me and my cats. I used to sleep in the basement, which was the creepiest room in the house. I would hear noises all night long, every night. For something like 5 years I heard every single night a very specific noise: the squeak of someone rattling a chair, continuously, loud and . Only I could hear it. I begged my mom countless times to sleep with me and I asked her how could she not hear it countless times. She just didn't, like the others I had asked.
    Thank God I have never seen anything: I'd have had a friggin heart attack.

    Gateway food---> ice cream

    Hugz&Luv

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  22. I would love mysterious, inexplicable, occult things to happen to me during the night. I've always wanted to stay in a haunted house.
    "gateway food" I love it! It's the perfect term. Gah peanut butter! It's the worst. I can eat sleeves of saltines with peanut butter or worse- make peanut butter cookies and eat the entire batch in a day or two. And cereal?! It should be illegal to be able to pour more cereal on your unused milk which I will do until there's no milk and then just eat it from the box.
    haha I just realized there is an almost full jar of peanut butter and an almost empty box of cap'n crunch in my room... how evil.

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  23. They want people to stay off the phones here unless you need to make an emergency call, so they may not be answering because of that (Or their phones died). There are people still stuck in buildings in Chch using their cellphones to guide rescuers to them.

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz -they've started releasing names of the dead. Do you know what part of Chch your cuzzies are in?

    AHA found what I was looking for!!!!
    http://christchurch-2011.person-finder.appspot.com/
    GO THERE!!!!1!

    Thank god the dead don't talk to me! They just like to loom and freak me out. Seriously, you'd think they have more entertaining things to do! Brrrr, at my ex's house I'd never go downstairs at night by myself. I'd wait until daylight to go pee. Bad, bad things at that place.

    *Hugs* Sorry, I'm not sleeping much either so my brain is FRIED! Imma go harass the kitty for some love <3

    XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

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  24. omgoodness gateway foods.
    before coming online today i ate some cereal. about five huge bowls, & then the second half of a jar of peanut butter (if there was more i would've eaten it too), but then you're stuck through the gateway part & eating a bunch of beloved healthy granola bars & despised cheese & crackers & anything else to fill up. i often think that if there wasn't any cereal or peanut butter in my house i would be doing a lot better.
    sorry about the screaming animals & the dead grandma keeping you up. send them all off together to a tea party in your dreams. tea parties are often quiet.
    staystrong, page.

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