I’ve been ill this past week or so, but am feeling better now. It was one of those bugs that alter reality, high temperatures and blocked head putting me in a strange, dream-like state where I wasn’t sure, at times, what was real and what was not.
My dreams were strange as well, lucid then spinning away like a kaleidoscope of images, as I travelled landscapes familiar and bizarre, the line between sleep and waking somehow blurred as the illness took hold. Kaleidoscope, I recently discovered, is apparently the collective term for a group of butterflies, and that’s how the dreams felt, blots of colour flying about, at once near yet untouchable, all around me.
I wrote some stuff, nonetheless. A little challenge for Sacha, some blog posts, even managed to do a little editing (once I’d completed my list :-D). I also had to keep on with most things I usually do, fortunate in that I work from home and so could take a break when needed.
But the interesting thing, the lingering effect, is a sort of loosening of words onto the page. As though whatever burned its way through my system last week changed the way I thought and saw things, and how I expressed them.
I remember reading Aldous Huxley’s Doors Of Perception years ago, about his controlled experiments with peyote in the 50’s, and the way it changed how he saw the world. While I’m certainly not advocating drug use, I wonder if I’ve just taken my own sort of fever-fueled trip through my subconscious, awakening ideas I might not otherwise have accessed.
Or maybe I’m still unwell and this is the last of my fever delusion…
Helen Glynn Jones 
Hope you start feeling more like yourself soon!
Thank you! I’m much better now, it was just one of those weeks. It’s going around here… 🙂
As my old dad would have said, ‘maybe next time you might take a little water with it?’ Glad it was productive anyway!
Am I living up to the stereotype of the wasted artist? Sadly nothing stronger than the flu 😀
Interesting, whichever way you look at it. Can’t wait to see how it turns out on the page. 😀
Thanks Ali – it could all be a load of nonsense 😀
Or it might not! 😊
Yes. I believe it’s probably a very similar experience. Both mind-altering. Hope it unlocked the gates to some good stuff! 💗 Glad you’re on the mend.
Thanks Sarah 🙂 As I said to Ali, it could just all be a lot of nonsense – still, it’s been interesting…
And? 😉
So what? Sounds awesome.
Well, it’s a silver lining for sure 🙂
Sounds like we could all do with a dose of whatever you had every once in a while and loosen ourselves up! I’m glad you’re improving and may the loosening effect linger. 🙂
Well, I wouldn’t recommend it, to be honest. I think the loosening up thing is me trying to find a silver lining 🙂 Could all be a load of nonsense!
You’re doing very well to find a silver lining in sickness! Take care. xx
Thanks, Louise – I’m feeling a lot better now 🙂
So I hallucinated when I was a kid for THREE days straight. Proper messed up. I have w couple of irrational fears now as a result. But it’s that same kind of perception blurring. But I have another trick. The word loosening you speak of happens for me with a good piece of music – not every type of music mind there are certain pieces
wow, that’s intense, Sacha – I’m sorry to hear that happened to you.
I’m the same with music, there’s one piece in particular that is very Ambeth, and I get a good flow going when I have it on repeat.
I remember Ula once added a link for a song which we were meant to listen to whilst reading the post. Was such a good idea. You should totally share it when you do a promo on here, I’d love to know what it is 💖
That is a cool idea! Song themed blog posts…
And it’s the Second Movement of Beethoven’s 7th Symphony – I don’t listen to a lot of classical music, but this one has such a sense of melancholy and magic for some reason it takes me to Ambeth. Someone commented once that it’s a funeral march, which makes sense. And now it sounds like my Ambeth books are morbid! 😀
I know right! I thought exactly the same. That Ula’s a genius. I will have to steal the idea at some point too. 🙂 ok, off to youtube to listen!
Awesome! Looking forward to hearing what you come up with 🙂
Also, did the Silver and Black comment come through okay?
Yes sorry, been absolutely rammed in the last few days. Am sitting down to read all the entries tomorrow night. Have literally only just scheduled tomorrows post. SO unlike me! Listening to Beethoven now!
O Lord, no need to apologise! I’ve just had some weird stuff with my comments this past week, big chunks missing from them, so I was only worrying about that – sorry, I don’t want to stress you 🙂 Hope you’re enjoying the Beethoven and get to have a bit of time for yourself – you’re just about the busiest person I know!
Ah no, but it annoys me when I don’t reply within 24 hours. But this week has been bonkers – first week back for me, and the wife then started a new job this week too. I’ve been out three nights on the trot, so got F all writing done, hence the manic rush to do it NOW on a sunday bloody night. Shame on me. :p Weds post feels like a month away right now! Your comments were all good, wonder whats gone wrong – have you tried the happiness engineers?
That is a bonkers week, hope your wife’s new job is going well. And no shame on you, life’s like that sometimes.
As for the comments, I didn’t bother because they’ve all reappeared – Sue was saying she thinks the happiness engineers are up to something again 🙂
haha, yeah they probably are. April Fools maybe. Oh, and why do people think this symphony is a funeral song? Must be something wrong with me, but it sounds pretty upbeat to me!
I don’t know, someone just mentioned it to me in a comments once. I think it’s really beautiful.