This is Day 4 of Ziva's "30 Days of Photographs II" -- the story behind which can be found by clicking the link at her name. Some of you might have read that I've been doing "a little experiment" of my own since Day 1 here. What that experiment is...can be found below the list of participants and my photo below.
MikeWJ,
Nicky and Mike,
Mo,
Meleah,
John, aka nonamedufus,
Bryan, aka Unfinished Person,
Malisa,
Nora,
LaughingMom,
Tanya,
Elizabeth A.,
00dozo,
Cheryl,
Kristen,
Pam and
Katherine
The gist of my experiment is that I've been taking my Ambien and then, pretty much unbeknownst to me, I take a photo and do a little blurby write-up underneath each one. This will continue every day for the month of April. Oh, sometimes I am more coherent than other times...and sometimes I do things which I didn't know I did. Anyone who takes Ambien knows all too well about the "amnesia" which happens after the drug kicks in. I've written whole blogs under the influence of it...and many times I've been impressed by what I've written...but, when you are so incredibly detached from your own brain when you go about doing things you have no real memory of doing...it's a bit frightening. In fact, it's more than a bit. It's like I've engaged "auto-pilot" or "cruise control" and then taken a nap in the back.
But, I've decided I'm going to stick with "the experiment" here and see what my "other self" comes up with when I'm metaphorically "asleep at the wheel" -- and no, I've never driven after I've taken Ambien...and I would highly recommend that no one does, either. The pity is that I'll never know if I'm a better photographer without it...but, if all else fails -- and I fail with it -- I'll have...well, a fail-safe excuse to fall back on.
(Hopefully you can read what I've written in the photo...if you can't, this is what it says:
In the true spirit of scientific research, I offered myself up as the proverbial guinea pig to prove my theory. I not only did a double blind study...but a double brained one as well. I'm not sure which half of my brain was working when I undertook the "30 Days of Photographs II" challenge...hell, I'm not even sure one half was even engaged...but my theory is that you don't need to know what you are doing in order to complete certain tasks. I fact, some tasks are better left unremembered -- and that's where all of this starts to make sense.
I want you to take a long hard look at the object to the right. Try your best to remember it because tomorrow I won't be able to. I'll just have a vague recollection of Ambien, a camera...and stringing random words together.)
Having run some analysis scripts over your 'random words' I've found that actually Ambien has written some extremely well-formed sentences, eloquent expressions and brilliant witticisms. That has to be a result, right?
ReplyDeleteI've always thought I could write better with Ambien. It's the spelling and the falling asleep part that's pretty annoying. But my brain thinks and says things I ordinarily wouldn't...and when I get up in the "morning" and see what I've done...it's like reading someone else's stuff. Quite bizarre - and I think it qualifies as a full-fledged experiment. :)
ReplyDeleteI can relate. My weapon (drug) of choice is Prozac. I don't know what the hell I was thinking either when I joined this thing. Like you, I only can blame the drugs. :)
ReplyDeletePlease, I need no pills for my brain to detach from my body.
ReplyDeleteI pretty much drool and stare at the screen on Ambien :P
ReplyDeleteYeah, I can't sleep, but the thought of what I might so on Ambien terrifies me. Very clever post!
ReplyDeleteI've never taken a sleep aid, but you don't seem to be too hampered by it. I guess you could probably write and photograph things in your sleep!
ReplyDeleteThese "captcha" words thwart me, Mariann. If I don't get them in 3 tries, I give up.
You're a brave soul, Mariann. But I tell ya, at my age things like that happen to me all the time...without the drugs.
ReplyDeleteWell, I think it's safe to say that you definitely have the most original experiment of the bunch. ;) And you're doing amazingly well so far!
ReplyDeleteMe no likey the Ambien
ReplyDeleteThank you,Ziva! As long as I beat Mike, I will be happy. ;)
ReplyDeleteLinda - So sorry for the CAPTCHA things...I believe they are beyond my control. I am not able to post at two or three peoples' blogs here because one keeps giving me a notice saying I can't post any proxies (???) and a couple other just perplex me too much and it never works. So, for those of you who haven't read any of my comments at your blogs...please be advised I have tried and it doesn't work. It's not that I'm being a jerk and ignoring you.
As for the Ambien hate and such - I can understand it. I've been on this stuff for over seven years now I think. It does strange things to your mind I think.
I go into a catatonic state if I take something as simple as Tylenol. I can only imagine I'd fall into a month-long coma on Ambian!
ReplyDeleteThis is frightening, clever, wild, and did I mention, frightening? That's some strong med.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Cheryl.
ReplyDeleteAnd just for clarification purposes, my bottle of Ambien looks like it's just Photoshopped into the photo - it's not...it is balanced against my screen on my laptop...you just can't very well see the "ledge" from my keyboard. Honestly, I think it looking like it's floating there is a good statement...as you kinda feel like you're just floating there yourself after you take Ambien.
I'm pretty well convinced that this Ambien is either really, really bad, or very, very good. I must try it sometime, and sometime soon. Thank you for stepping up and volunteering your brain to science.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome, Mike.
ReplyDeleteI thought of a great one for the "Power" one about 10 minutes ago. I'd go in and redo it if I didn't already have the one up and running and ready to come online in 15 minutes. I'm actually kinda mad at myself that I didn't think of it until now.
Stupid me.