Night Moves

Night Moves started two weeks ago. Here is Tianna sprinting home:

Sleep Paralysis

Around 6 am this morning, I had another episode. I was asleep in my bed when I felt a malevolent being in my room. Once again, I couldn't move or scream. I felt pinned to my bed. The room appeared to be spinning but I soon realized it was just my eyes darting around the room looking for the foreboding presence to materialize. All of a sudden, water gushed out of the ceiling lamp similiar to a fire sprinkler system. Soon, I was drenched in water. I couldn't move. I was drowning.....

Sleep paralysis is a condition in which someone, most often lying in a supine (face up) position, about to drop off to sleep, or just upon awaking from sleep realizes that s/he is unable to move, or speak, or cry out. People frequently report feeling a 'presence' that is often described as malevolent, threatening, or evil. An intense sense of dread and terror is very common. The presence is likely to be vaguely felt or sensed just out of sight but thought to be watching or monitoring, often with intense interest, sometimes standing by, or sitting on the bed.

I didn't realize this was actually a condition that others have experienced. It is a frightening experience that occurs quite frequently for me. From what I gathered on the internet, sleep paralysis occurs when the brain awakes from a REM state, but the bodily paralysis persists. Various factors increase the likelihood of both paralysis and hallucinations:

Sleeping in a supine position (facing upwards)

Increased stress

Artificial sleeping aids, ADD medications and/or antihistamines Irregular sleeping schedules; naps, sleeping in, sleep deprivation

I've been sleeping in the supine position (and increasing height of pillows) to help minimize the baggy eyes I acquire in the mornings due to my allergies. So on top of sleeping in the supine position, I was also taking various antihistamines. I was also up late programming last night. I'm sure these attributed to the sleep paralysis this morning.

My earliest account of sleep paralysis occurred when I was probably seven or eight years old. I had the feeling of being pinned to my bed and I couldn't move or scream. I saw a "being" float into my room. She cried softly as she laid down next to me. I was terrified - I couldn't move!! At the time, I thought I saw a ghost, but now I realize it was probably sleep paralysis.

I only thought this was worth mentioning as it is occurring frequently. Each occurrence rendering me closer to suffocation. It's getting close to bed time .. :(

Installing cURL on WindowsXP / IIS

Tonight I was messing around with PHP's cURL - A command line tool for getting or sending files using URL syntax. It all started because I need to handle cookies in PHP. After an hour or so, I finally go it to work on Windows XP / IIS. I wanted to give credit to the 3-4 web pages that helped me.

PHP: Curl - download information
blog.igeek.info
Tony Spencer

Basically in a nutshell:

1. uncomment the line in your php.ini where it says php_curl.dll and save the file
   
2. copy php4ts.dll and libeay32.dll, ssleay32.dll(these last two found in the "dlls" directory of your PHP directory) to SYSTEM (System32 for XP) folder
   
3. restart IIS(you might've to restart windows if you are on Windows 2000 or if you don't have php.ini path specified in the registry)
   

* make sure msvcrt.dll is in your System Folder

When I started this, I downloaded libeay32.dll, ssleay32.dll off the internet and stuck it in the System32 folder. For good half hour I was frustrated as to why it wouldn't work. Finally, I copied over the two files from the PHP folder and VOILA - it worked.

To check, I just created a quick phpInfo() and there it was:


Now the fun part begins....