# My brain has a SERIOUS defect! (warning, not light-hearted!) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 5, 2001, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-brain-has-a-serious-defect-warning-not-light-hearted/71357 "2001-07-05T15:31:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Pyrrho12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b2d939/32.png) [@Pyrrho12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pyrrho12)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2001, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-brain-has-a-serious-defect-warning-not-light-hearted/71357/21 "2001-07-06T11:50:49Z")
Please send my condolences to **AG** as well. That’s a horrible story. As for the memory thing… it may well be that when you were talking to **AG** on the phone you were perfectly awake, but because you were conscious for such a short period of time your brain didn’t have a chance to form perminant memories of the conversation. REM sleep has something to do with the storage of memories. If I has my psych books here, I could probably come up with some better pointless speculation. ---
**Author:** ![Aghris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecccb3/32.png) [@Aghris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aghris)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2001, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-brain-has-a-serious-defect-warning-not-light-hearted/71357/22 "2001-07-06T12:17:04Z")
Astroboy, I too have a similar problem, and from the posts here I see that we’re not alone. By the looks of this a **lot** of people suffer from this. My problem is a bit different. For some reason when I’m woken up and talked to by someone, the thoughts I have and the words I say don’t match up or so. I can’t really explain it, but a conversation may go something like this: Friend: I just called to ask if you go to the beach with us today? Me (sleepy voice): Huh? Yeah, raincoat the work while having the. Friend: Ah, I hear, I just called you out of bed, haven’t I? Me: Wuzzuh. The huffah, rocket an dog willah. Friend: You know what? I’ll just call you back in a few minutes. Me: Luhhummajug, love harass. Parrot the hogga. Friend: Bye. I’ve heard recordings of myself when I’m talking just after I woke up. It’s scary, and not a single word of sense can be made of it. And I can’t remember any of it either when I’m fully wake. The brain is a weird thing. ---
**Author:** ![Astroboy14](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@Astroboy14](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astroboy14)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2001, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-brain-has-a-serious-defect-warning-not-light-hearted/71357/23 "2001-07-06T14:47:10Z")
Man! It seems like a LOT of people have this problem! Don’t we need a support group? Or a “We Are The World” type benefit or something? I vote for a government mandated program to supply all of our SOs with cattle-prods to ensure that we are awake when they talk to us! AG: You awake? I need to talk about something… ME: Huh? Whuzzat? **BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZTTTTTTT!** ME: OKOKOKOKOKOKOKOKOKOKOKOKOKOKOKOK!!! I’m awake!!:eek: I think it would help…😃 ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2001, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-brain-has-a-serious-defect-warning-not-light-hearted/71357/24 "2001-07-06T14:58:14Z")
At least you just forgot. Me, my first girlfriend calls at 6 am to tell me her dad died… and I thought she said her **pet** died. I spent 10 minutes wondering why she was so blubbering, upset, and why paramedics arrived to take care of her dog… ---
**Author:** ![FunkDaddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc79bd/32.png) [@FunkDaddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FunkDaddy)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2001, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-brain-has-a-serious-defect-warning-not-light-hearted/71357/25 "2001-07-07T01:29:17Z")
We learned in a cognition class I took that you need to rehearse (consciously or otherwise) information if you want to remember it. Basically, you gotta roll it around in your head for a while, process it, then it’ll still be there tomorrow. If you’re going right to bed after getting news, you haven’t processed it well enough to make it stick. At least, that’s what happens to me. I’ve had to warn my co-workers to make sure I stay awake for a while if they call me in early in the morning (I’m a casual employee, sometimes get called for a morning shift at 3 in the morning). I’m sorry to hear about both losses. ☹ FD. ---
**Author:** ![Astroboy14](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@Astroboy14](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astroboy14)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2001, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-brain-has-a-serious-defect-warning-not-light-hearted/71357/26 "2001-07-07T17:39:51Z")
So, I saw **Astrogirl** , for the first time since I started this thread, tonight… we went out and had a nice dinner. During dinner, this: AG: I don’t want to go see Jung-In… (seemed like an off-hand comment, which confused me even more than the comment itself!) Me: Uh… huh? Uh… you don’t have to… she killed herself! AG: No she didn’t! Me: She didn’t?!? 😕 AG: No! She committed suicide, and she’s in the hospital now… Me: What?? AG: She swallowed a lot of sleeping pills, and then went to see her mother, who took her to the hospital. She’s been there since… Me: WHAT? I thought she was dead! AG: No, idiot! Why would you think she was dead? Me: Because you TOLD me she was dead! (there followed a period of discussion regarding the difference between “committed suicide” and “TRIED to commit suicide”… take this as a warning, those of you who are contemplating marriage with someone who is not a native speaker of your language!) The upshot is: Jung-In is alive! In the hospital (well, actually, maybe out by now…), and tried to kill herself as an attempt (I speak as a former mental health professional, IE: guessing!) to gain attention to her unhappy condition! Sheesh! So here I am thinking that **AG** is suffering from the guilt of having a friend kill herself, when in reality the friend was just trying (again, my somewhat suspect opinion) to get attention! MAN!! **Astrogirl** is firmly of the opinion that Jung-In was just grandstanding… and I agree… but what a frigging STUPID way to do so!! :rolleyes: Jesus! ---
**Author:** ![Astroboy14](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@Astroboy14](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astroboy14)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2001, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-brain-has-a-serious-defect-warning-not-light-hearted/71357/27 "2001-07-07T17:42:54Z")
As a post-script: If **Astrogirl** had told me that Jung-In tried to kill herself _in Korean_, I probably would have understood that she was NOT successful! Sheesh!!! ---
**Author:** ![White\_Lightning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@White\_Lightning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/White_Lightning)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2001, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-brain-has-a-serious-defect-warning-not-light-hearted/71357/28 "2001-07-07T19:00:01Z")
I hate situations like this, because you’re so _relieved_ when you find out the truth, and of course relief is not at all an appropriate emotion for the situation, so it just makes you feel funny. Well, modify my condolences to Astrogirl from having a dead friend to having a messed-up one. Don’t abandon her now though, just because she did something stupid. She needs help and support from her friends. IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2001, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-brain-has-a-serious-defect-warning-not-light-hearted/71357/29 "2001-07-07T19:44:15Z")
Now I don’t feel heartless at all about recommending that **AG** bring this up with her parents. I think this is a perfect bridge for her to show the 'rents how important it is to have feelings for the one you wed (well duh!). Don’t miss this opportunity to rub it in good. ---
**Author:** ![TVeblen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@TVeblen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TVeblen)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2001, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-brain-has-a-serious-defect-warning-not-light-hearted/71357/30 "2001-07-07T20:15:49Z")
I’m…awed, and I don’t use that word lightly, **AstroBoy**. You and **AG** are living, loving folks reaching across barriers, e.g. gender, ethnic, language, etc. _People_ are the final frontier. As far as your sleep talking thing, don’t sweat it. One of my college roommates and my ex-husband did the same thing: upright, responding and sound asleep the whole time. You aren’t responsible for gonzo hard-wired somatic quirks. It takes some adjustment but some folks can mirror complete alertness while being functionally asleep. Don’t blame or try to re-wire yourself. I suspect any “cure” is drastically worse and more damaging than the “problem” ever could be. Wishing consolation to you, **AG** –and **Jung-In**. I can’t evem begin to sort out the personal, cultural, etc. factors but even contemplated/attempted suicide is traumatic for everyone involved. If long-range, text-based but real-person comfort helps, I’m wishing it for your and yours. Veb ---
**Author:** ![Astroboy14](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@Astroboy14](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astroboy14)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2001, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-brain-has-a-serious-defect-warning-not-light-hearted/71357/31 "2001-07-08T14:27:54Z")
Thanks **White Lightning** , **Zenster** , and **TVeblen**! And everyone else, of course! Sometimes it’s best to just throw your hands in the air and say, “What_EVER_!!” Especially if you are dating **Astrogirl**! What’s REALLY weird is that, for all of the differences and difficulties that we have, she is **perfect** for me! Does that speak well for her, or badly for me? I don’t know! And I don’t care!! I LOVE **Astrogirl**!! I’m a lucky guy, even if it is sometimes a bit difficult to see it!😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-brain-has-a-serious-defect-warning-not-light-hearted/71357.md?page=1)