"LDing" to replace "DXing"?POSTED JUL 30, 2010

It's now been two years since I closed the logbook and bid my childhood radio hobby farewell. Though I encounter the occassional pang of nostalgia, I still haven't been tempted to plug in the converter box and start a new ATSC (digital) logbook. AM BCB DXing, shortwave, and VHF/UHF scanning are similarly non-existant. My feelings on this are mixed, because DXing feels like it should belong in the past, but I still haven't filled the activity-gap it left.

Since my writing career (yes, I'm starting to call it that now) was beginning alongside my last active DXing season (spring/summer 2008), and was largely a recreational thing rather than a money thing, I thought that it would fill DXing's role. Now starting my second book, it still hasn't. Another thought related to social networking and internet/website development, which I was expanding myself in at the time. These just didn't end up running along the same lines, though.

The latest idea is an old one from 2004. Six years ago, I began to experience "sleep paralysis," an experience that started about as fun as sleeping on my arm. Researching this, I discovered that SP suggested I was a good candidate for "Lucid Dreaming" (where you can wake yourself up inside a dream and manipulate it). I experimented with it sucessfully for about a year, but it's a lot of work and I have a short attention span, so it didn't last very long after I got lazy :)

Anyway, it occurs to me that lucid dreaming held certain similarities to DXing. It's a fairly geeky thing that doesn't require many supplies to start (but stuff is always optional, of course), where experience helps but success is never automatic (a disappointing DXing season being akin to months with only normal dreams), and where the successes come in unpredictable forms when you least expect them. I even got to keep a logbook, except that they're called "dream journals".

I haven't offically resumed this yet, but am preparing over the next couple of weeks. I've already begun making my sleep schedule more consistent (for other reasons) and this will help. The trick is to stick it out and get my dream recall back up.

Links for those interested:
Wiki page
ld4all Forum

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