I couldn't get to sleep for a long time last night. And when I finally did fall asleep, I didn't stay asleep. As usual, I thought about my novel and my characters, and a single phrase kept repeating in my mind:
"I'm way out here in the middle of crazy."
Since I couldn't get to (or stay) asleep, I finally got up and watched some TV -- and Dr. Phil seemed like a good choice, since we had a taped episode about sociopaths. The first guest was the woman who wanted to control her ex-boyfriend and make him jealous by faking that she was pregnant with his child. To complete the plan, she hosted a casting call for infants of Indian descent for a Bollywood film. She then ran out the back door with the baby, caught a cab, and planned to wave the baby in front of her boyfriend and taunt him. She went to jail. Her response? "I really don't think it was the worst thing a person could do." Okay, I'll grant her that much. But really? In my mind, she is crazy. Perhaps not "insane," because she did recognize that it would have been wrong to KEEP the baby. However, she seemed to think that since she was only "borrowing" the baby, and that she turned herself in, she should not have gone to jail. I would say she was way out in the middle of crazy.
Then came the next guest: an attractive thirty-something woman, in disguise, who claimed that she took pride in being a sociopath. Among her outlandish statements, she said that she hopes to have some sociopathic children some day whom she could shape. In her own disturbing words, her joy in life comes from ruining people, and she wants people to "understand." Call me crazy, but that's just nuts.
So then I went back to bed, and kept hearing the voice repeating:
"I'm way out here in the middle of crazy. Stop by some time. And stay."
Creepy!
"I'm way out here in the middle of crazy."
Since I couldn't get to (or stay) asleep, I finally got up and watched some TV -- and Dr. Phil seemed like a good choice, since we had a taped episode about sociopaths. The first guest was the woman who wanted to control her ex-boyfriend and make him jealous by faking that she was pregnant with his child. To complete the plan, she hosted a casting call for infants of Indian descent for a Bollywood film. She then ran out the back door with the baby, caught a cab, and planned to wave the baby in front of her boyfriend and taunt him. She went to jail. Her response? "I really don't think it was the worst thing a person could do." Okay, I'll grant her that much. But really? In my mind, she is crazy. Perhaps not "insane," because she did recognize that it would have been wrong to KEEP the baby. However, she seemed to think that since she was only "borrowing" the baby, and that she turned herself in, she should not have gone to jail. I would say she was way out in the middle of crazy.
Then came the next guest: an attractive thirty-something woman, in disguise, who claimed that she took pride in being a sociopath. Among her outlandish statements, she said that she hopes to have some sociopathic children some day whom she could shape. In her own disturbing words, her joy in life comes from ruining people, and she wants people to "understand." Call me crazy, but that's just nuts.
So then I went back to bed, and kept hearing the voice repeating:
"I'm way out here in the middle of crazy. Stop by some time. And stay."
Creepy!