Philip J. Cook's Blog
April 9, 2018
Dreams and a Near-Death Experience
I am one of those fortunate people who can manipulate their dreams whilst actually sleeping. Not in all cases, just now and then.
How I can do it I have no idea. I am fast asleep dreaming away as you do then suddenly I become aware of the dream as if I’m a participant. The dream carries on its merry way on its own until I become somehow unhappy with its progress and I send the dream in a different direction. And quite often, if I feel like it, resume the original track. I have been able to do it for years and enjoy it for I often remember the dream when I wake. Especially the dreams where I fly.
However, four months ago I had a very strange experience whilst sleeping. This was, of course, a few weeks after being diagnosed with three terminal illnesses. Aye, three of the buggers and I don’t know which one is going to win.
Ischaemic heart disease
Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis
Emphysema
For those who doubt me, I have documentary evidence in the form of hospital discharge notes itemizing each of the diseases.
Anyway, back to the sleeping.
Again it started as a normal dream but didn’t last for long before I became aware of what I was seeing. What was different this time to the others was the position of myself.
I was floating above myself looking down on me specifically. I have never dreamt of myself like this before and I recall feeling a sense of not terror but something akin to it.
I was in a supermarket of all places, sitting on a bench running along the inside of the front window watching the trolley of goods my wife and I had just purchased. I was waiting for my wife to return as she’d gone out to the car in the car park. My gaze was drawn to my left towards the main doors of the shop and I saw a woman standing just inside the double-doors staring at me. She looked puzzled at first as if she was wondering what I was doing there but that lasted only seconds as she then waited for me to go over to her. I almost did for it is then my ‘dream’ manipulation began. From above I could see my head stretching like Munch’s ‘Scream’ towards her and I knew that if I allowed myself to reach those doors then I was never going to come back. I entered my body from above and pulled my head back to normal as I stared at the woman. The struggle lasted only moments for two other people entered the shop just then and distracted the woman and she disappeared. And so did I, for I sat up in bed immediately shaking like a wind-blown leaf, absolutely convinced that I had nearly died. I did not settle down to sleep again until the morning sun touched my face.
The lone woman I recognized. She was my niece from my first marriage who had died a while back. She was a lovely girl.
November 9, 2015
Windows 10 error messages
Anyone thinking of upgrading to Windows 10 think twice or even three times. There is a serious problem with starting up. A Critical Error message pops up every now and then stating that ‘Start menus and Cortana are not working’ and believe me it’s murder to access your computer afterwards. It does clear for a few days and then reappears. I wish I had never upgraded! BE WARNED!!!
August 12, 2015
There are advantages to short-term memory loss
A gripping read, thoroughly enjoyable.
I am 67 years of age and know all about this…I think…I’m not sure. Never mind at my age I’m entitled to forget a few things although I never forget my family..they never allow me to! My employer takes the michael out of me on occasion when I forget the names of lorry drivers, he forgets that I meet roughly sixty drivers a day and they’re not all the same ones…I don’t think so anyway.Anyhow, I can recall events and people from years ago…very strange, mind you some of them were very odd. I was one of four graduates who passed from junior school to grammar school at the age of 11 and I’ll never forget how I was informed of the result of the examination. My form teacher stood up in front of the class of about forty of us and told everyone the names of the first three and then he came to me. I quote “and surprise upon surprise Philip Cook as also passed” unquote. I lived with that statement for the next five years as it was often thrown up at me in the playground by unfeeling fellow pupils. I often wonder if that statement was the cause of my late development for looking back on it I recall now what the teachers were trying to instill in me. Gawd! there was one maths teacher, my first in that school and his first appointment I believe, he couldn’t teach me x-squared. That truly was a horrendous time.
But enough of the negativity and let’s get back to the title. Can there possibly be an advantage to short-term memory loss? I mean apart from “forgetting” the wife’s birthday (it doesn’t damage your pocket quite as much as she always tells me never mind). Now, I’m a writer, at least I hope I’m not being presumptuous when I say it, an author of three books with a fourth on the way. However, I am an avid reader as is my wife. I cannot sit down and watch normal television, all these reality programmes drive me up the wall. I do, however, watch dvds…box sets of British TV detectives and British comedies, sorry America! I also watch and have a fine collection of fantasy films, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, etc. But my true love is reading. Hence the picture above of the latest book I’ve read for the second time (and there will be a third).
And because I suffer short-term memory loss I can read and read again the same books over and over. Why? Because I’ve probably forgotten the plot from the first time around. It’s lovely reading and reading…and reading…it’s magic!
Tagged: fantasy books, memory loss, reading
July 9, 2015
Audio books
I have been asked by many people if they can purchase my novels on cd, therefore I need to create an audio copy of this book. But there is so much confusing detail on-line can anyone advise me?
Tagged: audio books, publishing
June 10, 2015
Technology made easy for me!
I created this QR code (or rather http://www.qrstuff.com/ did it for me) all in under one second. Clever stuff qrstuff. Scan this code with your QR scanner and it takes you right to this my blog/website. It will, of course, be used to advertise my novels when I get it printed on posters and flyers.
Tagged: QR code
June 9, 2015
Another quickie, this one concerning Twitter
:-( Can anyone explain the method used by Twitter to count followers? Since I reached the magic figure of 2,000 my followers have decreased despite being notified by email that I have had at least another hundred followers. Perhaps Twitter admin doesn’t like me!
June 6, 2015
New cover for ‘I CANNOT KILL!’
At last I’ve chosen the new cover. I hope you like it. This is the link to its spot in Amazon although the paperback cover shown won’t change until next week – the Kindle copy has.
I don’t know why this didn’t appear on my first post!
© Fotokostic | Dreamstime.com – Dragon Rider Photo
This is the old one! A bit boring, hey?
Tagged: Amazon, castles, fantasy books, Lord Tragen, magic, Plague Book Two of The Search, The Gateway, wizard
May 18, 2015
Plague for free
Plague is free on Kindle for the next 5 days. Enjoy! (and this is NOT Johnny Depp).
Tagged: Augusta, castles, fantasy books, Kindle, Lord Tragen, magic, Pirates, Plague, sailing ship, wizard
May 9, 2015
My fantasy trilogy on youtube
c/o dreamstime.com
Castle of Mantovar
c/o dreamstime.com
Is he a nice guy or a bad one? You’ll have to read the trilogy to find out.
Just playing about I, with the help of you tube video creator, came up with a short (very short) video of my three books. Nobody was more surprised than me when it came out looking like this! see it at https://youtu.be/3dInq2xaDgg It is entitled ‘fantasy trilogy the search’.
Tagged: Augusta, castles, fantasy, fantasy books, Lord Tragen, magic, Plague, Plague Book Two of The Search, The Gateway, wizard
The Gateway is free on Kindle 5 days only.
For those who may be interested in fantasy novels I have placed my first novel free on Kindle. Enjoy on me.
Tagged: Amazon, castles, fantasy, fantasy novels, Lord Tragen, magic, The Gateway, wizard
