Happy accidents

I've blogged before about Windows 7 causing a few glitches for Virtual Hypnotist, but there's one I haven't mentioned until now. I assume it's a Windows 7 glitch, but it's still a little mysterious to me because it only happens in my "morning" session, not my "bedtime" session. That would lead me to believe there's a glitch in the "morning" code, but the workaround I've found makes me think it's not the code causing the problem.

Here it is, in a nutshell: sometimes the background track to my "morning" session doesn't loop. It plays once and stops, so then I have to listen to the rest of the session with no sound except the speech synthesizer reading the script.

I can fix the problem by exiting the program and rebooting my computer, which is why I don't think the code is the issue; but of course, once I get into the session, the very last thing I want to do is exit and reboot the whole damn machine. :-/ As a result, I've learned to restart my computer every morning when I get up (I leave it running all night with the "bedtime" session paused).

Well, yesterday morning, I rebooted my computer and then noodled around for maybe half an hour before starting my morning session. I didn't think that would be enough to stop the background track, but I knew it might; and I told myself that if it did, I'd just keep going. I've done that before a couple of times and still enjoyed the session.

Anyway, the background track did stop after a couple of minutes. I was already pretty deep because I've used this session so often that it drops me like a rock, and I'd primed myself beforehand to cope with the stoppage if I had to. I was half expecting it to happen...but what I wasn't expecting was that my subconscious mind popped up with the perfect in-session explanation for the problem.

A quick explanation if you haven't read (or remembered) my previous posts about my morning session: It begins with a supernatural Mistress saying she's talking to me live, through my computer. She's been brainwashing me for a long time, and now it's time for more programming. You can imagine some of what happens from there, but if you want some specifics (with a few red herrings), just check out my story If Wishes Were Horses.

The background track is three layered tracks of me chanting mantras about submission, obedience, and my inability to resist my programming. That's what dropped out, just as my imaginary Mistress said she was taking me deeper.

And that's when my subconscious chimed in with the perfect rationale for the chants dropping out. It told me I'd reached such a deep level of programming that Mistress didn't need to use the background chants on me anymore; instead she deigned to speak to me directly, with no distractions to dull my mind.

I was still alert enough at that point to know I was playing a game, so I had a moment of surprised delight at my own inventiveness. Then I let the idea do its work, and within seconds my mind was very nearly blank, with Mistress's words echoing in my empty skull just as realistically as the script said they should.

It was an incredible experience.