Thanks for all the nice replies everyone and please know I appreciate and consider each and every one (even while I may only respond to select points).

"Trout Mask Replica" ? I'll have to check that out, thanks!

"So your mom can relate? Well, no wonder your music is so imaginative!"

Now that's funny, I don't care who you are! But there's also a serious personal truth there. For better or worse, mom was divorced (dad flew the coop in a very dishonorable manner) and managed to raise us halfway decently on money earned as a professional (hey, even award-winning!) "fashion artist" (which is now an obsolete career; those tradespeople used to be employed by department stores to draw the clothing merchandise, producing ads for the newspapers). She was also interested in "deep" topics so there were always books like Jung's "Memories, Dreams and Reflections" around, not to mention any number of great novels and whatnot. Trips to the library were a big event for us. There were always neat-o specialty pens markers and paints and other art supplies at hand. So I think we can safely say mom may have created an environment that fostered thought and creativity, even if only by osmosis.

"Plus, I learned the correct spelling of hypnagogic." Ha ha! To be honest, I knew the word from an interest in lucid dreaming, etc... but still had to double-check the spelling.