Weird thoughts while drifting off to sleep

but I don't remember. I do recall starting several (forgotten) thoughts during which my mind went totally blank. So much so that I couldn't even recall a general idea of what I was thinking. This, of course, leaves me wide awake, wondering if it was something important.

Sure that wasn't about Chinese political history. Mao Tse Tung?

That was exactly it Roger. That's why I thought it was ingeneous.

I started trying to think of other words/names that could be separated out by words, then fell asleep.

I have noticed that many "lucid dreams" operate at simultaneous semantic levels and that this accounts for the weird logic.
For example, a dream about Dr Green, my dentist involved painting his surgery green with Barry Brownleader, a friend from my youth not seen for decades.
The best way to catch these linkages is to write them down immediately on waking as they fade rapidly from consciousness, probably because the "logic" evades retracing.

When I am in the process of falling asleep, but not completely asleep yet, I always have odd thoughts and mini-dreams most of which don't seem like something that would come from me.

Heh, that's great Peter.

In addition, I always loved Krazy Kat and Ignatz Mouse. Haven't thought of them in years.

fresco, I read a book awhile back, can't remember the name about creating artificial intelligence.

Actually, on purpose I just read the 1st half, which involved the functioning of the brain.

It especially discussed the cerebral cortex and its information processing, which leads to making sometimes (at least on the surface) strange connections. Thus when you have some weird random thought during the day, it's your brain searching through its maze connecting some stimuli you may have just had, to sometime that's stored within.

There are also dream substitutions that happen. A dream about temptation might involve being offered an orange, and the orange ends up being a substitute for an apple.