Sleepy, but Can’t Sleep

I’ve been hit with insomnia the past couple of weeks. I get myself all tucked in at the normal bedtime, and just as I start to drift off - BAM! I’M WIDE AWAKE! Then I’ll have trouble getting to sleep for most of the evening, and as a result I’ll hardly be able to keep my eyes open all day at work. I’ve been requiring a lot more coffee than normal lately, I’ve went from making one thermos to two in the morning.

This wouldn’t be a bad thing if I got up in the middle of the night and did something productive. Instead, I flop around and toss and turn and whine and whimper and generally annoy the hell out of Lizzie. Eventually, I get up and read or look around on the internet for a while.

I used to get by on very little sleep when I was going to school. There were many nights I just didn’t sleep at all, and the day after was always unbearable and I always regretted not getting any sleep the night before. Catching up on sleep on a bench in the IDS tower’s Crystal Court downtown was no picnic, what with all the homeless people wandering around. I couldn’t sleep in the school’s student lounge, because all the benches were always taken by other students sleeping. It was nice to know I wasn’t alone. Those were the good old days.

Fall is beyond being here, it just kind of came out of nowhere this year. I had to pull the ice scraper out of my trunk a couple mornings ago, I scraped in my short sleeves for a few minutes and then ran in to pull the winter coat out of the closet. The heat kicked on in the office while it got below 40 degrees outside. Christmas decorations are on sale at Target. The sun is at that awful angle where it hurts the eyes to be facing it and sunglasses don’t help. Either that or I spend too much time indoors - the jury is still out on that.

The other day at work, I was sitting in the lunch room reading. I rested my head on my left arm, and suddenly I found myself waking up and the sunbeam was no longer on my back. I fell asleep in the lunch room. Don’t worry, I wasn’t late getting back to work or anything.

I’ve been going into work early Wednesdays through Friday, I’m just more productive in the mornings, especially in the latter part of the week. It’s harder getting up at 4:45 in the morning though, especially when it’s pitch black out and it’s getting to be below 30 degrees in the mornings. At least I beat the traffic, that’s the best part and will be really nice once we start getting snow. Traffic in the winter is really brutal around here, especially in the morning. I don’t think I was hardly ever to work at a consistent time last winter.

In case you were wondering, I’m still pretty torn over the elections. I can’t come to any conclusions, even after listening to the debates on the radio and spending all of those sleepless nights reading about the political agendas online. My best bet right now seems to be that I should cast my vote for all the independent candidates to help them meet their 5% quota so that their parties get automatic inclusion in the next elections. Otherwise they have to get a lot of signatures to get on the ballot and into the debates next time. See, voting independent isn’t pointless. They get the 5%, and it makes it easier next time when there is an amazing independent candidate that actually has a chance against the DFL and GOP. For those who think Independents never have a chance, remember that Minnesota elected an Independent Governor a few years back, and he was a former pro-wrestler, remember him now? The sad part of it is, that pro wrestler probably did more for this state than our current Governor has in his four years.

Well I think I might go out for a walk this afternoon. It’s actually pretty nice out today, in the upper 50’s and sunny. All the geese are hanging out in the parks this time of the year, and they’re usually pretty fun to check out. Maybe I can catch up on some sleep on a park bench… haha. Maybe I was homeless in a previous life… Seems odd that I fall asleep so easily on benches, doesn’t it? See-ya later…