Tag: sleep habits

Crash!

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I crashed last night when I got home.  I ate dinner and shortly thereafter, I was feeling a bit tired.  So I grabbed my book and the April copy of ANALOG and headed upstairs, thinking I’d read for an hour or two before calling it a night.  After all, it was only about 6:30 or so.  I read Stanley Schmidt’s interesting editorial ("Research I") and then returned to I Remember the Future.  At one point, Kelly appeared, saw me laying in bed reading, and told me that I was going to be asleep any second.  I replied that I was enjoying my book and that I really didn’t feel that tired.

Well, sometime around 7:15 I crashed.  (That’s the last time I looked at the clock.)  When I woke up, it was 9:45 PM, the room was dark, Kelly was in bed, and I was thirsty.  I got some water and went back to bed.  I ended up finally getting up at 3:45 AM–I was just laying around waiting for the clock to strike 4 AM and figured what the heck.

The first week at the new routine is always the toughest.  It will get easier.  I hope.

Border patrol

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I haven’t been sleeping all that great.  Not sure why.  It might be that I’ve been hemmed in by the cats and the border fence that’s been put up in the middle of the bed.  Yes, that’s right, Kelly had put a border fence (read: pillow) down the middle of the bed, which she claims is for her back so that she can sleep comfortably and ache-free as the maternal abdomen continues to grow.  It seems however, that if even a finger of mine crosses the border, Immigration agents take note and push said finger back across the border.  Kelly finds this incredibly amusing for some reason.  I think the cats are in on it, too.  At any rate, I’ve been sleeping less, but maybe that’s a good thing in the long run.  I’m slowing convincing myself to get back on the 4 AM schedule for workouts, and eventually the baby will be coming and from what everyone tells me, sleep goes out the window at that point.  There are really two schools of thought:  get as much sleep as you can now; or prepare for the future.  Given the border disputes going on, I think I’m opting for the latter.

ETA:  Kelly says that I can apply for a "passport" that will allow crossing of the border, but to stay more than five (5) minutes requires a visa.  Sounds like a lot of paperwork, if you ask me.

More odd sleep patterns

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Most people were not at work today.  But Kelly and I headed in as usual.  It was a quiet morning for the most part, but a busy afternoon.  I had lunch with Monica at CPK (Todd was supposed to be there, too, but never showed up.)  I then prepared for a 2 PM meeting that was more contentious than I imagined it would be.  We were told we could leave at 3 PM, but my meeting didn’t finish until 3:20 or so.  Kelly met me at the mall and we did some brief shopping.  I got a new wool coat from J. Crew for those extra cold days.

Got the latest (November 22) issue of NEW SCIENTIST in the mail today.  In fact, I got two of them.  The second was stuck to the first and it made me wonder if that was how I ended up missing an issue a few weeks ago.  Also AOPA Pilot was in the mail.  I also received my book shipment from Amazon:  Incandescence by Greg Egan and Anathem by Neal Stephenson.   I should finish up Marsbound tonight or tomorrow morning and then will start in on Incandescence.

I put the finishing touches on the manuscript for "If By Reason of Strength…" and printed it out.  I’m sending it off on Friday.

Spoke with Dad briefly today.

When I got home from work, I was pretty tired.  I’d been tired since lunch.  I read for a little while and somewhere between 5:30 and 6 PM, I decided to go upstairs and lay down.  I woke up 20 minutes ago, at about 10:35 PM.  Kelly was in bed and I was completely disoriented, having slept nearly 5 hours.  I even dreamed that I was in a bookstore and met up with mabfan  and Barry Malzberg to talk about s.f.  Anyway, I’m downstairs now and going to read for a while, since I don’t feel tired at the moment.


Late night snacks

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Last night was a little odd:  early in the evening, Kelly and I were reading.  Kelly was on the couch and I was sitting by the fireplace.  We both dozed off for a while and woke up around 7:45 PM, and decided to go to bed.  Later, I had a headache and got up to take some medicine and read for a while.  Then I remembered that the series finale of The Shield was on and I watched that.  Close to midnight, Kelly got up because she was hungry.  We were both hungry and so we ate, sitting on the couch at midnight, watching a Tivo’d episode of Charlie Brown’s Thanksgiving Special.

We went back to bed around 1 AM and then were up at 6 AM when the cats were demanding their breakfast.

Sleep

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As I mentioned, my sleep cycle is off somewhat.  Not only that, but I’m back into a phase of disturbing dreams.  Last night’s were a doozy, no doubt thanks to watching two episodes of Dexter.  A dream where you beat someone on the head repeatedly with a giant slab of freshly minted cash is not among my staples.  I’m fascinated by the psychology of sleep and I have a good understanding of what dreams are all about (and it’s not the nonsense that Freud, et. al. spouted about 100 years ago).  Brain scientists are coming to understand the function of sleep more and more.  There are an array of sleep aids available to those who need them.  But here is my simple wish:

I wish that I could sleep without dream, and without waking up for eight straight hours.  And do this on a regular basis.

I know, I know, I’m dreaming!  Whenever I see a little baby or cat sound asleep, softly purring, or making whatever sleeping noise a baby makes, I grow intensely jealous.  (Most people, I’m sure, just go, "Awwww.")  Someone needs to figure out why babies and cats sleep so well and so soundly and why this goes to pot as we get older.  And once they figure it out, they need to do something about it.  That would be an invention to rival the iPhone.

NOTE: LiveJournal is moving locations today, so there will be some downtime.  My apologies in advance if you can’t read this.

More Tiger

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Productive day at work today.  It was cold and overcast and there were threats of snow flurries, but I didn’t see any snow today.  When I picked Kelly up from work, I cleaned up a bit.  I scoured the kitchen, cleaned the litter boxes and took out the trash and recycling.  We watched the two most recent episodes of Dexter this evening, too.

Played some Tiger Woods tonight.  I got my first hole-in-one today (on a par 3).  Also got my second double-eagle.  Not only that but it was right after another eagle.  I finished that round something like 14 under par.  I shot a 58 on a par 72 course.  I had a whole bunch of birdies.  It was by far the best round I ever played.

Spoke to strausmouse  this evening.  He’s back from China.

Not much in the way of reading today.  A few pages of Franklin Roosevelt.  I did finally get the November 8-14 issue of NEW SCIENTIST in the mail today.  Naturally, I’d already read that one online, and so now I am awaiting the next one.

My sleep cycle is off, somehow.  I’m going to bed near midnight.  Been doing it for about a week or so now.  I’ve got to get back on-track.

Sleep!

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I went to bed at 8 PM last night.  I tried reading for a little while, but I was just too tired.  I woke up with a terrible headache yesterday morning and it lingered for most of the day.  I took some medicine before going to bed and then finally seemed to help.  I turned out the light maybe 8:10 and was out cold.  Kelly said she came to bed at 9 PM and I have no recollection of it.  I woke up after midnight and she was already in bed.  I was up just before 6 AM this morning, after getting nearly 10 hours of sleep.  I feel much better today.  No headache!

Todd, Karl and I are planning to head to the house at lunch to play Wii for an hour.

Good nights, long days, but I win in the end

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I actually had a good night’s sleep last night.  There is justice in the universe!

Into work at 7:30 and didn’t leave until 6:30.  It was an incredibly busy day.  I don’t really even want to think about it anymore, other than to say that I kept myself entertained by finding my inner Puckishness.

Kelly got fitted in her wedding dress today.  After work we met her friend Becky again (as we did last Thursday) for dinner.  We had Thai food this time and I ordered what I thought was the spiciest thing on the menu, but it wasn’t nearly as spicy as I thought it would be.  Still good though.

Home and watched the Tivo’d season premier of Smallville, which was a good one!

Today was the second day in a row that we received two packages.

No reading today, but I did manage to squeeze in some writing on the workshop story.  I did about 700 words on Part 3 of the story, and I’m happy with it so far.  Off to bed now.  I have another full today tomorrow and then tomorrow evening we are heading up to New Jersey.

I want candy

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I wasn’t as successful completing my list as I had hoped to be today.  I did produce my massive list of reports, I took my suits to the cleaners, I picked up Kelly’s stuff from the cleaners, and we worked on narrowing down our First Dance list.  I didn’t complete anything else on the list, although I made progress reading Rainbows End late this afternoon (I’ve got less than one hundred pages to go).

Stopped at the grocery store after work to pick up a few items.  Spoke with he11o_sunshine , Mom and Dad this evening.

I haven’t been sleeping well, lately.  Lots of weird, disturbing dreams for several nights in a row.  I don’t know what it is, maybe stress, probably just a phase, but I could really use a decent night’s sleep.

Better night’s sleep

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Last night was better. We were in bed around 9:30 PM, I think, and I fell asleep pretty quickly. I was awakened at exactly midnight by the alarm clock. We put a clock on my side last night so I could actually see what time it was when I woke up. Turns out, the alarm somehow got set. I got it shut off and then 9 minutes later, it went off again, and it required Kelly’s assistance to get it shut off that time.

Up around 6:15, showered, and headed into work shortly thereafter. Dad arrives in town late this afternoon. It’s his last Orioles game of the season (against the Yankees). We’re planning on taking him down to Williamsburg on Saturday. Weather looks like it’s going to be perfect.

While eating breakfast this morning, I spent the time looking at kruppenheimer‘s hilarious pictures on Facebook.

No significant meetings today (for a change!) but I’ve got some data migration scripting to work on…

Lunch at home

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I went home for lunch today. Kelly and I were lazy (read: still tired from the weekend) and I didn’t pack my lunch this morning. So around 12:15, I headed home, made myself 2 PB&J sandwiches, and lazed around for 40 minutes or so eating them.

This afternoon, since I’m caught up on my workshop critiques (for the moment), I plan on laying on the couch and doing some reading until Kelly calls.

Cleaning day

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Today is Kelly’s first day at her new job! We drove to Pentagon City together this morning; Kelly got on the Metro and I headed up to the office.

I’ve been cleaning this morning. Friday (August 1) was the first day of my 7th year in the Washington office, and this morning, I decided I needed to clean said office. I’ve had the same posters on the walls for 6 years and it’s time for a change there, too. So I took down my posters of the U.S. Constitution, Declaration of Independence and M.C. Flagg “I Want You” U.S. Army posters. Between Kelly and I, we have more than enough framed pictures for the walls of our new place, so I plan to bring in some of my framed NYC art and put that on the walls here. Feels good to get the office cleaned. It’s kind of like cleaning out all of the clutter in your head. The move is good for that kind of thing, too.

I didn’t sleep well last night. I’m not quite sure why. I felt like I kept Kelly up half the night. I felt okay when I woke up this morning, although now, I detect the slightest of scratches at the back of my throat. I’m hoping it’s just my imagination.

The bike shop called yesterday afternoon. My bike is ready to be picked up. I’ll head over there after work. Maybe go for a bike ride this evening. It’s then my intention to start riding my bike into work this week.

AJ and Denisse came over yesterday afternoon. AJ had been out shopping and so he dragged along his new 32″ LCD TV, fresh off the shelves at Best Buy. I teased him that it was his kind of portable TV. We gave them the tour of the new place and then chatted for a while. Kelly and Denisse went out for a walk and AJ and I watched some of the Yankees/Angels game (in HD!) AJ and Denisse are considering a possible move and they were impressed with our new complex so we went to the office and got them information on the apartments. They talked with a rep there, and they are coming back next weekend to look at some of the apartments in person. Who know? They could end up being neighbors. We went to Shirlington for dinner and ate at Guapo’s. The food was pretty good. Went to Cake Love afterward for cupcakes.

I submitted by story, “The Golden Watch” to Strange Horizons 29 days ago. That’s significant because it marks the longest time I’ve had something at Strange Horizons before receiving a rejection. (I’ve submitted 5 items to that magazine and the previous record for rejection was 28 days, and I’ve gotten a rejection from them in as short as 16 days.) As anyone who has been submitting for a long time will tell you, when it takes longer than usual, it is often a good sign (but not always) because it often means the story has made its way out of the slush pile and to one or more editors for review. So we’ll see how that goes. I’m looking forward to getting started on the writing workshop, which now officially begins two weeks from today.