Put Me In A Room, Distraction Less

Procrastination is contagious. Here’s a list of 25 things I should be doing (in no particular order): 

1. Cleaning my house.
2. Going to bed at a normal time.
3. Changing my name on my credit cards (last thing!).
4. Updating this blog.
5. Writing back to a foreign exchange friend (from October).
6. Spending the last of my gift cards.
7. Writing my cousin back (from May).
8. Designing a poster for my work.
9. Dying my hair (priorities).
10. Cleaning my car (to sell it).
11. Planning a game night (it was never promised).
12. Visiting my family in Canada (that was promised).
13. Learning Norwegian (seriously).
14. Clothing shopping for a trip next month (see #6, hmmm).
15. Going strawberry picking (missed it last year).
16. Emptying my e-mail inbox (is 300 unread too many?).
17. Getting to work on time (see #2).
18. Watching the end of Prison Break (that show ended?).
19. Reading my book (from 6 months ago).
20. Baking cookies (per request).
21. Finishing this list.

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Sandman, I'm So Alone

This last month has been exhausting. I find myself starring at my monitor and seeing nothing. Last night I tried to repay my debt to the Sandman, but he’s not an easy man to please. I treated myself to a two-hour nap and it turned into a nap of the dead. I call it that because you wake up with no cognitive skills. I only knew that I had been asleep. The time, day, location, and month were a blurry question mark. While the nap was amazing, it terrifies me to wake up so disorientated. (On the positive side I was 100 percent sober and in my own bed. I wonder how I would cope waking up in a stranger’s bed. It was hard enough to reassure myself that it was Tuesday night.)

With my nap plus seven additional hours of sleep, I started today with my fingers crossed. Too often I’ve been waking up tired, drifting off all morning, and napping during lunch. It gets old. It turns out my debt was not repaid. I spent the morning sipping coffee and pacing. Plan B is to learn how to work while asleep.

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Faulty Wiring

I often get into arguments about sleep. Morning and night people have no common ground. We'll never understand each other. I've been accused of being lazy and undisciplined (I’d like to see a morning person stay awake as late as I do). When I started working first shift, my mom thought I'd never last. Be awake and functional before noon? It was unheard of. I was told that the mornings would get easier (not true).

I know why I’m tired during the day (it’s because I don’t sleep at night), but I cherish the nighttime. It's the highlight of my day. I generally can make it to work close to my start time. It then takes a few hours before I’m fully awake. When I get home, I’m wide-awake.

Thursday night for one reason or another was a long one. I had a nap around dinnertime and was awake again until 3 a.m. On Friday morning I was woken up at 10 a.m. (AKA two hours after my shift at work starts). Oh hell. My alarms across the room were both set properly.

I'm glad things are easier now.

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On the Seventh Day...

When I started working, they told me the hours would get easier. They lied. Every morning I wake up late and tired. Mondays are especially rough because I sleep in on Sundays. Once bedtime rolls around, I’m not aware how late it is. Last night was no exception. After buying my tickets to Brewfest, I went back to watching old episodes of House. Around 2 a.m. I call it a night. Five hours sleep is functional.

At 6 a.m., our lousy condo neighbours decided to ring our doorbell and bang on the door. Startled and confused, we thought we had imagined it. Half an hour later it happens again. We hear loud talking. Convinced something might be wrong, we answer the door. Their lower condo unit was flooding and could we be to blame? We don’t share a wall with their unit (they share 3 but not with us). They let us go back to sleep but continue to yell outside our window.

They amaze me. Personally, I would be inside trying to prevent further damage and calling the emergency number. Think much?

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Psychotically Early

I got to work early today. It was a rare morning where everything clicked into place. Is this how it is for other people? I got up, got ready (without rushing), and it was still early. Normally this isn’t possible even if I wake up early and rush. Somehow those extra 20 minutes melt away and I get to work at the same late time. It’s frustrating.

I can only conclude that I suck at the mornings. I can’t remember a time where I didn’t suck at mornings. I was late to kindergarten and it’s been a thing ever since. I don’t enjoy being late, nor do I try to be. It just happens. Someone might psychobabble it’s my passive aggressive way of asserting myself. If that’s the case I’m doing it unconsciously. If you tell me how, I’ll try to change.

I have a theory. For the person who is always on time, I’m their counter-balance. There are two sides to everything. Night and day, summer and winter. That aside, I truly believe that there is no good reason to be late. Not that this helps me be on time.

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