Up All Night
The last two nights, I've had trouble going to sleep. Which is a bit strange for me - I like to tell people that I can go to sleep anytime, any place (in fact, I just now awoke from a little "study break" in my recliner).
However, both nights I made the mistake of reading right through that precious window of time when I'm truly tired and into the Late Night Hours. I usually am asleep during the LNH, thanks to a husband who prefers a rather early bedtime, and so I tend to forget just how much a night owl I really am. But in reality, the hours between 11 PM and 2 AM are my best times - if only it were normal (in my position in life) to get things done during that time! God only knows how many brilliant thoughts I could've been thinking these last few years instead of going to sleep at 10:30!
Anyway, it was a little past midnight when I finished some homework on Sunday night and crawled into bed to sleep, and the last time I remember seeing on my clock was something like 2:37. In the interim, I found myself worrying through all the responsibilities of the week, dreaming up new responsibilities with which to fill any free time, and generally working up my stress level to such a point that it's no wonder I couldn't sleep. Which is, itself, a stressful position. So I remember thinking, this won't do - I've got to concentrate my mind on something Very Boring, like counting sheep. And then I came up with a wonderful idea that worked like a charm.
Unfortunately, when at 12:30 the next night I found myself again with eyes open wide, I had absolutely no memory of the thing that worked like a charm! You see, it worked so well, that I think it got tangled up in my mind with dream matter, and we all know that dream matter is not a permanent entity; it's the kind of stuff that is capable of existing in your mind one moment, and vanishing for eternity the next. So I was back at square one.
This time, I resolved to be more systematic, and to actually remember my technique for the future. And I'm proud to say it worked. I decided to try an old trick from youth; in order to occupy my brain while completing the rather mundane task of eating breakfast in the morning, I used to try to see if I could find all the letters of the alphabet on the cereal box (yes, I was such a child genius). I remember that I always had trouble finding a "j," and I often had to skip that one (much to my chagrin). So I came up with the bright idea of trying to quickly come up with an animal for every letter of the alphabet. I'm proud to say that I did pretty well - although I could think of nothing for "x" and I finally succumbed to "unicorn" when I could think of no other "u" animals (any ideas?). Still awake by the time I reached "zebra," I switched to naming countries, and that did it for sure. I made it to Zambia, but I was bored out of my mind by that point, and sleep wasn't far away.
It's fun. You should try it! (But not while operating heavy machinery...)
However, both nights I made the mistake of reading right through that precious window of time when I'm truly tired and into the Late Night Hours. I usually am asleep during the LNH, thanks to a husband who prefers a rather early bedtime, and so I tend to forget just how much a night owl I really am. But in reality, the hours between 11 PM and 2 AM are my best times - if only it were normal (in my position in life) to get things done during that time! God only knows how many brilliant thoughts I could've been thinking these last few years instead of going to sleep at 10:30!
Anyway, it was a little past midnight when I finished some homework on Sunday night and crawled into bed to sleep, and the last time I remember seeing on my clock was something like 2:37. In the interim, I found myself worrying through all the responsibilities of the week, dreaming up new responsibilities with which to fill any free time, and generally working up my stress level to such a point that it's no wonder I couldn't sleep. Which is, itself, a stressful position. So I remember thinking, this won't do - I've got to concentrate my mind on something Very Boring, like counting sheep. And then I came up with a wonderful idea that worked like a charm.
Unfortunately, when at 12:30 the next night I found myself again with eyes open wide, I had absolutely no memory of the thing that worked like a charm! You see, it worked so well, that I think it got tangled up in my mind with dream matter, and we all know that dream matter is not a permanent entity; it's the kind of stuff that is capable of existing in your mind one moment, and vanishing for eternity the next. So I was back at square one.
This time, I resolved to be more systematic, and to actually remember my technique for the future. And I'm proud to say it worked. I decided to try an old trick from youth; in order to occupy my brain while completing the rather mundane task of eating breakfast in the morning, I used to try to see if I could find all the letters of the alphabet on the cereal box (yes, I was such a child genius). I remember that I always had trouble finding a "j," and I often had to skip that one (much to my chagrin). So I came up with the bright idea of trying to quickly come up with an animal for every letter of the alphabet. I'm proud to say that I did pretty well - although I could think of nothing for "x" and I finally succumbed to "unicorn" when I could think of no other "u" animals (any ideas?). Still awake by the time I reached "zebra," I switched to naming countries, and that did it for sure. I made it to Zambia, but I was bored out of my mind by that point, and sleep wasn't far away.
It's fun. You should try it! (But not while operating heavy machinery...)
Urchin? Might not count though, because dictionary dot com says it must be preceded by "sea". However American Heritage dictionary lists the third definition as "a hedgehog."
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