Nightly Conversation

Monday night I didn't fall asleep until 5 a.m. Wednesday it was 4 a.m. There is a plus side to this. I get to spend time with my brother who doesn't come home during the week until 2 a.m. So we've been talking.

Last night was Watch C-SPAN and Make Fun of the Democrats Night. Loads of fun. Honestly, the average republican was more respectful, articulate, and fact-focused than his democratic counterpart. It was almost unreal at times.

We also found ourselves on a bit of a rabbit trail. It went something like this:
Me: Do you want to see The Dark Knight on Saturday?
Bro: No. What is it?
Me: It's the new batman movie.
Bro: It has Heath Ledger as the joker, doesn't it? A female coworker of mine was raving about him at lunch.
Me: I'm not surprised.
Bro: It was so annoying when he died. That's all the girls on campus were talking about. They were walking around campus holding up dvds with his face on them saying, "Heath Ledger this. Heath Ledger that. OMG!" So I joined in after awhile... "Heath Ledger? Heath Ledger! Heath Ledger!!!??" [sporting a crazed look on his face].
Me: That's mean.
Bro: So?
Me: Can Heath Ledger help it if he makes girls swoon?
Bro: No, he can't help it if he makes girls swoon. But it's counterproductive to society. They [the swooning girls] could use their time better. In the 19th century the national pastime was politics. Now it's sports and entertainment.
Me: You like sports.
Bro: Yes, but it doesn't consume me. If a team wins or loses, it doesn't really have an effect on me.

At one point it shifted in direction to:
Bro: I can't tell if a guy is hot or not. I don't look at guys that way.
Me: That's good to know.

My brother's the best.

Dead to Me

I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't feel my left arm. I mean nothing from my shoulder to my hand. When I used my right hand to touch it, it was freakish. Alarmed, I immediately got up, causing my left arm to swing around and hit my floor lamp and my left hand to then smack my face. Within a minute the tingles started, I could feel my arm again, and I fell back asleep.

This Just In!

I woke up happy this morning. This never happens. Most days I will eventually get in a decent mood, but since I don't consider myself a morning person, the first thoughts in my mind when slowly drifting into consciousness aren't normally positive.

I will blame this unusual occurence on one thing: prayer. I went to bed praying last night. I even fell asleep praying. My requests included that God bless my sleep, my night, and my morning. I prayed for peace and joy. And, oh my goodness, I think I got it! I just find this encouraging and had to share...

My Hidden Talent

I have a hidden talent. Yes, that's right. Out of everything I do and am capable of, there's only one thing that can fall under the qualification of both "hidden" and "talent." Thankfully, once I share this with you, it can still be considered hidden because I am not widely read. (Yes! The benefits of being an unknown!)

So what is this hidden talent? After not being exposed to a clock for a period of time, I can guess the approximate time of day. (We're not talking about "morning" or "afternoon" but actual times.) On occasion I even correctly guess the time to the exact minute. For some reason this gives me great satisfaction.

The guess that I am most proud of was sometime in the summer or fall of 2007. I had gone to bed at a somewhat reasonable hour, but woke up an unknown period of time later in the darkness of my bedroom. Without any indicators as to the time of night/early morning, I correctly guessed the exact minute. (Although today I do not remember what it was.)

The most recent correct guess wasn't as amazing, but it did involve me "winning" against a certain boyfriend who will remain nameless.

College Flashback

Last night I went to bed early. Well, early for me. I had the lights out by 10 p.m. and fell asleep very nicely. However, I later awoke to my parents watching television, talking, and laughing. Looking at my clock, it was 11 p.m. Uggghhhh, I thought. I got out of bed and into the hallway, squinting in the light. I looked at my parents and said, "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm trying to sleep." At that I went back to bed and fell asleep again.

Sleeping Tricks

Do any of you


have tips or tricks


to sleeping at night?

"Sunday" Post

Can't sleep. So I'm getting my Sunday post out of the way.

Today was good. Today was really good.

Baby shower tomorrow for someone I graduated with in high school.

My Alarm Clock, the Morning, and Me

The first few times my alarm goes off in the morning, I'm not necessarily ready to get up. And most of the time, I don't even realize that my alarm went off. I'm so out-of-it that I think something else happened.

Like today. My alarm goes off. I roll over, annoyed, thinking some stupid Frenchman made an annoying comment on my blog. I think, "Annoying Frenchman!" and push the snooze button, thinking I have silenced the evil Frenchman. (Apparently I hate France. Who knew?)

A few buzzings later, and I realize... there is no evil Frenchman. All that exists is my alarm clock, the morning, and me.

Some other morning imaginings I have had include being involved in a debate with some friends, meeting with a client at work, and finishing a tax return. I'm sure there's more, though.

Signs you didn't get enough sleep last night

An undeveloped "market" has recently come to my attention. Let's say you're not a good judge of whether the amount of sleep you had the night before was adequate. How can you tell? Who do you turn to? No need to worry... a book is in the works:

"Signs you didn't get enough sleep last night":

-As you begin to awaken and sit up in bed, you start to fall asleep again, while sitting upright.

-The pillow wrinkles on your face are more noticable than last week's black eye.

-Your first thought after gaining coherency is "...cofffffee..."

-Your eyeballs feel like they might sink into their sockets.

-It takes you more than a minute to remember why you walked into a room.

-You ask your boss the all-important question, "You know today's Wednesday, don't you?" (He then looks at you like you're missing a few bolts.)

-You laugh almost uncontrollably at random, mundane thoughts.

Please, I am running low on material. In order for my book to actually be picked up and published, I will need other "signs" people have experienced...