A Chick Called Mick

Monday: I turned off the TV after “The Daily Show” and brushed my teeth.  I was a little behind schedule, but by 10:45, it was lights out.

Tuesday: I got up at 6:00 and hit the gym.  That night, I went to see some people I knew in a movie at the 48-hour Film Festival screening.  The show started late, but that was okay since I was late myself.  (Do you know how to get to Cantrell Road?  I didn’t.)  Afterwards, I visited with the movie stars in question and headed home.  I got there a little before 10:00, and I could have made it to bed on time.  Except, I hadn’t eaten dinner.  I made a quick trip to a nearby drive-thru and ate while watching Jon Stewart.  10:30?  I’m full, but not exactly tired.  10:45?  Ready for bed, but not really sleepy.  11:05?  I decided to finish a book I’ve been reading.  11:40?  Turns out, I wasn’t as close to the end of the book as I thought.  12:15? Begin the tossing.  12:30? Add the turning.  Eventually sleep.

Wednesday: I woke up early enough to make it to the gym.  While weighing the pros and cons of a run, I fell asleep again.  I woke up with enough time for a quick shower and a hearty breakfast.  That night, I started winding down early.  Just before 10:00, I was ready for bed.  10:10?  My friend Regina returned an earlier call.  She had had a good day and gotten some exciting news.  We chatted.  10:30?  Regina was exhausted and hung up so that she could go to bed.  11:00?  I was so happy for Regina, that I got an energy boost and was no longer thinking about sleep.  Watched TV.  Read.  More TV.  12:45? Crap. 

Thursday:  I stayed in bed until 7:20.  I didn’t have much time to get ready for work and tried to get up.  Then, I considered calling in sick instead.  In the end, I felt too guilty and got out of bed.  I made more coffee than normal and poured the extra in a travel mug.  The gym stared back at me sadly as I drove past.  The upside was that I would be exhausted by the end of the day and go to bed early.  I’d fix my sleep schedule.  10:30?  After a day of being exhausted and cranky, how was I so wide awake?  Be tired, already.  Be tired!!!  10:31?  Nope, didn’t work.  I checked my email.  10:35?  I saw an email from my friend Jay with the subject line: “this is awful.”  Concerned, I opened it up, and it said: “some horrible girl named elizabeth has commandeered your telephone number. i gave her a significant tongue lashing on her voicemail.”

I bet he did, too.  Poor Elizabeth.  Now, I love Jay for many reasons, but one of them is that when I spoke to him a few minutes later, he called Elizabeth a rude name, and then rapidly followed up with, “I mean, I’m sure she’s a nice person…”  Jay was on West Coast time, so it was still early there.  We discussed his dissertation and he had this really interesting idea for it.  As a hard core nerd, I started thinking about examples he might use in his dissertation and what he would say.  When we finally hung up, I immediately went through my bookshelves to see if I owned anything that he might be able to use.  Then, I made a note to check for more things at work the next day.  I considered getting on the computer to look for sources.  Wait, wasn’t I supposed to be in bed an hour ago?  12:00?  Well, it’s the earliest I’ve gotten to bed since Monday.  That’s progress.

The weekend is shot because--among other things--I got Season Two of “The Wire” and I suspect I will keep promising myself “just one more episode” until I can’t keep my eyes open.  Which means, I’ll be starting over on Monday.  How can I enjoy sleeping so much, and yet be so opposed to going to sleep?