Unusual
The first unusualness is in that for six days straight—ever since I started the sleep study—I had better than halfway-decent sleep. I can’t remember the last time I got amost a week of nearly uniterrupted sleep, plenty of it and all in bed. Alcoholism and addiction being fear-based diseases, I was working up to a fear that I wouldn’t qualify for the study since I was sleeping well—relatively well.
Given that I’ve been sleeping well—again a relative term as compared to most people—my days have gone well too. I’ve been able to do things and, despite the ever-present gloomy skies, there’s been no darkness of mood. And when I say do things, I mean stuff like cook, clean, do the dishes, pay bills, shop, write letters, and reply to email, besides work. All these things are nearly insurmountable chores that require tremendous effort when the darkness descends.
Last night ended that. After midnight I went to bed anyway. I spent the first part of the night restless and barely under. I got up at 4:00, read a while, then dragged the covers and pillows out to the couch. I fell asleep around 6:00 and awoke at 11:00 feeling foggy and with painful joints. Yes! Back to “normal”!
As I write this, it’s sunny, I have the windows open and laundry hanging outside on the fire escape to dry. This is not the usual sort of thing for January in Rochester, where snow and highs in the teens are the norm.
Since Christmas Eve, it’s been very mild. Today is unusual even by that. The ten-day forecast calls for a high below freezing only on this coming Sunday. Otherwise, after another 50° day tomorrow, it’s 30s and 40s all the way out. Cloudy of course, but still warm.
Fellow weather pessimists expect the other shoe to drop in the form of massive nor’easters come March. Stay tuned.
Unusualness fills my calendar as well. Last night I went to the movies. It may have been as long as a year-and-a-half since I’ve gone. Brokeback Mountain of course. A friend had comps and he asked me along.
Friday night is is another of the regular Friday-the-13th parties at another friend’s out in the suburbs. They’re not horror-themed parties. It’s just convenient way to plan parties in advance, much like you do for holidays, only without competing parties. There are usually quite a few people with widely differing backgrounds and plenty of food. They’re having a jazz trio play this time and, as usual, I’ll spend the night.
Then on Saturday is the after-the-holidays staff party at the library. I’m taking my baked chicken and rice casserole thing. Someday if I ever get past the pinch-orthis-dash-of-that stage, I’ll post the recipie. It’s not like any other I’ve had or seen.
Anyway, I still need to find a white-elephant gift. It’s not a regular work Saturday for me, but there are tons of little projects kicking around and a few extra hours in the budget, so I asked if I could come in and work on them. The boss said that was fine. So I’ll get a few extra hours’ pay too.
Ah, CBC on IM. Too many words in too many windows, so I’ll end here.
