"Ah, twenty-two hundred hours," I said to myself as I set my book aside, reached up and turned the light off. Just me and the glowing red numerals on the digital clock. Oh yes, Sasha, the alpha cat was there as well. She gave me that "It's about time you turned the lights down, I'm trying to sleep here..." look.
"Hhmm, I wonder why I can't get to sleep. I mean, I'm tired, I only got six solid hours last night. Hhmm." I tossed and turned a bit more, trying to find a comfortable position in which to drift off to sleep. Hard to do when there's a Dropkick Murphys song running in your head on a continuous loop. Perhaps, like caffeine, I should stop listening to music after a certain time of day?
"Are you kidding me? Seriously? Eleven freaking thirty? I need to get up at 0600 to get to work and get stuff going. Damn but I am tired!"
Your Humble Scribe: "Midnight. Wonderful. Well, I can still get a solid six hours if I go to sleep right now."
Sasha the alpha cat: "Hey, hold it down will ya? Some of us are sleeping..."
"Jeezum Crow* but that was a strange dream. I wonder what time it..."
"Seriously? Two hours? I slept two hours? That's it?"
Yes, Sasha the alpha cat was happy I was awake, she tried to convince me that it was time for her breakfast.
No. It's not. I need to SLEEP!
Toss and turn, toss and turn. "Damn, a whole forty-five minutes has passed since I last looked at the clock. Tomorrow, er, today, is gonna be a mother bear!"
Your Humble Scribe: "Three effing thirty! I have to get up in two and a half hours."
Sasha the alpha cat: "Breakfast?"
Your Humble Scribe: "No. Not now..."
Your Humble Scribe: "Oh what the heck, let's go. I'll get your breakfast."
At that point Anya, Sasha's sister, runs in with an expectant look on her face. Sasha is already in the kitchen, wondering what's taking me so long.
That last time? That's the time I got to work on Tuesday.
If you're wondering...
Yes. It was a long and painful day.
* A phrase that my Mother is inordinately fond of. One day, upon first hearing it, The Nuke informed her grandmother that God knew what she meant. She wasn't fooling anyone with her euphemism.
I can empathize, sarge. That non-sleeping thing can be pure misery.
ReplyDeleteI slept better last night but sleep deficits are tough to overcome. I'm sure that flying to Sandy Eggo on Friday and returning to Little Rhody on Monday will make it all better...
DeleteCats are not our friend at any time after the lights go out.
ReplyDeleteLord help us when they sense we are awake at any time after 3am.
Mine are semi-trained as in they will attempt no more than 3 times to get my butt out of bed. Then they start bothering "Mom." Normally they are content to wait until sunrise.
DeleteI once had two cats (brothers) who knew when Saturday and Sunday occurred. They would let me sleep in. I think that, like me, they enjoyed staying up late and sleeping in on the weekend.
The sisters? Not so much.
Sleep is good. Anymore and it's elusive . . . especially after 3 in the AM. I'm usually up at that hour to relieve my lasix-induced bladder.
ReplyDeleteAfterwards . . . various aches and pains and mental gymnastics combine to keep me awake. I, no longer, try to fight it. I just pop some Tylenol, then sit myself down in my recliner, turn on the TV, and watch Burns and Allen on the Antenna TV channel. At some point . . . I'll drift off to sleep, sitting up. Usually I'll move my carcass to the sofa at some point and wake up with daylight shining through the window. Yeah . . . sleep is good. (I recall one C.O. saying to me that "Sleep is a weapon." I always thought him to be a wise man.)
The Missus Herself is afraid that once I really retire I will be awake all night and then sleep all day.
DeleteWell, I'm already doing the former from time to time and the latter (while desirable) is frowned upon by my employer. Well, most employers really. But I could live with that, once I actually retire that is, it would be like college all over again.