Tag: Sleep

Working while Sleeping

 This music is supposed to wake me up. The coffee is supposed to wake me up, Why, then, am I not waking up?

Maybe I should type this half-asleep. I can actually type half-asleep, at least for a couple sentences before I wake up and check it. But I can’t transition to the next idea without being awake.

Wouldn’t being able to type while asleep be a good thing? Think about how much work you can get done while asleep! All the times you said “I could do this in my sleep”? What if you could?

Think about being able to type out your dreams while still having them? Ok, maybe writing on a pad with a pen, as I don’t generally sit up while dreaming. I’d love to capture my dreams, though, so maybe sitting up while sleeping would be worth it. A sleep chair and a computer desk? 

Maybe this wouldn’t be a good idea. If employers found out you could work in your sleep, they would assume you could answer emails in your sleep, and then you’d never get any rest. I’m salaried, so my 55-hour week could eventually expand to a 140-hour work week. I don’t like that idea.

I think I’ve convinced myself that being productive while asleep isn’t such a good idea. That’s fine — the coffee is finally taking effect.



Update (personal)



My brain feels rusty.
These last couple days I’ve been trying to recover from a tooth pulling/the meds/getting off the meds (hydrocodone does a number on me, but so does pain). 

Best rejection ever.
I got a rejection on Prodigies from Stirling Publishing (UK) which sounded like an almost-acceptance. I don’t feel too bad about it. 

Glass half-full
Lately I’ve gotten second places and honorable mentions on my short story/poetry submissions, so I feel like maybe either my work is getting better or it’s finding its home. Or my luck is getting better. I’m still frustrated and still looking for an agent.

Time to go to bed.

Lack of Sleep

Bad things happen when I get only three hours of sleep.

I view life looking through the telescope backward, and the world is a tiny pinpoint surrounded by black. My body feels like it is wavering in space, like heat shimmers on the road.  My brain gets overwhelmed by my ears ringing, and my emotions heat up for a confrontation.

That’s where I was yesterday, on a trip to Kansas City. I didn’t feel tired, or even exhausted — I simply didn’t feel anything inside my cocoon. My words were variations on “how dare you not see that we shouldn’t have come down here?”

Lack of sleep is a dangerous condition for me, because it kicks off hypomanic attacks, where I drag myself through life trying to accomplish everything, sleeping little while watching words and phrases put themselves together like train cars in a railyard. I will probably not be going there thanks to my medications and a twelve-hour nap last night. Still, I fear that place enough that I take care of myself and follow instructions.   

This morning feels better — I overslept for an extra hour and I still feel groggy, but it’s time for me to wake up and write. 

Half awake

The feeling when you’re half-asleep and you can hear things around you move and stir; you let the sounds wash over you as you lay still, hanging onto the lassitude of your muscles and the fuzziness of your mind. You could move, break the film that separates you from the awake state; instead you lay suspended between the two states as long as possible. Outside is cold and things are expected of you; under the covers holds you in the arms of your childhood for just a few more moments.

Naptime

What I could use right now is a good nap.

I think it’s the change in the seasons, even though it’s supposed to get up to 85 degrees today. Or maybe it’s because midterms are coming up, or Missouri Hope is coming up, or …

I am falling asleep at the computer while I type.

I miss my morning naps from kindergarten, when we put rugs on the floor. I didn’t nap back then, instead staring up at the bare bulb in the hallway outside the door, and imagining conversations with it. If I had known that my future would be bereft of morning naps, I would have taken advantage of the time and slept.

Napping, especially in the middle of the day, is oddly satisfying, Thoughts of what needs to be done retreat temporarily and comfort seeps into my bones. My mind wanders into dreams of sorts, and then shuts off. Then I wake up 20 minutes later with my mind less cluttered and my body rested, and it’s time to enter the fray again.

I really need a nap right now.

Sleep Hangover

Sometimes my body just decides to take over in scheduling rest into my life.

I was sleeping, body, honestly. I was getting eight hours of sleep a night. Why did you decide I needed to take a 20-hour nap?

I’m still a bit sleepy today, probably hung over from all the sleep. The coffee has done no good. I need to WAKE UPPPP!

Donations for more coffee will be accepted. Send pictures of coffee.