Rant #2,393: Sleep Walk

Yes, I am writing this blog entry a bit early today, mainly because I am up and about already.

I did not have the greatest sleep in the world last night, and when it hit about 5 a.m., I figured that since I usually wake up at 6 a.m. anyway, what's one more hour of sleep to me at this point?

I actually woke up, pretty much for good, at about 3 a.m. this morning, maybe a few minutes earlier than that. Since then, I just haven't been able to go to sleep, although between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m., I was in some type of slumber for a couple of minutes during the time period, but I wasn't fully asleep.

Now I have to ask myself--and I guess you do too--why I didn't have too great s sleep last night. I think there are several factors to consider, one of which is not that I had anything heavy on my mind overnight. Usually when I have some type of insomnia, something is playing on my mind, but really, nothing like that happened last night.

One factor that does have to be considered is my normal sleep pattern, which is not that great to begin with. I have never been much of a heavy sleeper, even as I child I have been told, and yes, I have been checked for sleep apnea, and no, I don't have it.

Some people can sleep all day. My father is like that, my son is like that, but I have never been much of a sleeper. I am very much like my mother; we sleep a few hours, wake up, maybe sleep an hour or two more, but really, we don't need eight or 10 hours of sleep like many people do to help us prepare for our day.

I also have been going to sleep pretty early lately. In particular, when I watch professional wrestling with my son at night--and this is every weekday but Thursday, and sometime on the weekend, too--I end up falling asleep early. The last two nights, I have fallen asleep at about 8:30 p.m.--right in the middle of the show--wake up briefly at 10 p.m., and dive into the bed a few seconds after that, so this past evening, that very thing happened, which means I slept from about 8:30 p.m. to near 3 a.m., so I did actually get a little more than six hours sleep, so maybe using "insomnia" is inappropriate.

Usually when this happens--and it certainly happened on Tuesday night into Wednesday morning--I wake up, and then after anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour, I fall asleep again--but Wednesday evening going into Thursday morning, it did not happen, so that is why I am typing this blog entry out so early.

It was 5 a.m. already, and I basically thought to myself, "What's the use?"

And then I got up.

Add to this that my allergies are haywire at this time of year--I have year-round allergies, and the strange weather we have been having have upped the pollen count to extremely high levels--and you don't have to wonder why I have been getting up in the middle of the night pretty regularly lately.

I go for my allergy shots this Saturday. Maybe that will help.

Maybe I can go to sleep later. There is no wrestling tonight, so I can't use it as sort of an electronic sleeping pill, and perhaps I can stay up a bit later.

And as I type this, my allergies have kind of leveled off, and I do feel I can breathe again.

Let me say that before you jump to any conclusions, no, this has absolutely nothing to do with me being in the early stages of getting the coronavirus. My allergy pattern hasn't changed at all for the past year, the past two years, the past 10 years, and I am one of those people who go through this and have to deal with it.

Thank God that I know that this is not a major change in my health, and that I am not on the road to getting this disease. I can only feel for people like my sister, who have experienced breathing problems for the first time in their lives. And yes, even though I have such problems here and there with my allergies being as bad as they are, I can't possibly imagine the severity of what they are going through.

I have been getting allergy shots continuously since I was 15 years old, and nearly 48 years of getting them, without stop, have helped me immeasurably. I still can't imagine what these people stricken with this disease are going through as far as breathing, though.

But back to my lack of sleep ...

I think this morning it was just one of those things. I think even the most healthy of people in mind and body have nights where sleeping is at a premium, and I think that that is probably what happened last night to me.

Will I conk out during the day and take a nap to make up for whatever sleep I have lost?

Perhaps. I have been known to do that as I have gotten older. I never did it as a kid, but during the past 10 years or so, every once in a while I do take a nap.

But right now, I am so busy that I don't have time to take naps.

As I have said time and time again, I have used my time off to my advantage. Where some people fumble for things to do, my nearly seven months in purgatory have opened up new doors for me, even if the doors have only been personal ones.

I am currently editing that novel I told you about the other day. I am about half through with it, and I hope to finish by Friday. At that point, I have to figure out what to do with it--40 chapters and 37,000 words make it on the high end of a novella and the low end of a novel--and that will be my next pursuit, but I don't want to put the cart before the horse. One thing at a time.

Then I have continued digitizing work that I do at home. Sure, this is pretty much stuff I do for myself, allowing me to listen to my record collection in the car, but it is time consuming and a lot of fun. I have really gone afar of just doing my vinyl records now,  as I have started to do some cassettes that I have, as well as cassette singles, known as cassingles. Digitizing music on tape presents it own unique challenges, but with so much time on my hands, why not dive into those challenges head first?

And then there are the usual things that I do that eat up a lot of time during the day, including looking for work. I have not given up by any stretch of the imagination, it is something I am mandated to do by New York State, and my hope is that somebody will look at my resume during this pandemic period, maybe put it aside for now, but will have a collection of resumes, including mine, to choose from when the job really becomes available.

I also have my weekly food shopping to do, and I will do that today with my son helping me out, since my wife goes back to work today after having a few days to recover from working at her bank. No, it hasn't been easy for her, and her story of being on the front lines--which somehow some forget when they talk about people who are dealing with the public during this pandemic--is an interesting one, to say the least.

And I am still dealing with my parents, who I have to say, are doing quite well at this point in time. I do have to drive them to doctors on occasion--even during the pandemic--and I will have to do that next week. But overall, we should all be so healthy when we reach our late 80s.

And I am being tasked with fixing up the room where all my records are, and where the computer is that I am typing this out on, so I have made some strides in that area, although it will probably be a few months before this room is done. Yes, it remains a mess, but I am trying, so give me some credit.

So there you have it.

As you can see, it isn't even 6 a.m., and I am a bundle of energy.

Maybe that is why I didn't sleep well last night.

I guess I need to turn it down a bit, but since I have been in this purgatory I am in, it is just so difficult for me to do.

Let me douse the flame a bit ...

It is time for my shower.

Speak to you tomorrow after a good night's sleep (?).