Saturday, May 19, 2007

To sleep, perchance to dream...

Part of working these twelve-hour night shifts is that they leave very little room for living your life when you are working. Ideally, you work your twelve hours, drive home, sleep for a decent amount of time, get up for an hour or two, and head back to work. With my commute, work-related time is about 14 hours when I am on, leaving about 10 hours to do things like sleep and shower and hang out on the Interner and spend time with my husband. When I work several nights in a row, I don't really get to see him because I get home after he leaves for work, and he gets home after I leave for work. Therefore, when I am on three or four nights in a row, it is just him and Otto here at home, fending for themselves.

This week, I decided to mix it up a little and endeavor to have a life amidst those nights of work. Therefore, after working Monday night, I met my mom and some of our Bath and Body Works friends and headed down to a local-ish (an hour away) flea market for some shopping fun. We had a really good time and got some great bargains. However, my original plan to nap on the way there and the way home and then also have time to sleep for four hours before going into work. DID. NOT. HAPPEN.

Instead, I napped on the way home, and then I slept for about three more hours before having to get up and do it all over again. Not a good idea. By the time the shift ended that night, I felt as one might after a night of heavy drinking. My eyes were blurry, and my coordination was a little off. And I was totally sober, although I was not really acting as such.

Because I was facing another night of work, I headed home and went right to bed. I was asleep by 9 AM, and I slept until 4 PM. I was set. I went into work, had a great night, and headed home, feeling less like a drunk and more like a person who just worked a full day but could easily drive home and spend some time in the real world.

Usually, after my last night on, I go home and nap until about noon, and that is enough to get me back on track for staying awake during the day for a few days. I never set my alarm. I have never needed to. I went home and went to bed...and I woke up that evening at 6 PM. Hmmm...maybe I was still more tired than I thought. But now, I thought, I was screwed. How was I going to sleep that night?

I was asleep by 11 PM and slept straight through until 5 AM, when the dog decided it was time to play.

Now, I thought, I am totally caught up. Yesterday, I spent some time with my mom. We went to the movies to see Georgia Rule (good, but a little disjointed and confusing), and then we went out to dinner. And then we headed back to her house to watch Sweet Home Alabama on USA. By the time Andrew had proposed, I was asleep again. I snoozed on her couch until 10:15 and then headed home to bed. Ten minutes into While You Were Sleeping, I was once again asleep and slept straight through until Otto, once again, once again decided it was time play, this time at about 6:30 AM.

Anyway, this has gone past decadent and reached downright ridiculous. I must be caught up now, right? Right?

In other news, tomorrow, Otto gets neutered. Please keep him in your thoughts as he goes under the knife. Hopefully, he will come back a much calmer dog (but still as happy and joyful as he is now).

2 comments:

Jen said...

Good for you for getting Otto neutered. It is better for him the younger he is, and that way he should never exhibit some of the icky male dog behaviors that unneutered dogs pick up such as marking, humping, rolling in smelly things, etc. And it is healthier for him to be neutered while he is still young.

I hope you get caught up on your sleep. I never can seem to do so myself, but I hope you can.

Gunngirl said...

I will keep Otto in my thoughts!

I hope you can get on a better sleep schedule, I know I need my sleep. I think I actually need 14 hours sleep, lol. I'm a sleeper.

Funny you were watching While you were Sleeping lol, I looked at Legally Blonde a couple nights ago. We're on a Reese trip together.