The Daily Earwig: Hard Day's Night

[CorpGovActivist]

Ever since I was very little, I wake up most mornings with a song stuck in my head.

I call it The Daily Earwig, and have heard others describe a similar daily experience in similar terms.

More often than not, I can figure out why that's the subconscious selection for the day. In fact, it's not uncommon for it to be part of the "wake-up" dream, playing the "bridge" into the waking world. The playground that is my dreamland is: well, I don't skimp on sleep.

Anyhoo.

This morning, The Daily Earwig was http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNf046Uo2gI">Hard Day's Night.

The Muses took it easy on me today; that one's a no-brainer, unlike some of the curveballs they sometimes throw me.

Ever since I was little, I have interrupted my regular sleep cycle only for very important events. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6A8K24VGyw">The Wedding was the first time ever, and in my first year's journal entries. My parents laughed when I said I wanted to borrow their alarm clock to get up in time to watch, but they humored the notion that I wouldn't snooze in.

I had breakfast waiting for them when they rolled out of bed, and gave them a quick synopsis of the action to that point.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=4393708&mesg_id=4393708">Super Tuesday was awesome, and "a very important event." Ye ol' Gov Geek Nap Strategy still works, and I'm now back, more or less, to a normal sleep cycle. It was, indeed, a hard day's night.

Does anyone else get these earwigs with more than passing frequency?

- Dave

[Westegg]

1. Hey! I bet you smile a lot...

...I'm not someone who smiles a lot.

As a child, I asked my parents to wake me up for two events. They did so neither time. First was for the moon landing in 1969. Second was for the broadcast of "Destroy All Monsters" on Chiller Theater-- this was probably '72.

I listened to a radio broadcast of The Wedding on a small portable, while working that summer in a pathology laboratory in a hospital in Pittsburgh. The lab room was littered with unwanted body parts and their attendant effluvia, but thanks to the eloquency and passion of the BBC broadcasters, I was able to transport myself to that fabulous event in London with little effort.

Insomnia is a real problem. My mother and my mother's mother both suffered from it. I have the beginnings of the affliction myself now. If the death of Heath Ledger (apparently an insomnia-sufferer) teaches us anything, it's this: Don't mix OxyContin, Valium, Xanax, two sleep meds, and whatever other benzo or opiate he took. But that's an absurd combination! The cat was looking for a way out, as far as I can tell. Passively, obviously. Still. As Dylan said, "When somethin's not right, it's wrong."

Heath probably didn't smile much either. (The Joker irony notwithstanding.)

[CorpGovActivist]

3. I was born with a serious birth defect. So serious, my mom took me back to the hospital on Day 3.

And my pediatrician told me the story every visit. My dimples are so deep, that they stick OUT when I *don't* smile.

My poor, young, inexperienced mom thought I had been born with the mumps. Dr. C proved to her that it was really just dimples, by getting me to grimace.

There's a support group and everything.

But yeah, luckily for my shutterbug, hates-to-be-in-front-of-the-camera partner, I don't mind http://patrickj.smugmug.com/gallery/12075#395686">hamming it up for his goofy shots, nor do I mind when he just captures me in a http://patrickj.smugmug.com/gallery/12083#396223">silly mood. As long as he gets the important stuff: http://patrickj.smugmug.com/gallery/12075#395689">like a little visit with a little friend, or kicked back with the family http://patrickj.smugmug.com/gallery/12090#489605">at the beach, time with my http://patrickj.smugmug.com/gallery/12090#489626">folks, or http://patrickj.smugmug.com/gallery/14358#493469">multi-tasking for clients while on vacation. He's such a sweetheart, that when I'm too sick to tag along (i.e., when my Crohn's is giving me a fit), he takes an entire "http://patrickj.smugmug.com/gallery/14800#488949">virtual tour photoshoot," so that I can see what he saw while out with my family.

So plenty to smile about, yeah.

*************************************************


"As a child, I asked my parents to wake me up for two events. They did so neither time. First was for the moon landing in 1969."

Wow. Just wow.

"Second was for the broadcast of 'Destroy All Monsters' on Chiller Theater-- this was probably '72."

I'm of that odd year's vintage.

"I listened to a radio broadcast of The Wedding on a small portable, while working that summer in a pathology laboratory in a hospital in Pittsburgh. The lab room was littered with unwanted body parts and their attendant effluvia, but thanks to the eloquency and passion of the BBC broadcasters, I was able to transport myself to that fabulous event in London with little effort."

The not smiling a lot thing makes sense in this context.

"Insomnia is a real problem. My mother and my mother's mother both suffered from it. I have the beginnings of the affliction myself now. If the death of Heath Ledger (apparently an insomnia-sufferer) teaches us anything, it's this: Don't mix OxyContin, Valium, Xanax, two sleep meds, and whatever other benzo or opiate he took. But that's an absurd combination! The cat was looking for a way out, as far as I can tell. Passively, obviously. Still. As Dylan said, 'When somethin's not right, it's wrong'."

Ambien CR has been a Godsend when my Crohn's is in overdrive. I've been fortunate not to have any of the Kennedy Side Effects ... so far. I hope you're able to find something that works for you. Insomnia sucks the big one. Heartbroken over Heath here. Had just watched A Knight's Tale again not a few days before he passed.

"Heath probably didn't smile much either. (The Joker irony notwithstanding.)"

Yeah, that's a kick in the teeth.

Hey, if you're ever suffering from insomnia, send me a PM, or hit me up. Or call. Or e-mail. I will do my best to at least get a wry wrinkle out of you.

:hug:

- Dave

[Westegg]

4. "Keep on smilin'..."

...as some song I dimly remember from the mid-'70s put it. I like how you vivisected my post. Your photos suggest a happy and healthy life. More power to you.

"Dimples." Just the word makes me smile. It is a silly word...

[CorpGovActivist]

5. Apropos of the 70s Steelers (having noticed your avatar)...

... now there's a lunchbox I'd like to have back. And my Star Wars one, too. With both Thermoses.

Fond memories of Steelers lunchboxes packed around a cafeteria table that could have been South Park Elementary. And jokes. And the worries that came at Valentine's Day, to fit in.

When I really wanted to - and did - give the valentine I liked best in the box to the boy who told the best jokes. With a Steelers lunchbox. And a black Steelers t-shirt on. Almost every day, it seemed, a different black Steelers T-shirt. Like Kenny from South Park, almost.

Vivisect? Yikes. That requires the subject to still be alive. Law, not medicine, for me.

Why medicine, for you? Why dead people?

Dimples. Dimples. Deep, deep, dimples. Dimples double deep at Dairy Queen dimples.

"Your photos suggest a happy and healthy life."

We were poor - dirt poor - when I was a kid. Oh, but the love in that house.

:grouphug:

[Westegg]

7. The lessons I learned in a morgue...

...as a teenager have lasted me a lifetime. I've no regrets about that.(I did at the time.) I learned that the dead look like sleeping people. Nothing more, nothing less. Looked like, but didn't act like. When they put the knives to them, they didn't wake. (Hence, insomnia? Hmm...Maybe...) Bottom line, I learned that the line between life and death was/is a thin one. One day you're out "there," next day you're on the slab. Could be. Best to live your waking moments wisely.

I was in the morgue because my dad was a doctor. I considered that. Naturally gifted at "the sciences," they told me. And I became a writer.

If I could have the lunch boxes I had as a child, I'd be a smiling man. After I sold them on eBay.

[CorpGovActivist]

8. If I worked in a morgue, I'd have the old Addams Family re-runs on...

... pretty much non-stop.

Mortality happens. The sooner you figure that out, the better. Back to blowing up trains, chopping off dolls' heads, and playing with Kitty.



Good role models help.



And it never hurts to have a little help from friends.



Or a very strange, fun-loving extended family, with some real characters:



"Naturally gifted at "the sciences," they told me. And I became a writer."

What's your favorite thing to write about? Or a few of your favorite things?

"If I could have the lunch boxes I had as a child, I'd be a smiling man. After I sold them on eBay."

I wonder if you can do a conservation trust on a Star Wars collection?

:rofl:

- Dave

[RainDog]

9. Insomnia

Have you tried taking 3mgs of Melatonin about an hour before you want to go to sleep? works for everyone I know. then, after that hour...

Turn off all the lights and softly play Bach's Cello Suites by Yo-Yo Ma. (some parts aren't relaxing tho. Or ocean sounds. not anything with words.

Put your right hand on your heart and your left hand on your abdomen. Feel your heart beating with the right hand and with the left hand (no, that's not where I'm going...) feel your breathing. Breath from your abdomen, up through your diaphragm, then up into your lungs. this isn't supposed to be an exercise. It's a way to quiet yourself. think about your heart beating and your slow breaths. when another thought wants to intrude, direct your mind back to the feel of your beating heart and your breath.

I know this breathing exercise works b/c I've used it many times.

I came here from your other thread. It looks to me like you have friends here. And you know the adage... to have a friend, be a friend.

:pals:

[CorpGovActivist]

10. RainDog, thank you.

Not only for echoing to WestEgg that there are plenty of people who would miss him, but also for sharing these techniques with others who suffer from time to time.

Classical music and/or an old-fashioned box fan (for white noise) are tried and true for me. So are blackout curtains (had cheaply at Ikea or Ikea.com). Some find that certain scents are also very relaxing and soothing.

Comfortable sheets? Indispensable.

Nice to meet you; sorry for butting in.

- Dave

[RainDog]

11. nice to meet you too...

though I think I've seen your posts before. --and you weren't butting in at all!

I am working on something that's totally annoying at this point so after I get x amt of work done, I take a break and see if the world has fallen apart since I last visited DU.

:hi:

[Strawman]

2. Yes. Maybe this will help with your ear worm (or not)

44 seconds in...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=wO2m0PYTZKY

[CorpGovActivist]

6. *snicker*

Bad puns just make the earworm dizzy.

Like whiskey does to cold germs.

:P