what happens when i can’t sleep (or List #11).

Tonight is the second night in a row I have been unable to fall asleep. Neither yawn nor eye-rub has passed my way. Not even a quiet whimper.

(While I type this, I periodically look over at my partner…who has been enjoying the benefits of REM sleep for over an hour now…and feel jealous. It’s all good, though: he just mumbled something about muffin pans and chocolate pudding, so I’m sure to have a good laugh in the morning when I tease him about it and he can’t remember a thing).

To be honest, sleeplessness happens to me a lot…well, sometimes. I am somewhat of a night crawler, preferring late nights to early mornings, and mornings and I have had a dysfunctional relationship from the beginning. On most nights I can usually fake it, but not tonight. And not last night, either. I blame the ginko biloba I started taking on Friday.  I thought it would help me stay focused and have less-cranky mornings.  Now, while staying up all night in college almost always guaranteed I would be wide awake when morning happened, after 30 that little trick stopped working so well (in fact, staying up all night in my 30′s has proven to almost always guarantee extreme crankiness and the very real possibility of missing mornings all together).  Oh, the irony.

So, since I can’t sleep, I will plot adventures, instead.

1. Feeding the Wanderlust. I have been feeling anxious to wander. This time around, however, my mind is stuck on Ireland. I just want to go. Now.  Pubs, rolling hills, country towns and the Irish brogue are calling my name. All I can think about is not if, but when and how. (Disclaimer: the last time I felt a similar urge to travel I ended up spending 2 weeks holed up in a tiny bungalow along a fisherman’s beach in the Thai province of Chiang Mai… it was a glorious trip but my initial aim was for Brazil.)
2. Spelunking. Now that the weather has warmed up, I’m planning on hitting a few caves this summer.  I’ve spent a couple hours compiling a spreadsheet of all the national monuments (yes, I bought one of the NM passport books…), categorized by monument type. The Lava Beds in CA and the Oregon Caves look like lots of fun, and getting greater exposure to the west coast is a bonus.  Other caving adventures are being planned…
3. Books…yeah.  The cycle is never ending with this one, I’m afraid.  At the top of my book list this month is The Salmon of Doubt by Doug Adams.  I bought it in 2002 very shortly after it was released but never got around to reading it.  Guns, Germs and Steel is up next after that, possibly The Dresden Files series after that.
4. Movies. I’m planning to check out a few of the outdoor cinema shows this summer.  It combines a couple of my favorite things, evening picnics and films, and I think it’s a great summer tradition to be a part of since it happens all around the world.  Between Denver and Boulder, I will have several chances to see Goonies on the big screen again, as well a few other “oldie but goodies”…that is, if the rain lets up this month sometime.  If not, I’m also looking forward to seeing  The Last Airbender and Predators in the theaters.

Okay.  Seeing how it is going on 2 o’clock in the morning, I believe I am now officially obligated to lie in bed with the lights off and my eyes closed.  I do have to be at work later this morning, after all.  G’night!

Da… Bills.

The Buffalo Bills just lost to the New England Patriots on national broadcast television. Again I say, Monday Night Football is *not* the venue for pulling embarrassing stunts in the last minute of the 4th quarter that lose the game. I mean, come on guys.  Being from Buffalo makes me a Bills fan automatically, but this relationship is starting to feel one-sided.

Thirsty

I have been daydreaming about diving into the ocean all day, and with good reason: I have seen some of the most beautiful scenery there…

Malibu Beach in California, 2003

And the unforgettable…

Near Lima, Peru, 2005

…Until the next time we meet!

Saturday Funnies

A Softer World

Spending the day out with friends today and catching up with my latest addiction, the Metamor City podcast by Chris Lester.

Just a *teeny* plug: I began listening almost a year ago, Life got busy, and I stopped for a while.  Now that I’ve returned to the podcast I anticipate hearing the next chapter of the story more and more.  The writing is extremely engaging, imaginative and prolific.  I’ve been listening to them in 3-4 episode blocks (while driving, at work or just working arond the house) and I’m ready for more of the good stuff.  Kudos to Chris Lester (and his amazing cast of voice actors) for developing such a delightful experience…even if I am on a year’s delay

List #8

Podcasts I’m currently loving:

1. Escape Pod (science fiction short stories)
2. 3 Wine Guys (wine notes)
3. The Economist (audio edition)
4. Metamor City (cyberpunk and fantasy fiction short stories)
5. PodCastle (fantasy fiction short stories)
6. The Archers (British Radio Drama about a farming community called Ambridge)

Jensen Ackles and “Eye of the Tiger”

Supernatural is one of my favorite sci-fi television shows, and one of the lead actors, Jensen Ackles, shows a lighter side to his stage performance, here:

Too cute not to share

Colorful

Cam and I went to Cave of the Winds in Manitou Springs last weekend.  It was awesome.  The photos I took while inside the caves turned out pretty awful, but the surrounding (above ground) landscape offered a few choice pics.

Cam really enjoys caving, and learning what he knew about cave geology was an added bonus to the experience.  Hopefully we will visit others sooner rather than later.

List #5

Books I’m reading right now:

1. The Baroque Cycle: Volume 1 by Neal Stephenson (nearly finished!)
2. The Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami (book club)
3. One Hundered Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez (book club)
4. Persuasion by Jane Austen

The very existence of this list means that I need to update this blog’s Reading List…coming soon!

The Jane Austen Book Club

Yesterday, my friend Rose and I went to see the movie titled The Jane Austen Book Club. For any fan of fiction writing, literature and comedy I’d highly recommend this movie. My interest in it came mainly from the fact that I love book clubs (I belong to three), and, since I first began reading Austen when I was 12, I have most of her published works on my bookshelf at home. I wondered if the movie would bring to life some of the eccentricities one can experience while discussing writing styles and character development, forming many different opinions and conclusions from the same body of work, and it did. It also reminded me that sometimes, even books that are centuries old can remain extremely timely and relevant. I’ve always found that possibility intriguing, if not exhilarating, about literature.

After leaving the theater, Rose and I ran to the nearest bookstore to purchase what remaining copies of Austen’s work we didn’t have (for me, they were Persuasion and Northanger Abbey) and decided to read through them together.

As I rode on the bus commute into work yesterday morning I opened my fresh copy of Persuasion, our first pick, and I immediately felt like I had reconnected with an old, familiar friend.

There’s no getting lost like when you do so in a good book.

Sweet Summer Rain

On my way home from work today, a heavy rain storm began while I was waiting downtown at the bus station. Like most others around me, I rushed under the closest overhang I could find. As I stood beneath the protection of an enormous concrete and metal structure, I looked out onto the street and watched the thick sheets of water fall to the ground. My thoughts drifted to the busy weekend away I’ve just come back from, the pile of work waiting for me on my desk, and the too-small, too-cold, too-gray office I’d left only minutes before.

And just like that, I zipped up my brief case, kicked off my sandals and stepped out into the rain with my face and palms up. It felt warm and smelled fresh, and soaked me to the scalp in about 10 seconds. A few moments later, the sun broke through the clouds and I could see a big rainbow nearby. That felt really good.