*3am as of writing and I've been awake nearly 24 hours.
So, I was doing pretty well for a few weeks. I was sleeping at about 7-8pm and waking up at around 4-5am. I had pretty close to a "normal" sleeping schedule and I was generally feeling pretty good. I think those are my peak sleeping hours. Just before the sun sets, and just before it rises the next morning. This is the cycle for me, though. It just seems that sooner or later, I get a night like tonight. A night where I can't sleep. A night that undoes all the work it took to form that schedule. I've typically been a night owl most of my life, so maybe those "normal" sleeping hours are the abnormality? Like, maybe my body or my brain is just overwriting my efforts and reverting to what it's used to: The late night.
That's just how I've been for as long as I can remember. Growing up, I would stay up late and watch whatever was on television. All the good shit came on late at night. It's how I saw pro-wrestling for the first time, how I formed an (almost) life long love affair with that unique blend of combat and performance art. The striking black and white face paint of Sting, the undeniable charisma of Hollywood Hulk Hogan. It didn't matter that their match at WCW Starrcade 1997 was widely maligned, it was my introduction to pro-wrestling and it had me hooked for nearly 30 years.
Late night would also be when they would air anime in my country, as it was still fairly niche back in those days. A free to air TV channel would have episodes of Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex after midnight, and they would have Studio Ghibli and other anime movies on in the wee hours of a Thursday & Friday morning. My favourite Ghibli movie is Kiki's Delivery Service, by the way. My grandmother had cable television, so I'd also stay up late watching anime on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block at her house. Bleach, Trinity Blood, Inuyasha, Yu-Yu-Hakusho, Black Cat. Some of which are still among my favourites.
There's just something calming, serene even, about the stillness of night time. When most everyone else is asleep, and I feel most secluded. When I feel most at peace. When I get most of my creative endeavours done. There's also something oddly comforting about watching Twin Peaks throughout the night and until the morning, when the sun would rise while being accompanied by the cozy twang of the Twin Peaks theme song:
It can get frustrating as well. I know I'm not the most active participant in society, but it gets difficult to be active on society's schedule. Voting is mandatory in my country, so I have to be awake during "normal" hours for that. Most of my IRL friends are also on more "normal" schedules, so it gets more difficult to catch up with them. I'm getting older. It's not as easy as it used to be for me to pull an all-nighter and go to sleep the following evening. That doesn't even work sometimes, and I'll end up sleeping for like 1-2 hours and be wide awake for the night once again.
I don't drink coffee, or energy drinks. I do get some caffeine through the tea I drink, although I mostly drink caffeine free tea, as well as water. I still get those nights where I don't sleep. All those nights in my teens and my 20s, playing RPGs until 4-5am. Binging DVDs of Supernatural. Watching rerun blocks of My Little Pony until 2am. I guess they're all taking their toll? As if my body's internal clock has been rewritten over the decades?
I don't know. Maybe this is why I identify with so many songs about insomnia? I figure I may as well close this little rant of mine by sharing a few:
My favourite song of all time is the acoustic version of "Overkill" by Colin Hay. A song I first heard on the TV show Scrubs, which would also air late at night in my country...
"Day N Nite" by Kid Cudi
"Insomnia" from NEO: The World Ends With You OST
*I included the names of the songs with the artists in case YouTube doesn't like them being shared.
Anyway, I don't know if anyone'll read all of this or get anything out of it. It's quite long. At the very least, it's been something to keep my mind active and I got some fulfilment out of writing it. So, have a good day if you read this! and also have a good day if you didn't read it, or didn't get this far!
So, I was doing pretty well for a few weeks. I was sleeping at about 7-8pm and waking up at around 4-5am. I had pretty close to a "normal" sleeping schedule and I was generally feeling pretty good. I think those are my peak sleeping hours. Just before the sun sets, and just before it rises the next morning. This is the cycle for me, though. It just seems that sooner or later, I get a night like tonight. A night where I can't sleep. A night that undoes all the work it took to form that schedule. I've typically been a night owl most of my life, so maybe those "normal" sleeping hours are the abnormality? Like, maybe my body or my brain is just overwriting my efforts and reverting to what it's used to: The late night.
That's just how I've been for as long as I can remember. Growing up, I would stay up late and watch whatever was on television. All the good shit came on late at night. It's how I saw pro-wrestling for the first time, how I formed an (almost) life long love affair with that unique blend of combat and performance art. The striking black and white face paint of Sting, the undeniable charisma of Hollywood Hulk Hogan. It didn't matter that their match at WCW Starrcade 1997 was widely maligned, it was my introduction to pro-wrestling and it had me hooked for nearly 30 years.
Late night would also be when they would air anime in my country, as it was still fairly niche back in those days. A free to air TV channel would have episodes of Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex after midnight, and they would have Studio Ghibli and other anime movies on in the wee hours of a Thursday & Friday morning. My favourite Ghibli movie is Kiki's Delivery Service, by the way. My grandmother had cable television, so I'd also stay up late watching anime on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block at her house. Bleach, Trinity Blood, Inuyasha, Yu-Yu-Hakusho, Black Cat. Some of which are still among my favourites.
There's just something calming, serene even, about the stillness of night time. When most everyone else is asleep, and I feel most secluded. When I feel most at peace. When I get most of my creative endeavours done. There's also something oddly comforting about watching Twin Peaks throughout the night and until the morning, when the sun would rise while being accompanied by the cozy twang of the Twin Peaks theme song:
It can get frustrating as well. I know I'm not the most active participant in society, but it gets difficult to be active on society's schedule. Voting is mandatory in my country, so I have to be awake during "normal" hours for that. Most of my IRL friends are also on more "normal" schedules, so it gets more difficult to catch up with them. I'm getting older. It's not as easy as it used to be for me to pull an all-nighter and go to sleep the following evening. That doesn't even work sometimes, and I'll end up sleeping for like 1-2 hours and be wide awake for the night once again.
I don't drink coffee, or energy drinks. I do get some caffeine through the tea I drink, although I mostly drink caffeine free tea, as well as water. I still get those nights where I don't sleep. All those nights in my teens and my 20s, playing RPGs until 4-5am. Binging DVDs of Supernatural. Watching rerun blocks of My Little Pony until 2am. I guess they're all taking their toll? As if my body's internal clock has been rewritten over the decades?
I don't know. Maybe this is why I identify with so many songs about insomnia? I figure I may as well close this little rant of mine by sharing a few:
My favourite song of all time is the acoustic version of "Overkill" by Colin Hay. A song I first heard on the TV show Scrubs, which would also air late at night in my country...
"Day N Nite" by Kid Cudi
"Insomnia" from NEO: The World Ends With You OST
*I included the names of the songs with the artists in case YouTube doesn't like them being shared.
Anyway, I don't know if anyone'll read all of this or get anything out of it. It's quite long. At the very least, it's been something to keep my mind active and I got some fulfilment out of writing it. So, have a good day if you read this! and also have a good day if you didn't read it, or didn't get this far!
