I can’t complain about waking at 2AM when I fall asleep at 8PM. I mean, really, I’ve had six hours of sleep. However, I struggle with the idea of how to use these empty, isolated hours. Work on the dissertation? Sick and wrong. Read? Sure. Watch television? Maybe, if Sportscenter or whatever is on, but most of what’s showing in the middle of the night depresses me. I don’t know. I usually associate waking at these hours with stress and tension, but I’m not particularly stressed and depressed. I just wish I had something interesting to do. I miss Chicago on cold winter nights. I knew something was going on out there, even if I never left my apartment. I remember running with Maura through the bitter cold to the Village Pub on Roscoe. That sort of thing.
Ok, today was a decent day. I woke at about six-thirty, after sleeping on the couch, and immediately donned my mp3 player and hit the gym. I did twenty minutes on the bike and lifted weights, discovering, in the process, that the new Shins CD is not good workout music. After I returned I halfheartedly started cleaning, but I really wasn’t in the mood, so I gave up, played on the computer, and watched basketball. Later M left for some scrapbooking gathering, so I watched the last half of “Wordplay”, a decent documentary on crossword puzzles. M didn’t return until late in the afternoon, so I nixed my plans to catch “The Curse of the Golden Flower” with some friends from work. I wanted to see the movie, and I could have used a night out, but M deserves time to clear her head as well. Still, I don’t get out enough. It’s hard to think of a good reason to leave the house in the middle of the winter. Later I took a bath, read Dante’s Inferno, and fell asleep in the guest bedroom with T on the little bed next to me. I woke not long ago and made sure he had covers before I moved downstairs.
Today should be ok. I’m taking the kid I mentor at the UU church to services. We’re supposed to do that as part of the mentor thing. I suppose that responsibility will force me to stay within the sanctuary for the entire service rather than pace the lobby. I don’t know that I’m up for the challenge. The Bears play later. I thought of driving into work in the morning, but I’d just be going to get away from the house. I don’t know. Maybe I’ll still go. I have to repot a couple of plants and set up my new fountain. Oh, I want to ride the Y bike as well. Maybe I’ll ride during the Bears game, but if they start to lose I’m going to have a hard time watching, and there aren’t many other places at the Y, other than the television, to direct one’s eyes. The semester starts Monday. Good night.