Insomnia, Day Three:
Haven’t slept since more than a few hours since getting back from Florida. I keep telling everyone I am “catching up on sleep.” Even my good friends, because I don’t want to burden them. No one told me it would be like this. You are either sick, your pets are sick, or you are stressed, or you have too much to do to think, or you don’t have the time to do what you want to do, or someone is pissed at you and won’t explain why, or your car breaks down, or your dishwasher breaks, or your plants get blight, or something. Always something. Guess I should just consider the fact that my mom, dad, brother, sisters, and pets are healthy. But it just always seems like it is something.
On the other hand, I am watching a lot of old Sopranos episodes. Thank ALLAH I do not have kids. I feel for you people.
Royston Vasey
Having a bit of the same problem with sleeping myself, John.
Going to try to do some sudoku on paper, or read a book in bed. Try to unplug from everything.
btw, it’s 6:40pm Tuesday evening where I am
RV
DougJ
You are either sick, your pets are sick, or you are stressed, or you have too much to do to think, or you don’t have the time to do what you want to do, or someone is pissed at you and won’t explain why, or your car breaks down, or your dishwasher breaks, or your plants get blight, or something. Always something.
Isn’t that the sad truth?
Chuck Butcher
Wife and I went to the Tampa area 10/19 to get my son married off, stayed until 10/26. It was 86F when we left at 4:30PM EDT, got home to Baker City, OR at 12:30AM and there was frost everywhere. Next day it snowed hard enough to stick all day. The 3 hr time change took a bit to get aclimated to, but not quite as much as the snow. I didn’t mind much because I was sick and tired of of too much humidity, too much O2, and way too many people and idiot drivers.
Now I’ve got a cold, too many people in too close proximity between a big wedding and packed air planes and air ports.
Demo Woman
John, My baby is sick. How would you like to be out of town and find out that you may have a treatable but curable disease? I just want to fly to Ohio and give him hugs but I know that’s not good.
General Winfield Stuck
Obama stole the sheep. None left to count.
CathiefromCanada
This is a Rozanne Rozannadana moment: It’s always something, if its not one thing its another. Maybe watch some old Gilda Radner on YouTube?
John Cole
@Chuck Butcher: I was in Orlando T-F, then drove to Tampa for the WVU/USF game. It was 97 degrees outside Raymond James. I was dying.
Then, to make matters worse, we were surrounded by WVU alums from the Orlando/Tampa area, and this was the only game they go to all year, so they treated it like Homecoming and were just completely hammered and acted like total jackasses. I was so pissed off at their loutish behavior I wanted to take off my WVU stuff. Just a god damned disgrace. I would never send my kid to WVU after watching those jackasses. I was the DD, so we then drove back to Tampa, slept for a few hours and caught a flight back. Last time I slept more than 20 minutes was that few hours Friday night.
It sucks.
Cain
@Chuck Butcher:
Congratulations!
sri
Demo Woman
@Demo Woman: treatable but not curable
Cain
You should have some of that sleepy time tree with valerian root. Might help. Or perhaps a shot of brandy?
cain
General Winfield Stuck
@Demo Woman:
Why is that not good?
Demo Woman
@John Cole: funny.. do you know how much we missed the pets?
James K Polk, Esq.
Have you recently stopped hiking with Lily?
Perhaps you need some additional physical exercising to wear yourself out physically. That always helps me sleep, and lets me work out the mental jibber jabber.
gizmo
That’s Clint Strong on guitar in that Merle Haggard clip, probably the greatest player on earth that most people have never heard of. Astonishing jazz guitarist, he has more or less stayed in Texas throughout his career. That solo he takes on ‘Mama Tried’ is way out of the country idiom, but it works because the guy is such a great musician. Never thought I would find Clint here at a commie / vegan / hippie website called Balloon Juice. Here’s some more of his stuff….
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=clint+strong&search_type=&aq=f
Anne Laurie
There used to be a button: “This is not your real life; this is only a test. If this were your real life, proper instructions would have been issued to you already.”
Maturity is realizing at a bone-deep level how much of a lie that is.
The Sopranos may not be the best drift-off material, though. Some people swear by the kiddy cartoons they grew up with, or old sitcoms, or nature documentaries with nice soothing voiceovers. Insomnia was one of the reasons I took up cross-stitch, because it’s (mostly) mindless & repetitive & even if you don’t fall asleep at least you’ve got something to show for it. I hear knitting is good, too. Just stay away from manly manly crafts that involve cutting edges and power tools, ‘mkay?
Linkmeister
@gizmo: I’ve certainly never heard of him.
In the “Mama Tried” clip Haggard has a disturbing resemblance to George W. Bush.
Linkmeister
To counteract that awful discovery I’m gonna listen to Diana Krall’s “Love Scenes,” from 1997 or thereabouts.
Steeplejack
Condolences, Cole. But, hey, you’ve got your Lily by your side and Tunch somewhere in the vicinity. Give ’em a scritch and remember that tomorrow is another day.
Yutsano
@Anne Laurie: Amazingly enough when there was a Kitchen-Aid in my house if I was doing the insomniac thing I’d bake. And I suck at baking except cookies. But hey it works.
Ruckus
JC
This too shall pass. The problem is how long it takes. You said the secret words, it’s always something. I think it’s mostly stress and how we manage it. Or don’t.
I’m usually up till at least 2 but more likely 3 in the morning every day. The other day up till 5am. It’s been like this for a couple of years pretty steady but it has been off and on since I was about 12. Some days it just sucks that I don’t sleep much any more and am up after most are asleep. So no help here other than to say try to figure out what stresses you the most and either try to fix it or forget it. Work on the list until you’re sleeping more regular, or…
Anyway if you find a way please let
meus know, as I’m sure the rest of the insomniacs around here would like to know, also.Demo Woman
@General Winfield Stuck: At this point I don’t know. At this point I am trying to be strong but it’s really hard. Tomorrow I am going to dr’s and sending the results to a friend who knows more about this stuff. There is a lot of research of non Hodgkin’s low lymphoma and he’s only 30 so maybe it’s okay.. You can’t go online and look it up cuz the results aren’t good.
Shorter version, I’m falling apart and my baby is sitting in a Marriott not much better.
Demo Woman
@Demo Woman: Oh one more thing FTFY…
My son and baby both agree on this. He saw the Yanks and Sox years ago at Yankee stadium and Pedro was pitching. He got the tickets through the Yankees and had them sent to my house. When I received Christmas catalogues from the Yankess he had to put up with his mom screaming to get rid of this shit now. ftfy
General Winfield Stuck
@Demo Woman:
I am so very sorry to hear this Demo Woman. I believe NH Lymphoma is treatable like you say. My prayers are with you and your son.:-)
Brick Oven Bill
An evening spent with a friend. Him more salty, me more whatever. He has concussions. A healthy comparison of notes. Boxing is geometry, physics, and sore muscles. Eighteen inches is optimum. Less than that, you lose power. More than that, you lose mobility. He is learning the Seven Liberal Arts and digging it.
I picked up a copy of that tabloid for Chad. And then I looked at the price: $3.69. So Chad can buy his own copy of a tabloid called ‘Globe’ at the grocery store. The story is on page ten and goes to page eleven. Obama reportedly went ‘berzerk’ before Michelle.
If you look up berserk on Google it talks about video games. But in truth, berserk comes to us from the Vikings (not the ones with Brett Farve). Barack could not go berserk before Michelle, so I doubt this story is true, as Michelle would most surely kick his ass.
Here is Barack.
freelancer (itouch)
Chuck,
Congrats. Hope it was a blast.
Has anyone here watched the movie Moon with Sam Rockwell? I just finished it.
Demo Woman
@General Winfield Stuck: It’s not me as far as him. I just can’t imagine trying to work during the day and sleeping in a lonely hotel room at nite with this. He really is healthy and I really believe the stuff on line is because of old folks who tilt the scales. At least tonight while chatting.. the phillies won… not the falcons. but that’s okay. I know this is not good but
Demo Woman
@Demo Woman: Just read my post and I think I sound like a basket case. Well that would be normal.
Demo Woman
I do have a question.. with the son sick and the ex pretending that he’s heidi’s grandfather… Do I suggest the son call the hairy guy or do I? I’m not really sure that I want to ask the son anything cuz he has lots of concerns without thinking about the hairy guy.
IndyLib
How’s this for a stress story. Halloween night my husband has been voluntold to be a safety observer for the Haunted House being put on by the student sailors, I call him at 10:30 PM to tell him that our sump pump has quit working and the basement is starting to flood, he walks me through a couple of simple things to check in the hopes that I can get it going again before the basement is awash. No go, nothing I do accomplishes a damned thing except getting me drenched in freezing cold water.
He finally makes it home about 1:00 AM, by which time the water is ankle deep, and pulls the sump pump out and puts in the old one to see if it works. It blows up after it’s been plugged in for about 30 seconds.
He takes the other one upstairs to see if he can fix it, and after messing with it for an hour gives up.
He goes downstairs to pull up the brand new area rug we just put down there to rediscover that we have a drain in the middle of the floor that we forgot about because we just found out it was there the last time we had a basement flood and pulled up the old carpet (about 2 months ago). We feel like frikkin’ idjits, but are happy as wet little clams when the water starts to go down the drain.
It’s now about 3:30 am, and we go to bed. My husband has to get up at 6:00 am because he has Duty (for those of you with any experience with the military, you know that DUTY SUCKS to the eleventy billionth degree).
He leaves for work and I’m up early Sunday morning using a broom to push water toward the drain and using the shop vac to suck water out of the corners because of course the drain is not in the lowest point of the basement. After a couple of hours I’ve got most of the floor out of puddle stage and I’ve turned on the fans to try to dry out the rest.
The rest of the day goes on pretty decently until at about 6:00 pm, one of my boys comes upstairs to tell me that the basement is flooding again. The flippin’ drain is clogged. I call my husband on his cell, it takes an hour for him to get back to me, by which time the basement is 4 inches deep again. I offer to call a plumber and he tells me no, he’ll be home by 10:00 am this morning and he’ll stop on the way home and get a new sump pump and something to snake the drain.
I don’t hear from him again until 2:00 pm this afternoon. He’s had the Duty day from hell. 18 separate incidents that included the police and or ambulances (Sunday being the day after Halloween, the day after payday, a weekend and a full moon – this is not a happy combo) . He makes it home by 4:00 pm with all of the crap from the hardware store that we need and after snaking the drain for an hour and pulling out 5 handfuls of roots, we finally clear the pipe with a simple fucking plunger. We spend the next 3 hours pushing and shop-vaccing water – again.
And have I mentioned that my sister-in-law and nephew are living with us temporarily (which makes for 8 people in an 1800 sq. ft house)? They were sleeping in the basement. Now they are sleeping in the living room.
The sad thing is, this whole thing is just par for the course around our house.
So – yep, John, if it’s not one thing driving you up the wall something else will come around the corner tomorrow to take the wheel.
asiangrrlMN
@Chuck Butcher: Congrats, Chuck! Lots of well wishes to your son and his radiant bride (all brides are radiant).
@Demo Woman: Aw, this sucks. I’m sending positive vibes to you and your baby. Please keep us updated.
@Yutsano: Hi, hon. Please amuse me. I need it.
Cole, I feel your pain. I don’t have any suggestions because nothing works for me. I will add a note of caution to the Valerian suggestion, however. It made me suicidal because my brain was soooo slow after taking it. Just a heads’ up. And yes, if you find anything that works, please let us know.
freelancer (itouch)
@Demo Woman:
Your anxiety is completely understandable. I’d be freaked too. But working in a research hospital has opened my eyes as to how far science has come in terms of oncology in the past 10-15 years.
Given his age and the effectiveness of treatment available, I’d say the odds are very much in his favor. That being said, you are both in my thoughts.
Fulcanelli
I haven’t had anything resembling a regular sleep pattern for years. I’ve forgotten what it’s like to sleep more than five hours straight, and even that’s fitful and restless. I don’t dream anymore.
Some of what you, John, as a relatively recent convert, might be suffering from is the liberal sticker shock known as an exhausted conscience. As well off and lucky as I am compared to many, all I do is work and retirement as I planned it is a pipe dream, it seems. But I will never give up. I come from stock that dies with it’s boots on, and does not go quietly.
Truth is, it sucks when you look around and so many everywhere are going under financially, even dying. For what? So Goldman Sachs can go offshore and pay one percent in federal income tax? I’d like to take a nail clipper and peel the skin off Lloyd Blankfein’s skull and make a pair of slippers or a bed for my dog… And fucking Geithner and Summers are next.
It’s why I can only stand exposure to the lies and bullshit from the punditards on the right (and some on the left) in tiny, infrequent doses followed by a purge consisting of music and humor. Just that marathon of a presidential primary left me needing a high colonic and Thorazine.
I don’t know how you guys wade into the political media swamp and read that shit to post here on a daily basis, it’s fucking mentally toxic, and probably at the root of why you feel like you do.
/fin de siecle, rant over
Yutsano
@asiangrrlMN: You want I should put the dancing jester outfit on again? Or come up with various methods for torturing Brett Favre, preferably using 300 pound linebackers? I think you amused yourself just thinking about me and Chase Utley and reproduction, not that I didn’t start that whole line of questioning.
IndyLib
@Demo Woman:
So sorry this is happening to you and your son. Nothing in the world is worse than having your kids really sick, it’s such a helpless feeling.
asiangrrlMN
@Yutsano: I want that you should regale me with amusing stories about you and your big puppy dawg. Though, the idea of you gestating Chase Utley’s babies is, indeed, amusing.
Demo Woman
@freelancer (itouch): Thanks I just wish what he had was curable.. sounds better.
freelancer (itouch)
@IndyLib:
Wow. That. Sucks. On the bright side, a year ago today we were still up this late in a hot sweaty panic that the abject embarrassment and disappointment of this time circa 2004 would repeat itself. Palin isn’t our ex-#2. (vice presidentin’ is hard work!)
Obama / Biden inshallah.
auntieeminaz
@Demo Woman: Depending on the particulars it can be successfully treated. Keep the faith. My heart goes out to you.
Yutsano
@asiangrrlMN: He wished me happy b-day four days late, but maybe he’s remembering he has a life now. I’m actually seriously considering getting a great Dane to occupy the space in my bed for awhile.
asiangrrlMN
@IndyLib: Oh crap. That does not sound like any fun at all. I think I’m grateful that I just have a little insomnia with which to deal.
IndyLib
@freelancer (itouch):
Sooooo true.
I was just looking at the ad at TPM for the Obama election documentary that HBO is starting tomorrow, I think I’ll watch it. For all the bitching and moaning we do now, I’m still damned proud that we elected Obama last year.
Robertdsc-iphone
Sending good thoughts out to all who need them, our host first on the list.
Crusty Dem
No advice, to John or others, just a reminder: Life is awful. And far too short. Good wishes to all…
John Cole
BTW- I’m sure some of you will find this amusing. Over the past couple of months, I have trained Lily to come when I say “Lily, Come.”
Sit and stay are miserable failures, however. On the other hand, if I am lying on the couch and look at Lily and say “Just words, Lily, just words,” she jumps up on me and licks me on the face and I giggle like a schoolkid.
Worst pet owner ever.
asiangrrlMN
@Yutsano: Cool. Then you will have two big dawgs in your life.
@John Cole: That is really sweet, Cole. I think you’re the best pet owner ever. You love them so much, and it shows.
Yutsano
@John Cole: “Lily, come” can be HUGE on off-leash time though. The last thing you want is her completely out of control. As far as sit and stay that usually takes a combination of consistency and rewards to get exactly right.
Worst pet owner ever.
I call bullshit. NO ONE gets jumped on with kisses on demand just by suckage.
cdmarine
Hubby going through the same thing. It’s frustrating because nothing he tries to alleviate it works, and of course, the stress of trying to sleep and failing just adds to the problem. It’s been happening off and on for a few months now, usually for 2-3 days at a time. I’m all out of ideas for how to help him. At this point he’s just resigned to pushing through and waiting it out. We’re both out of work now, so it’s not like we’ve got anywhere to be in the morning!
Demo Woman
@auntieeminaz: Whether I keep the faith or not is irrelevant. I will keep the faith with him. which I did when he called today. I just don’t know if I should call his dad or let him do that. My son has to have further surgery on the gland on his neck and I don’t know if he’ll tell him.
Yutsano
@asiangrrlMN: Yes but I’m not gonna go all Mickey Kaus on the Dane if you know what I mean.
asiangrrlMN
@Yutsano: Ew. Just ew. Thanks for that image. I said to amuse me, not gross me the fuck out.
My sympathies to all my fellow insomniacs. It fucking sucks.
IndyLib
@asiangrrlMN:
I hate our basement with a damned passion (about the same level as the contempt I feel for Caribou Barbie, so that’s saying a lot). I’ve always wanted to buy a big, old farm house, but I’m beginning to have second thoughts about the old house deal, they are a pain in the ass to keep in repair.
Cain
@Demo Woman:
Oy, sorry to hear that. You’re son will be fine, I just know it.
A buddy of mine’s friend died in a motorcycle accident a couple of days ago. He’s in a slump. I’m sending him positive vibes too.
cain
Yutsano
@asiangrrlMN: In my defense, you were asking for that. You’re getting all gushy over John and the love of a Lily anyway.
Where is FH #1? He could at least show himself on a night when you’re being an insomniac.
ulee
Stuck around St. Petersburgh when I saw it was time for a change. None of you will ever have a decent night’s sleep for the rest of your miserable broken lives. Bwaaahaha.
Ruckus
@Fulcanelli:
You speak much truth.
The level of political stupidity, shortsightedness, zero sum political live for the next election cycle crap is part of my stress and I have no idea how to make it even 1% better. I just hope I make it to medicare in close enough to one piece to maybe be able to make at least my life passable.
Demo Woman
Once again best wishes for your son. And you.
Demo Woman
One more thing.. I know this is not good but if it’s treatable, some times you have to go with that. Tomorrow I will pick up the results and I know enough about cancer and staging that I can figure that out. I am so pissied at a doctor that would call knowing my son is out of town sayiing this is not good. What an ass.
Yutsano
@Demo Woman: Your son wants to live, that counts more than any single treatment in any medical system anywhere.
The Original Francis
well, i’m cranky too.
1. Employment in manufacturing is never coming back to its historic levels. International competition and computers are too powerful. But aside from a few professions (doctor, lawyer, accountant, banker), the service industries are low-pay. And big corps are already looking to outsource more of those costs. A feudal society, where a very small number of people capture outsize returns on capital, while labor gets pounded, has historically been a stable society, just one with a lot of unhappiness. We seem to be heading that way.
2. We cannot keep using the oceans as our toilet. Runoff from midwest farms poison the Gulf of Mexico and ruin shrimp fisheries. Virtually every major fishery around the planet is under tremendous pressure, with many gone for good. (Cod, Monterey sardines, tuna, etc.) The Pacific gyre is full of plastic. But there is no significant international political will to reform farming and fishery practices.
3. Feeding the current population requires a lot of oil, to make fertilizer and run the tractors. Even without peak oil, there’s only so much high quality farmland. Along with peak oil and peak fish, there may be a point of peak food. It is possible that we’re close to it. (Africa is about the only place with substantial untapped ag. resources, but Zimbabwe is a tough place to do business.)
4. It seems unlikely that the political will to get atmospheric CO2e to 350 ppm will exist anytime soon. China, India and the US will see dramatic changes in rainfall patterns and growing seasons in a very short period of time. If China starts geomodification projects that adversely affect the US, will we tolerate them? Would we go to war?
I’m 45 and childless. I figure that things may really start to suck just about the time I’m 80. At least I won’t have to worry about my kids.
Cain
@John Cole:
Did you hear that song I told you about from Pink Martini “Lilly”?
here
cain
Cain
@The Original Francis:
the free market will solve all of these problems. If not, we all perish and nature continues and the world will be right again since the biggest fuck ups in the world are gone due to their own stupidity.
cain
auntieeminaz
@Demo Woman: Whether or not to call his father is a tough call. I would leave it up to my son to make the call but then his relationship with his dad is super complicated. If I took the initiative I would be in so much trouble.
Demo Woman
The BJ folks can help me out. Tomorrow I am going to pick up the results of a biopsy for my son that shows non hodghkins lymphom. I made an appt with the dr to ask some questions which is a good thing but I’m completely frozen about what to ask. I’m serious I just don’t know what to ask?
asiangrrlMN
@IndyLib: I hear you. Old houses are fab, but lots of work.
@Yutsano: Told you. He mostly comes out to play on the weekends. Yes, the two of you flirting with each other DOES amuse me, damn it.
@Demo Woman: Treatable is a hell of a lot better than non-treatable. Stupid doctor.
freelancer (itouch)
@The Original Francis:
good post. I only have this to add:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33v78KL0DVM
Anne Laurie
@Demo Woman:
If your son is 30, I think it’s his call whether to contact dad or not. You could suggest the idea, or offer to do it if he prefers using you as an intermediary, but the kid probably feels he’s old enough to be making his own decisions in that area. Of course, I don’t have kids, so that may influence my opinion.
Yutsano
@asiangrrlMN: I think he’s as tickled with the idea of me becoming a Kiwi as much as I am seriously considering it. I can’t say I’ve entirely ruled the idea out yet, it really depends on a lot of factors (and yes the Dawg is part of that calculus).
Demo Woman
@auntieeminaz: Tough call… If the son wants me to call I will. The ex is more about woe with me and I’m not sure that helps the son at this point. The son is a healthy vibrant, loving son who happens to have a terrible thing and he’ll be okay. (at least I hope so)
freelancer (itouch)
@Demo Woman:
If you don’t have ppl there with you I’d recommend printing out a list of N-HL FAQ’s and using those as a guide. Also ask the doc if you can record the conversation. Most of the time they don’t take issue with it. Most specialists realize a big part of what they do is educating a lay-public on a case by case basis. If the topic gets a bit overwhelming, having the info that the doctor said on tape can be absolutely invaluable at later dates.
freelancer (itouch)
Fuck, I inadvertantly used the boner pill word but didn’t use sockalism. Free me, pls. Tx.
Demo Woman
The son called the dr and said I could pick up the results of his test. Fortunately I have a friend whose brother knows more about cancer than I do and I am going to fax the info to him tomorrow. The son is thrilled cuz he will have a second opinion.
So anyway I might be falling apart but I’m still trying to move things forward.
auntieeminaz
@Demo Woman: Did your son have a lymph gland removed? Is that where they found the cancer? My mother’s non-hodgkins lymphoma showed up in her lymph glands. She had chemotherapy and it went into remission for a few years. When it showed up again she refused to do chemotherapy and followed a different route. She died ten years ago, at the age of 78, but not from the lymphoma.
Martin
@Cain:
Only if we cut taxes and eliminate regulation. Was there 600 gagillion tons of plastic in the Pacific before Obama showed up and ground the gears of commerce to a halt? I don’t think so…
I gave my son (11) a sad tonight when I showed him the pictures of albatrosses at Midway. Trying to get him involved in stuff, he’s been writing to the mayor and city council to get ordinances put in place to limit plastic bag consumption in the city. He’s also close to getting the city and school district to set up recycling at the various schools with a contest to see which schools can recycle the most per student with some kind of award/prize to go to the winning elementary/middle/high school.
I suggested he use the photos in his next round of appeals to conscience with the city folk. We’ll see…
Martin
@freelancer (itouch):
Deep thought: Why don’t the spammers just say ‘boner pill’? That seems to get through every filter on earth just fine.
asiangrrlMN
@Demo Woman: I don’t know, either. I am sorry. I will send a white light to you and your son, though. A white light and positive vibes.
@Yutsano: Yeah, the two of you need to get a room already. Sheesh!
Martin
BTW, is it gagillion or gajillion? I think the latter. I need a made-up-word spellchecker.
Anne Laurie
@IndyLib:
True that. Our house was “born” around the same time Spousal Unit and I were, early to mid 1950s, and in the sixteen years we’ve been here we’ve had to replace the roof, the furnace, all three exterior doors, and most of the hardscaping. The plumbing still needs considerable work (we’ve had our own Underwater Basement Nightmares, and it’s a hot-water circulating heating system), and the electrical system hasn’t been upgraded since the house was built. On the other hand, we’ve got genuine hardwood floors, the windows are tight, and when the pipes burst we had to replace some sheetrock but NOT the supports beneath them. Unless you’re really lucky or know the original builder, any private housing put up since the Glorious Reagan Deregulation Bubble is liable to have serious, not-always-obvious problems due to crappy materials in the hands of undertrained/hasty/uncaring workers — if Chuck Butcher were here, he could share some true-life horror stories, I’m sure. So, inevitably, either you start from scratch and spend the next couple years as a full-time supervisor driving your contractor crazy, assuming you can afford that, or you play the tradeoff game between “so old it’s falling apart” and “so new it’s still offgassing/sinking/warping”… and eventually, you end up deciding which categories of flaws you can best stand to deal with or afford to fix.
Yutsano
@Martin: I think it’s gajillion. At least in my universe it is and that’s all that counts.
@asiangrrlMN: The question is who’s gonna break the news to his fiance?
Demo Woman
@Anne Laurie: fyi.. Thanks.. I am totally falling apart. The highlight of my day was texting the son about the Falcons and the Phillies. I’m going to ask him about his dad this weekend. The son’s concern is not the dad but how to tell the love of his life.
freelancer (itouch)
We are fucked. If it’s not about oil and energy, it’s over water…
http://www.bluegold-worldwaterwars.com/alt.html
Andy K
You and me both, John. I couldn’t get to sleep until 10 AM yesterday- had to be at work at 4:30 PM. This has been going on for about a month now. I guess I’ve got my worries: unemployment ran out on me, and it was supplementing my 30 hours/week @ $8.50/hour job (the only one I could find here in Michigan, which has been in a recession since ’01). I’m not so worried about my kid right now, at least not in the short term, since his part-time, weekend job pays him $10/hour..And mom doesn’t charge him rent. Fuck….
Anyway, enough doom and gloom. I’ll see your Merle and raise you a Waylon:
Only Daddy That’ll Walk The Line
asiangrrlMN
@Demo Woman: It’s ok to fall apart as long as you can pull yourself back together in time to meet with the doc and support your son. You don’t always have to be strong. We here at BJ will support you as much as we can.
@Yutsano: Who says hubby-to-be has to know?
Cain
God fucking help me.. I wish I hadn’t wandered over into that coven of dirty fucks called Huffington Post and read Arianna’s blog post about Obama. Jeezus, she’s been attacking him on a daily basis. It was a long winded thing that my eyes started to glaze over, I instead decided to read the comments.
So much fail… you’d think somehow Dubya was in charge or something. These people have no perspective. They want a fucking unitary executive for their shit. God save us from stupid liberals.
Arianna is a nut
cain
ps I should be working on my linux kernel driver but I really feel bored..
Cain
@Demo Woman:
Ugh. That will be ugly.
cain
Demo Woman
@auntieeminaz: A friend actually told me that the reason that life expectancy was so low was more due to age. Steve’s cancer was found in his neck. Several years ago he had gladular problems in his groin and now I wonder if it was the same thing. They want to do more surgery to take out thte cluster of cells on his neck That is not going cure him but it can’t hurt either.
asiangrrlMN
@Cain: I gave up on HuffPo a long time ago. I didn’t need the aggravation.
Cain
@Martin:
We need more parents like you, and more sons/daughters like yours. I try to limit my use of plastic bags as much as possible. In India, back in the 80s we all used cloth bags to shop, or newspapers with string. Most stuff was biodegradable although it brought a ton of flies. We should be able to improve on that model somehow.
But as I said, when we’re trying to save the planet, we’re trying to save ourselves because time is on nature’s side. In the scheme of things, we’re nothing more than an eye blink in this planet’s history.
cain
Nellcote
@Demo Woman:
download .pdf of this booklet here:
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/wyntk/non-hodgkin-lymphoma
Martin
@Anne Laurie:
I want to retire on a big hunk of land but I want to build my own house, as in with my own two hands. My grandfather did it. Dug the basement with a shovel and a wheelbarrow and went up from there. Old school, he was. House almost never needed repair.
I’d upgrade from a shovel, but I’ve done all the pieces just not all in one place.
All I need to do is win the lottery that I don’t play – or figure out how to make Warren Buffet a close relative of mine.
Cain
@asiangrrlMN:
I get my non-balloon-juice news from there from time to time. But they’ve started to become way to sensationalistic their headlines don’t even match their content. It’s very poor journalism. We deserve better than this crap.
cain
Demo Woman
@Cain: We actually talked about that.. She had been texting him all day and finally he told her they did not have clear results. Because of that they were going to further tests. The son sounds like the mom.. I do know that he adores this person and I hope that she stands by him cuz he has a problem.
Andy K
And now I’ll be on a country music bender until the sun comes up.
Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
My Heart Skips A Beat/Bud’s Bounce
John Cole
@Cain: I was actually blown away the other day when Aimai accused me of being full of shit when I said there was a group of people who would flame Obama no matter what and a group of people who would praise him no matter what. Obviously, there are a bunch of people in the middle, but there is an obvious contingent on the right and on the left who, no matter what Obama does, go ballistic. I was actually surprised by that comment, because she is normally pretty astute, but her response was to make a Bush era manichean you’re with us or against us response.
There are pretty clearly people who have lost their shit on the liberal side and think the only way to maintain their “integrity” is to flip out no matter what Obama does, and when you call them on it they just say they are “pressuring the admin to do what is right.”
It’s a fucking joke, and so are they.
Yutsano
@Cain: Arianna seems to be getting off on how Obama is just so fucking bad she doesn’t stop to consider how righteously fucked we’d be with the Grandpa and Bible Spice show in charge. We’d not only be so flat broke as a nation we’d be either serfs or all draftees in Grandpa’s wars he starts with whoever looked at him crosswise this week.
asiangrrlMN
@Demo Woman: I hope she does, too. If she doesn’t, though, then it says much about her.
@Cain: Washington Monthly, TBoggs, and BJ. That’s it for me.
@John Cole: Yeah, her comment was strange to me. I don’t get it, either. There are many things I disagree with Obama on, but there are many things he’s done that have impressed me as well. Why the fuck is that such a problem?
Anyway, I’m out, bitchez. See ya on the flip side.
asiangrrlMN
@Yutsano: Yes. Some people are sure sore winners. Night, FH#2. I hope you’re humping your big dawg pretty soon. Heh.
Martin
@Cain:
Thanks.
We started out about 15 years ago with canvas bags – all were swag from trade shows. Now I have a set of nylon bags in zippered pouches. Each holds the equivalent of 3 or so regular grocery store bags and they fit nicely in the driver side door of my Element. It’s almost impossible for me to buy enough stuff to fill them all and I’ve been using them for years now.
We never get bags from stores and we’re now often in a scramble to find a trash bag when we need one (we don’t buy those either). We pride ourselves on our conservation. We go through 2-3 rolls of paper towels per year. A bottle of dishwashing detergent will last us several years – people generally use a lot more than they need. We had to give up composting for a bit because of the dog, but the city composts until we figure out a way around that.
Mostly we just don’t shop. Almost everything comes from freecycle or craigslist and we donate or freecycle as much as we can ourselves. It’s a lot less stressful than shopping, and our shopping is focused on things that are really important to us. Books from the library bookstore. Nobody feels slighted with a used book vs. a new one. The kids have their small vices but they don’t covet things. They’re not interested in plastering their rooms with tv characters, they never ask for things when we go to the store, they’ve never even asked for things for Christmas. They get gifts, but they aren’t so focused on getting ‘stuff’. I think that’s really the most important outcome – not thinking that you need a 3500 sq ft house and then consuming the world in order to fill it up with crap. Mostly, we hope it will save them from the stress of chasing after a constant stream of stuff in order to feel fulfilled. The save the planet stuff is byproduct, mostly.
anie
Wow. Everyone is having a lousy evening/morning. Good thoughts to all, esp. demowoman.
Insomnia – I worked night shift for ages and have had bouts of insomnia over the last several years. Here is what works for me – but I can’t say it will work for anyone else. Plenty of exercise. (An obvious one) Also, I switched from coffee and news in the AM to herbal tea and poetry. It starts my day off better if I am calm and remember there is beauty in the world. If I amreally having problems I put myself on a totally no caffine diet. (Which I hate since I am addicted to Diet Coke.) A warm shower and healthy snack before bed help too.
I assume that our intrepid host knows all of these tricks and has found them inadequate. All I can say is that reminding myself of what is good in the world helped. Poetry works for me since I am a text based thinker. But art, music, or even the amazing community of commentors here are all things that remind us that humanities capacity for evil is matched only by our capacity for good.
Demo Woman
@asiangrrlMN: Yeah I know but not sure he’ll know. What I know is that he has signed off so he is sleeping which is good. What a shitty thing to happen He is such a nice person and it just doesn’t seem fair. He thinks that he’ll have surgery and have those cells removed and then go on. He sorta thinks that but then he looked at the longevity which was not good and freeked out As a mom you just want to hug him and say it’s okay.
Demo Woman
The odd thing is I worried about Hoffman and Sarah and all the other tea baggers and in an instant they no longer mattered. Of course their policies could hurt us but only temporary.
What’s important are those you love.. Whether dogs cats family members or whatever… The Sarah Palins don’t mattter.
Cain
@John Cole:
There is no doubt about that. The huffington post folks were acting like a bunch of whiny prima donnas cuz Obama didn’t immediately come in and started doing executive orders to fix things ASAP. I distinctly remember Clinton doing this especially with the gays in the military and it dominated the entire first year of his term. That’s all I saw in the damn news and in the end all that happened was he got a turd and so did the gays.
I think these folks are all Clinton supporters or something. I saw one post who was pissed off that Obama kept Gates because he was republican. I had to stop reading as I wanted to throw something.
Huffington Post is cashing in on this stuff, and deliberately putting headlines to ratchet up outrage and get hits.
@Yutsano:
Yeah, the alternative would have been really aweful to contemplate. We’d probably be starting a third front with Iran and restarting the cold war with Russia and go back to diddling with South America. Change is coming, but it’s like waiting for Spring, you’re going to have to get through Fall and Winter before you can see the trees flower.
That said, I’m not particularly happy with Geithner’s with the evidence that is being reported by newspaper. Banks don’t need any more help, especially if they are rewarding themselves. They should be given just enough to survive. I’d like to see unemployment get better, but I realize that will take time since I suspect we are equalibrium and will probably need a new market to exploit? (sorry not an economist, I just hack on linux kernels atm!)
cain
Chuck Butcher
@Anne Laurie:
Partly you get what you pay for and there is such a thing as checking references if you don’t know the contractor. It is pretty funny how cheap people get about dealing with the largest investment in their life – their home.
My house is 1870s Victorian, and no, they didn’t build them better in the good ole days. I’ve rebuilt it and doubled its size and its been pretty trouble free for 15yrs now.
Re wedding:
Bride was beautiful, groom was handsome, no hitches, glitches or other malfunctions. Big wedding, 200+ her parents have money and a jewelry business. Oregon family was about 10 people plus my Mom from N MI. My sis from Lansing picked up niece in Norfolk VA and drove in (crazy people). Reception at Country Club, nobody got stupid (well not very stupid).
I am unimpressed by FL drivers, apparently speed limits are suggestions to a bunch of them and politeness not in vogue. I was driving a 2010 convertible Mustange. I was going to rent a Harley for a few days, but riding looked boring – other than the bad drivers so gave that a miss and saved $100/dy.
For shits and giggles I priced a lot on Sand Key ( S of Clearwater) that was .5A being 120′ frontage x 240′ deep ending on beach. $1.5M zoned for 6 unit condo or residence. Practically every condo had units for sale and some were empty – collapsed market.
Yutsano
@Demo Woman: Here is something I want every teabagger/Republican/right-winger to consider: when you donate that 50 cents or dollar or whatever to help with some strange kids’ medical bills, why is that any fucking different from contributing to a single-payer pool that would make that jar completely unnecessary in the first place? I mean, there is zero doubt that should your son need it I’d fork over whatever I could spare to assist him, and I don’t want to get too political here, but what the hell is the god-damned difference?
Cain
@Martin:
Clearly I have more work to do. We don’t really covet much things although we go through a lot more junk. I think I mentioned before that I saw the city dump and now everytime I throw something away I remember where it is going and I feel guilty. Kids should be taken there to show them where things end up.
The planet is important, we don’t take care of it, it is us that is going to get fucked.
cain
freelancer (itouch)
@demo woman:
one more thing, if you’re not sure what exactly are the questions to ask; mention that to the doc. Ask “what do I need to know? And what do I need to know about what I need to know?”
ask the doc what are his FAQ’s from other patients’ families and how the answers to those questions apply to your boy.
Hope you find measure of peace of mind in the next few days, and though i don’t like speaking for anyone but myself, but eh, fuck it. You know that everyone here, the insomniacs, the cynics, even the daylight crowd and the many lurkers here, not to mention the goddamned trolls. We are with you and yours. What you’re facing is tangible on a cellular level, but those that are on your side number the heavens.
auntieeminaz
@Demo Woman: You won’t know until you talk to the doctor tomorrow whether it will be possible to cure the cancer. Once you know the cell type and the extent to which it is present in his body you will know what he is facing. With any luck it will be in the early stage and respond well to treatment. Keeping my fingers crossed for you both. (And the girlfriend too if she sticks by him.)
Cain
@Chuck Butcher:
Oregonians are polite to a fault. And I do mean a fault since they sometimes let you go when clearly they have the right of way causing confusion.
cain
Cain
BTW why is the time on this blog off? It should only be 3 hours ahead of my current time and it is showing 4:28am.
cain
NobodySpecial
@freelancer (itouch): Yes. Oh yes. Movie of the year.
Chuck Butcher
Hah
somebody’s clock isn’t reset since this thing WP is claiming it is 4:33AM
Martin
@Cain:
Oregonians are so polite they even get other people to offer to pump their gas. It’s creepy.
Thankfully my dad, born and raised in NYC, moved there and is doing his part to inject a little more asshole to the state. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a super guy, but he also recognizes when someone needs to know that they should fuck off.
Stephen Anderson
Unisom and its various generics work for me.
John Cole
Test.
Cain
@Martin:
Yeah, and it’s very inconvenient and more importantly inefficient. I mean good grief, if you got a line of cars we have to wait watching these people rush from car to car..
There are plenty of assholes in Oregon who probably need to be told to fuck off. As long as I’m not one of them!
:-)
cain
Yutsano
@Cain: I went to a wedding in Atlanta for a good friend of mine for college (went down there chasing love with one guy, ended up meeting the man of her dreams) and I swear I drove the Georgia drivers meschugnah with how polite I was. Plus I have zero idea how I got out of it without crashing my rental. It really is amazing how different regions approach driving (and don’t get me started on LA).
Chuck Butcher
fucking WP just 8 a post
Yutsano
Word Press ate my comment. FYWP.
Yutsano
Dude, Word Press has eaten TWO of my comments now! Is that some fucking hint I should go to bed?
Yutsano
@John Cole: Okay yeah something in the registry is massively fucked up cause things are all out of order.
Chuck Butcher
Clock just reset and is throwing posts into the center of the thread.
ahahahaha
freelancer (itouch)
@NobodySpecial:
there’s a place for it right in between 2001, blade runner, and the re-imagined version of Battlestar Galactica.
Yeah. If I had to draw up a tentative list of great movies of 2009, it would include:
Moon
Extract
Public Enemies
The Hurt Locker
District 9
—
and that’s not even counting movies that haven’t even come out yet like the men who stare at goats or the road.
The Main Gauche of Mild Reason
Speaking of insomnia, I’m going on hour 40 right now. I’m hoping my body can relax enough to sleep soon. Outright not sleeping is a pretty disturbing thing.
Chuck Butcher
Lessee where this lands
freelancer (itouch)
@freelancer (itouch):
oh and don’t let me forget what might be my favorite film from this year: “where the wild things are.”
http://thegreatamericandesert.wordpress.com/2009/10/19/a-mote-of-dust-suspended-in-a-sunbeam/
Anya
@Cain: I was thinking the same thing. Who is she helping and that ridiculous meme she’s pushing “Obama’s struggling presidency”. WTF! Sometimes I feel so mad at Huffington and their ilk that I question their motives.
freelancer (itouch)
Okay,
BJ has invented time travel. I replied to NobodySpecial @ 120 and my post showed up @ 92-ish.
https://balloon-juice.com/?p=29249&cpage=3#comment-1426329
I think the bj server is in the middle of Arizona, or some stupid county in Indiana where DST is invalid.
freelancer (itouch)
Flux-capacitor!
Great Scott! Cole’s insomnia has created a void where 112 comes after 124.
Ruckus
@freelancer (itouch):
Hope you find measure of peace of mind in the next few days, and though i don’t like speaking for anyone but myself, but eh, fuck it. You know that everyone here, the insomniacs, the cynics, even the daylight crowd and the many lurkers here, not to mention the goddamned trolls. We are with you and yours. What you’re facing is tangible on a cellular level, but those that are on your side number the heavens.
Wow. Just Wow.
What he said.
IndyLib
@Anne Laurie:
It is a quandry. I am not impressed with new housing in our area, mostly due to the fact they are all cookie-cutter houses built on tiny little plots, with all the old trees pulled up and landscaped with little stick trees.
The rental we are living in was built in 1900, it’s had updates, but probably not for about 20 years. The foundation leaks like a sieve and it’s crooked to boot. The electrical system needs to be brought into the 21st century, the plumbing is in good shape, the furnace is new, the water heater sucks more than I can possibly begin to explain and I have a huge yard full of mature trees that haven’t been trimmed in probably 10 years, one of which is a huge 50 ft willow that is only 10 feet from the house (most likely the culprit of the roots in the drainage pipes).
I’d really like to buy the place from my landlords for about $150 grand, spend $10 grand updating the electrical, replace the water heater, seal the basement, fix the ground outside to minimize the water that leaks into the basement and trim the trees. Then rent it out for the next however long we stay in the Navy, then come back, tear down this house and build a new one on this piece of land.
The lot is .9 acres, with an old stone garage, 2 huge pole barns, a utility shed, a yard full beautiful old trees and 2 lilac bushes. It’s in a great location and the lot is pretty large for the area. I would build the new house further back from the street and get it away from the willow.
Alas, I doubt any of this will ever come to pass because the landlords aren’t willing to sell despite being in a bit of a financial bind at the moment.
Norma Lampson
Demo woman/ In 1999 I was dx with NHL-Stage 4 at Univ of Iowa. Joined a clinical trial, was part of placebo group, But here I am 74 years old and still chugging along, And John this to will pass, treat it as learning experience, everything is Norma
SiubhanDuinne
@Demo Woman: I am here in Atlanta to hug you or be an ear or a shoulder or a pet-sitter or anything else that might help. And I have a colleague who not only survived but gloriously triumphed over non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma years ago and I’m sure she’d be a fount of good practical advice if you think it would help to talk with her.
In the meantime I am so sorry that you have this huge burden right now. It really sucks. But please think about taking advantage of the BJ friends you have nearby for some extra support beyond the people you know IRL. Seriously, if you want to talk offline, I’ll email John and ask him to give you my contact info.
Meantime, you and your son are in my mind and heart. Thinking about you both.
DaveInOz
This made me laugh.
Especially the eulogy to Pittsburgh.
SiubhanDuinne
Reading through this thread has been like doing one of those puzzles that has about 24 comic strip panels out of sequence and the challenge is to put them in logical order.
I’m sorry about everyone’s insomnia. I’m glad the Balloon Juice clock has been adjusted. I’m sorry about the Falcons (but not much acause I don’t really care much one way or the other). I am delighted about the Phillies, and as a Braves fan I never thought I’d be writing those words. I learned to drive in Tampa 40 years ago. Explains a lot. Happy for people’s daughter’s weddings, heartsick for those who are hurting.
Now I have to haul my ass out of bed and go vote in a City Council election. Between my “I’m a Georgia voter” lapel sticker and my Canadian poppy (obligatory between Nov 1 and 11) I’m going to look like a Nascar driver today.
linda
congressman stupak is willing to sink the healthcare bill over any federal funds going to policies that provide for abortions.
wanna bet he has fuckall to say about this:
Backed by some of the most powerful members of the Senate, a little-noticed provision in the healthcare overhaul bill would require insurers to consider covering Christian Science prayer treatments as medical expenses.
http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-na-health-religion3-2009nov03,0,568276,print.story
BruceFromOhio
Benadryl and Bud Light always seemed to bring back the countable sheep in my arena.
Thank ALLAH I do not have kids. I feel for you people.
Au contraire, mon ami. My children have been the second best that ever happened to me in this life. YMMV.
WereBear
So sorry to hear, Demo Woman. Nothing makes us feel so helpless as our kids of whatever age getting sick.
Honesty is important because it takes energy to be faking it. So let him deal with his father and gf the ways he wants. He’s not alone, and that’s huge.
matoko_chan
When I can’t sleep I play WoW.
I have 2 80s.
John S.
I have reverse insomnia…
I go to sleep easily (my wife says if I blink too slow, that’s it) but the stuff that goes whirring around your head that keeps you awake happens to me when I’m awake.
Being a partial mnemonic sure doesn’t help, either. I have so much information stuck in my head I wish I could just do a massive brain dump to free up some space.
Sadly, I discovered in my 20s there aren’t enough drugs in the world to acheive that. But c’est la vie…life is good (even when it’s bad) and there is no place I’d rather be than right here, right now.
jeffreyw
Let me jump in here to change the subject a bit:
fuck a buncha ladybugs!
Oh, but they’re so cute! They are all natural and shit!
Yeah, till they start crawlin all over yer ass and start chewin on ya.
Demo Woman
@SiubhanDuinne: Thanks. I’m on the wake to his dr.’s to pick up the results and I’m going to find out why he wants to do surgery. Someday we should meet just for fun. I am going to vote just because I don’t want Tom Price’s wife as my local council rep. There is only so much bad news in the world and that would be bad.
maryjane
I’ve been told that marijuana helps you sleep. The only side effect is you go to bed with a full stomach.
kay
I like the music posted here best when the author is unhappy. I don’t know what that says about my musical preferences.
For insomnia, I just don’t fight it, and that “works”. You’re awake, and miserable, but quasi-willingly. The upside is, after three days wandering around second-guessing everything you’ve ever done, you’ll sleep really well.
geg6
@DaveInOz:
Yeah, well the guy is a libertarian. And a Clevelander. Our three rivers here never caught on fire. Other than the fire from the fireworks set off when we won our SIX LOMBARDI TROPHIES. Fuck Cleveland. Cleveland sucks. But mainly we just feel sorry for them.
And Demo Woman, I’m so sorry about your son. I don’t know much (or anything, really) about his disease, but I know that Mario Lemieux had Hodgkin’s lymphoma and look how that’s turned out. I will be pulling for your son to have a similarly happy outcome.
RedKitten
When unable to sleep, I used to watch the channel with real-estate listings. It wasn’t so boring as to be irritating, but it definitely took on a drone-like sound as time went on.
Life without kids is definitely easier. Just running to the post office requires serious planning. And yes, sometimes I do miss being able to just go where I please, whenever I please.
But to have this tiny, innocent, sweet-smelling little human, who gives you a great big gummy grin as soon as he sees you in the morning, and then snuggles up against your neck with a big sigh of contentment? Bliss…
Scott Rock
This is pretty shameful: To Some, Winner [of the NY Marathon] Is Not American Enough.
The birfers claim another victim. F America, Yeah!
R-Jud
@kay:
Yep, this is how I deal with insomnia, too. The old Concept2 rower in the garage also helps (sometimes in terms of bringing on sleep, but usually just to pass the time). Fortunately, I work from home, so if I look kind of bedraggled or am somewhat spacy, only Mr Jud has to deal with it. The baby is happily oblivious.
Demo Woman, many prayers for your son. FWIW, my uncle went through the wringer with the same cancer about fifteen years ago and is still kicking around. Treatments have come on since then and your son is, I am going to hazard a guess, not the chain-smoking overweight drinker my uncle is. So he’s got that going for him.
Kevin
In case you’re still looking for insomnia cures, exercise followed by a shower and then a double glass of Port is pretty effective. If I’ve got too much on my mind, then I’ll put in a movie I’ve seen a hundred times before but still like. The movie is usually enough to distract me but familiar enough that it doesn’t keep me awake. Good luck.
jibeaux
Life is like that all the time for me. I once dropped a glass bottle of milk on my brick foyer floor, shattering it into a kabillion pieces and sacrificing a $1.30 deposit to boot. I sobbed like a baby. How freaking idiotic is that? But it was like the final straw, a straw of crap that finally covered the camel in so much crap the camel couldn’t breathe. And then a little while later you realize it’s not crap, that there are people dealing with actual problems and sickness and hardship and they are the ones covered in crap. You are actually covered in, well, probably in straw, and you just need to clean it up and bundle it and feed it to the cattle or whatever the hell it is you do with straw.
I hope that helps.
Thadeus Horne
@asiangrrlMN: It seriously fuckin’ sucks. I have been up for over fifty hours.My bong doesn’t even help anymore.
Oh, and FTFY! that is all.
The Grand Panjandrum
Here is something that will cheer everyone up.
William Kristol (the neocon Kreskin):
In other words the GOP is teetering on the edge of extinction.
The Grand Panjandrum
@The Grand Panjandrum: Oops. You can read the whole thing here.
slag
OK. Here’s what you do (or more accurately, here’s what I do that kinda works):
1. Turn off the damn teevee. Don’t turn it on again until after you’ve had a good night’s sleep. (In my case, I got rid of all my tv channels and it worked quasi-miracles.)
2. Wash all of your bed linens and clean your bedroom really well.
3. Work out. Either run, or play some sort of sport, or do some yoga or pilates.
4. After your workout, take a long, warm shower and slip on your clean jammies.
5. Make some tea (no caffeine), get in your clean bed, and open a book (something with a story that isn’t too disturbing or taxing–maybe even something you’ve read before but wouldn’t mind reading again).
6. Don’t focus on sleep; just read.
And even if all that doesn’t work, at least you’ll get a nice day out of it.
Bob In Pacifica
Someone up the thread suggested more hiking around with Lily, and I find hiking is great for tiring the body and allowing the mind to wander to those places where resolutions are pending. Agree. Nothing better than exhausting the body and the mind will follow. Maybe augment the hiking with other exercising. Knock out ten pushups here and there around the house until you are ready to collapse. Then you can fall asleep to the sleep of the just.
I think a lot of people this time of year have sleep problems. After all, we had the big “Fall Back” thingie. There’s a full moon sucking the liquid in our brains towards the sky. The longer nights cut into our daily sunlight supply. If you do air travel and switch time zones or change climates that’ll mess you up too.
So if you have full-spectrum lights use them to give yourself more “daylight”.
Drinking yourself to sleep doesn’t work well, but cut back your coffee except for in the morning when you want to wake up.
If you have this problem for a long time, or if it keeps coming back and all the above things don’t work, seek the help of a physician, if you have health insurance.
Bob In Pacifica
Also, when all else fails, I would prescribe Noam Chomsky, either in written or audio lecture form. Guaranteed to put you to sleep.
Paul L.
So are you guys still denying there is a tape where Rev. Wright says “Land of Greed and Home of the Slave“?
Looks like Fox News perfected the Rev. Wright CGI.
The Grand Panjandrum
John I forgot to add my advice on how to get some sleep. Here goes … Smoke dope. If you don’t fall asleep at least you’ll be too stoned to give a shit.
slag
@Bob In Pacifica: That’s a good point.
And there is some teevee that might help. I, for one, really enjoy watching Carl Sagan’s Cosmos. It’s got the perfect combination of seventies and science. But for some reason, episode 6 (which I just discovered is on Hulu) will put me to sleep every time. It might be conditioning based on watching it one time when I was extremely sleepy or it may be incredibly boring. I haven’t figured it out; I just go with it.
Borden Tarde
Go see a sleep specialist. I did; I thought I was an incurable insomniac, and now I sleep like a child. You think it’s just anxiety, and maybe it is, but it might be something treatable (if not curable).
Go see a sleep specialist.
Emma
Demo Woman, I’m late to the discussion, so all I can do is hope that the prognosis was good. As a cancer survivor (breast, in my case) I know how terrifying that first moment with the doctor is. But people do survive it. Most important thing will be to go into battle mode: get as much information as you can and keep asking questions at every stage. Make a decision about treatment. Go. Ask questions again. Over and over again. Most cancer doctor and especially cancer nurses are happy to answer, because they realize the best weapon is an informed, calm, and rational patient.
kay
@Paul L.:
How long are you going to follow Reverend Wright around?
It’s been a year. This is a political party? We got it. You oppose Reverend Wright. You’re just going to continue the losing 2008 campaign, forever?
Sarah Palin, Reverend Wright, right wing lunatics at rallies, that former McCain employee who has no health insurance and is blaming Obama….I think it’s time to move on.
jibeaux
@kay:
Well, Duke Lacrosse was way more than a year ago and I think we all know that closure on that remains elusive to Paul…
Shell
Yup, add this to your list of unsolicited advice. A couple of Benadryl knocks me out
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
I’m now recommending Terry Prachett. I have slept better the past few weeks than I have in a long time because I’ve started reading those at night. Not only is Rincewind dealing with stuff that I don’t have to, I love catching Prachett’s games with writing. My favorite one so far is where the narrative gets interrupted by the story. The only hard part is telling myself to put the book down and go to sleep, but its been working. For a brief moment, I’m not thinking about work, kids, or college, and I get to sleep, and sleep through the night.
gnomedad
@DemoWoman:
FWIW, my wife’s friend’s son got this a number of years ago and is still doing great, last I heard.
wonkie
When I can’tsleep, I raid the medicine cabinet for pills left over from various surgeries.
My dad had non-Hodgkins. I think a great deal depends onn how early the detection is. The survival rate is good. Still scarey, though. Like everyone else I’ll be thinking of you and your son.
My house is from the sixties. Actually it’s a condo. When we first bought it, it had red shag carpets and orange tile. I think the decorator was striving for a James Bond/Rat Pack type atmosphere–I know I couldn’t be in the house very long without reaching for a cocktail. Anyway the carpet and tile are gone, and everything’s a nice calming mix of earth tones, suitable for old hippies like me and Paul.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@Paul L.: Nope, not denying that. And I doubt you would deny that our country was founded on declaring most of the population ineligible to vote, and to declare a portion of it as slaves, and that it wasn’t until the 60’s that this really started to turn around.
What I deny is that the stuff that Wright says has any real influence over Obama’s thinking, just like my mother’s views on blacks has almost no influence over my thinking, other than maybe my attempting to compensate for her views.
PTirebiter
Yep, it’s always something but the somethings can become viscous when you’re not sleeping. It can really snowball so don’t go too long before seeing a doctor.
Svensker
@Demo Woman:
I don’t have any words of advice to you. I just can’t even imagine hearing that sort of news about my son. The fact that you are able to function at all is just amazing. Sending prayers your way and fervent wishes for healing and good news.
CaseyL
DemoWoman: I am so very, very sorry to hear about your son. Beside the research advice you’ve already gotten, I recommend some other realy good medical info sites:
Mayo Clinic:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/non-hodgkins-lymphoma/DS00350
MedicineNet. This one I particularly like as it’s geared as much to doctors as to patients, so the info is more extensive: http://www.medicinenet.com/non-hodgkins_lymphomas/article.htm
WebMD:
http://www.webmd.com/cancer/non-hodgkins-lymphoma/default.htm
And, wow: Insomnia in epidemic proportions! We should do a meetup on that. Sleepless in BJ land.
My problem isn’t falling asleep – I do that without any trouble – but staying asleep. I was practically doing a victory dance any night I managed to sleep more than 3 hours at a stretch. I’m a very bad worry-wart, though. My doctor prescribed some Tibetan herbal remedy, Anxiety Relief, which seems to be helping (sleeping 5 or even 6 hours! woo hoo!), though it might just be a placebo effect for all I know.
I’m experiencing a lot of cognitive dissonance since I started seeing this naturopathic doctor, whom I switched over to after a coworker recommended him to the very sky. I don’t actually believe in most of the stuff he does, but the hell of it is that the stuff seems to be working, and I don’t know what to make of that.
Quaker in a Basement
You got it all wrong, Mr. Cole.
On those days when I’m sick, or the pets are sick, or I am stressed, or I have too much to do to think, or I don’t have the time to do what I want to do, or someone is pissed at me and won’t explain why, or my car breaks down, or my dishwasher breaks (garbage disposal in my case), or my plants get blight, or something, the kid is still awesome and the one and only thing in my life that saves me from being overwhelmed.
CaseyL
As someone who also gives thanks regularly for being childless, I don’t think Cole meant he’s glad he doesn’t have a bunch of rugrats underfoot demanding things from him.
The reason I’m glad I don’t have kids is that middle-class life in these here United States is not good, and is likely to prove unsustainable altogether in the next 3-4 decades. I’m glad I don’t have kids because, if I did, I would need to move us all to some other country in order to safeguard their future in a thriving, prosperous society.
And I think that’s what Cole means.
Tsulagi
Don’t forget the spousal unit that goes along with those kids! You want to have “there’s always something,” have one of those. Hands down far more of a time sink than the kids.
This past summer: “Mi amor, Maria is going to have her wedding reception here so I’d like you to extend the front deck and wrap it around to the guest bedroom. Then put french doors on the bedroom to lead onto the deck.” Me: You want me to build 400sf of deck then cut a wall and install exterior french doors just so Maria can make a freaking entrance onto the deck?
Dude, you have no idea how easy you got it.
Cain
@Tsulagi:
So, how did the deck go? :D
cain
Montysano (All Hail Marx & Lennon)
@gizmo:
Count me as blown away.
matoko_chan
You’re too tired to sleep.
Here, have some fireflies.
;)
Tsulagi
@Cain:
It looks great.
Yeah, I’m pussy whipped. I did the math and cost benefit analysis. Say no and don’t build it, I don’t get any or just pissed-off scraps. I negotiated and got extra benefits. Women have the power. They have a vagina and know how to use it.
Steeplejack
Testing to see if the server clock was reset, as seems to be the case by the message order in this thread being messed up. It appears that Cole or someone reset the clock in the dead of night–in the middle of a long, densely populated thread on insomnia. D’oh! There’s a word for that, but, ironically, I can’t think what it is. LQTM.
asiangrrlMN
@Tsulagi: Only if you are willing to give in to it.
@CaseyL: I agree with your analysis of Cole’s thankfulness.
I, on the other hand, will say without qualms that not having children was the best decision I ever made. Nothing will make me change my mind about that. Nothing.
To my fellow insomniacs, I hope you all got some measure of sleep last night.
Publius
Insomnia’s a major bitch. Best book I found for it is from a couple of years ago called “No More Sleepless Nights.” Good luck.
SiubhanDuinne
@Demo Woman: I didn’t realise Betty was running for Roswell C.C. until your note. Interesting. I’ll pay attention to the local results tonight.
Yes by all means let’s get together sometime. I’m sending John an email asking him to send you an email with my contact info. Whenever you want to talk, or enjoy a friendly bitch-session about our GA congressional delegation . . . .
Hope the doctor can give you the beginnings of useful information.
geg6
@asiangrrlMN:
This.
Oh, and insomnia sucks. I’m another with the no trouble actually falling asleep. It’s the staying asleep thing that seems to be the trouble. Middle age and the change have made it only about 10,000 times worse. With the extra added attraction of sweating uncontrollably as I toss and turn.
de stijl
You need healthy, natural sleep. Chew Valerian root and get more exercise.
Nobody has ever died from insomnia. If you want to see real pain go to Trinity Episcopal church Thursday nights.
binzinerator
I used to sleep like a baby until my wife and I had some of our own. Parenthood rewires the brain, I’m convinced.
I find that 2 things help for me:
1) Stop reading political blogs (lowers the stress level — constantly reading about all the evil stupid shit being engineered every day by goopers, talibaneglists, glibtards and teabaggers to fuck good people over can be a cumulative unhealthy thing.)
2) Play sudoku on the iPod. It’s very calming for me, it occupies my mind enough to prevents other things from intruding but not so demanding or fascinating that I get sucked in like a video game or a good whodunit book where I discover I’m reading the last chapter or playing the last level at 3 a.m., which would make it moot for insomnia.
A couple-three rounds of sudoku on easy level and I’m nodding off.
Unless one of the kids is sick. Nothing much works then.