I can't sleep

I've been having some episodes of insomnia recently. One night, I went to bed at 10 pm, and fell asleep seven hours later.

Major suckage.

It had also happened to me a few months ago, when I was still in school. I'd get very little sleep, have a lot of trouble getting up in the morning because I just felt sooo heavy, and generally have a crappy time. Of course I couldn't just take it lying down (ha!), so I conducted what passes for research these days** and then tried any combination of the below:

1. Not look at anything bright/be in an illuminated place for about an hour before bed
2. Listen to soothing/classical music
3. Not listen to anything
4. Stimulate my brain (or something) by reading, doing puzzles, etc. before bed
5. Not do any strenuous thinking before bed
6. Read something very boring (The Silmarillion)
7. Warm milk before bed
8. Tea before bed
9. No caffeine
10. Not eating anything a few hours before bed
11. Eating a lot before bed
12. Meditating
13. Counting sheep
14. Exercise before bed to tire myself out
15. Shower before bed

The above is a load of crap. I came up with some of them, and found most of them, but it's all still crap. I'd drink warm tea with milk, spend an hour in the dark before going to bed and meditate and then I'd just stare at the ceiling for hours.

Agggh!!

But no more!! These days, or at least yesterday and the day before, I've been falling asleep within half an hour of going to bed. Do you want to know what it is that just sends me off, that is as effective as hitting me over the head with a ukulele, what's the stupidest yet most effective cure for insomnia?

DEATH METAL!!!!

Seriously. Three tracks into the Dethalbum and I'm knocked out***. And probably snoring.

**Research these days = several hours on the Internet, with Google majorly involved

***Some might argue that I'm falling asleep to a cartoon soundtrack. To them, I say ptooie! It's still death metal.

Wasting away the summer

I always seem to waste my summers (I mean, I can't remember anything terribly worthwhile I've done with them in the past), and this is the longest summer holiday I'll ever have, between high school and university. But for the record, I'm not lying on my laurels all day here. Well, today I did just sleep, read and peruse websites that sell plugs for stretched ears. But not all days.

EDIT: I made this into a list. As in, I added numbers.

1. Let's see, I went to the movies that time, by myself and in the morning to watch Oceans. I was feeling totally awesome because it was like I had the whole theatre to myself, but then this couple walked in. Not that that was bad or anything–the more people see that film, the better. But it did annoy me when the girl laughed at the bit where a huge shrimpy thing snaps off a crab's claw and then leaves it to die on the ocean floor, whereas I was nearly ready to shed a manly tear (having hermit crab pets must have made me more sensitive to the crab's plight or something).

2. I've also been to Starbucks a whole bunch of times with my sister to have frappuccinos. I don't really care for their prices, other beverages (like their coffee, actually) or the type of people they normally attract around here, but they do have really tasty frapps and comfy couches.

3. I went with my friend to see that movie, some romantic comedy that he wanted to watch... and also go some frozen yogurt with him a few times...

Okay, I'm stretching it here, but if I don't write down coffee outings and frozen yogurt consumption it'll fade out of my memory because it's not significant and I'll feel like I just lay on my couch all summer and watched Law & Order.

4. Oh, yeah, I watched some Law & Order. On the couch.

5. And I got my ears stretched some more. The dude who did it the first time actually remembered me and we chatted a bit. Not chatting as in talking about the weather or how Mexico's doing in the world of soccer, but chatting as in talking about scalpeling bits of ear off while he was doing my ears. Also I got to observe dudes with bunches of tattoos and other body mods hanging out and doing stuff and they were kind of fun to watch. They seem to be more in touch with their inner children than most people are. And nicer people.

6. Oh, that time I was with my sister and I was craving a chocolate donut so we went to a bakery, and on the way there (and back) we saw this totally smokin' hot dude sitting on the base of a pillar of the bridge in front of the nearest mall. It was magical because I was a) with my totally cool sister, b) holding a donut, c) on the way to get a frappuccino, d) in possession of $2 I had just found on the street, and e) looking at a smokin' hot dude. It has all the makings of a magical moment. Which is probably why it has inexplicably stuck in my mind.

7. I bought some red jeans! They were on discount and lovely. :D And the shop assistant looked like Lady Gaga.

8. I made cookies with Bailey's Irish Cream in them. I based it on a recipe I found on several websites (apparently there's one Bailey's cookie recipe out there. Weak), except I doubled the booze and they came out TWICE AS GOOD!!!! YAY!!! I put some other stuff in there, too, but mainly I owe it to the alcohol.

9. I'm going to my cousin's house to play Wii and sleep over. ...yep.

I'm writing this at 2 AM because I couldn't sleep. My sister is crashing in my room because she wants to sleep in, but her room has a window facing east so the morning light always bugs her awake. My room, however, is always dark and gloomy and sad because my only window faces north. The point of telling you all that is so I can also inform you that she just made a snore-ish noise, said "Nyarhusum!" and rolled over.

Bell pepper loses

I just gave my hermit crabs a piece of rice cracker lightly sprinkled with cheese powder and they went NUTS. The bit of bell pepper I put in at the same time was nibbled on for about ten seconds before a big fight over the cracker ensued. Ultimately the winner dragged it off to a corner of the tank, while I ran downstairs to get more cracker pieces so that nobody would lose a leg if they fought again.

Lesson learned: crabs might kill for cheesy rice crackers.

They really are quite tasty!