Cat-astrophe

I've spent the last five nights cat-sitting. I have never really been what you'd call a 'cat person', but the past few days have really been a learning experience for me. 

I learned (while scooping kitty litter) that there is very little I won't do for money.

I learned that I'm mildly allergic to cats. Probably. (The watery eyes, stuffy nose and scratchy throat may have been a coincidence...but I doubt it!)

I learned that cats are weird. They will walk all over your face when you're trying to sleep but the second the alarm goes off...bam! there is a soft, warm little ball of fur on your chest, and it's not moving. 

I learned that I will never own a cat. Ever.

Also, the people whose cats I was watching were supposed to be home yesterday afternoon...but they weren't. They decided to stay away longer, and they didn't feel the need to let me know this? Cats and cat people...I'm tellin' ya! Sheesh!

A Case of the Grumbles...

Blurgh!

I've lost my green hat -grumble, grumble-...and the puzzle I put together this morning was -grumble- missing a piece. Grumble.

I can't find the little plug-in thing that connects to my computer chord now I only -grumble- have the -grumble grumble- other one.

The -rant rant rant- interwebz are broken at home, and my favorite -grumble- coffee shop downtown closes at 2pm on Saturdays...I wish I had -complain- known that before I tried to go -grumble- study there at 3 because I have -grumble, grumble- so much homework.

I never realized how -grumble- useless my computer is without -rant rant rant- internet. No games. No Facebook. No daily crossword. No watching The Big Bang Theory episode I missed Thursday night.

This post has been brought to you by five hours of sleep a night... all week!

I'm tired

...but not sleepy.
This has been a re-occuring problem for some time now. Part of it is work stress, I'm sure. I can't seem to stop thinking at night. I lie in my bed, listen to my fan and think. I think about things that I can't control, especially not at 1 o'clock in the morning. If I could take my brain out at night, that might help. Other than that, I don't know how to fix this problem. Two nights ago, I was in this same position. In my comfortable bed in my comfortable pajamas with my white noise at a very comfortable level and my comfortably dark, cool room. The conditions couldn't have been more conducive to a good night's sleep. But I couldn't get sleepy. So I decided to get up (at 2 am) make myself a cup of chamomile tea and watch Glee on DVD...I fell asleep on the couch. Maybe I should try sleeping on the couch every night, I mean, any sleep is better than none at all, even if couch sleep is pretty poor quality.
It's almost as if I'm becoming nocturnal, I get so sleepy during the days that I am tempted to take a nap on the sofa in my office, and some days I take a nap when I get home from work. Which just makes sleeping at night just that much harder. Which, in turn, makes getting up in the morning that much harder, which makes me so sleepy during the day that I need to take a nap when I get home...and the vicious cycle continues. I don't know what to do. I can't even talk to my mom about it, because she worries enough about me as it is. I don't need her to lose sleep over my loss of sleep. Her not sleeping isn't going to make it any easier for me, and I don't want to give her any more reasons to stress out about me, since I'm the more gray-hair inducing of my parents' children, they don't need to add my insomnia to the long list of reasons why I can't take care of myself.

I'm just so tired of being tired. I just want to sleep.
I've tried tea and tylenol PMs and if Little Bo Peep has lost her sheep and doesn't know where to find them, it's because I've counted them all, and Mary's Little Lamb, and every other sheep for that matter. So much fleece...

Be True to Your School

I went to college at California Lutheran University, and I loved it. I had experiences at CLU that I wouldn't have had anywhere else. I can talk anyone's ear off about how much I loved my time there. It wasn't all rainbows and unicorns, but the good times far outweighed the bad. If you ask me about CLU, I will be more than happy to answer your questions with glowing honesty. The professors were amazing, and there were a few that I went out of my way to be sure I had a second (and sometimes, third) time.
I made amazing friends at CLU. I received a great education at CLU. I got involved in campus ministry at CLU. I lived on campus for 4 years at CLU. If it wasn't such an ugly color combination I would proudly profess that I bleed violet and gold (which translates into purple and yellow, which translates to gross). If my mascot weren't an adjective, I'd be proud to say that I am (a) Regal. If our NCAA bracket weren't division...40, I'd proudly cheer on our teams. Heck, I'm proud anyway. I love my school. I also love that they use nearly any excuse to give away free stuff. T-shirts mostly. I have probably a month's worth of CLU shirts.
But this month isn't 'shirt shots' (possible theme for next month though). When I graduated I was given what I am going to call an 'alumni starter kit'. It had a license plate frame (which is on my car), a 'class of 2008' water glass, and the obligatory 'take this to your office so everyone knows where you went to school/brag about your alma mater' mug. I love my school. I love mugs. My school loves giving away free stuff. Win-Win-Win!
Except I don't have to brag about my alma mater at work. CLU does that for me. Working at a Lutheran church, we get so many 'hey the students in your congregation should go here' brochures. Plus, my boss's oldest daughter goes there anyway.

That being said, I slept horribly last night, so I'm going to take a nap now.

Somedays require more coffee than others

Today is one of those days. I slept horribly last night. It took me FOR-EV-ER to get to sleep, and staying asleep was a whole different problem. Maybe it was still cricket-guilt, but I doubt it. Something is going on in my subconscious and it is stressing me out to the point where I'm losing sleep. I just wish I knew what it was.
My intermittent sleep last night made it nearly impossible for me to leave my bed this morning, and when it came to choosing my mug, I only had one thing in mind-which will hold the most coffee?? Ah, that life giving substance...(which has yet to kick in.)
Anyway...this mug is nothing special. It seems like one of those 'end of the year gifts to the teacher' mugs...my mom probably gave it to me.
It holds a lot of coffee, though...this is good news.
I might have to refill at lunch.

Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see...Strawberry Fields Forever

Sometimes I pretend I'm a hippie. These urges usually strike me after listening to the Hair soundtrack, or after watching Across the Universe. I decide that I want to go through life with no responsibilities and always be barefoot and string beads in all my doorways. I start listening to a lot of The Beatles and Simon & Garfunkel and think 'yeah...I would rather be a forest than a street'
Speaking of forests and streets...I bought this mug in Central Park (parts of which are very nature-y, especially with the contrast of the rest of Manhattan just feet away). It has a strawberry on it because there is a section of the park that was dubbed 'Strawberry Fields' in honor of John Lennon, who was shot across the street from this area. Since this is a very 'hippie-y' part of the park, this mug reminds me of my occasional hippie tendencies.

Although last night, I did something very un-hippie-like. I killed a cricket.
Well, I thought I did. It was on my wall, and I smashed it with a shoe. Then I went to get a tissue to pick up the cricket corpse, and when I returned...it was gone. Now there is an injured cricket bent on revenge roaming around my apartment. It will probably kill me in my sleep tonight.
Maybe that's why I slept so terribly last night. My guilty conscience was keeping me awake because of the cricket-life I almost ended.