(departing) notes and queries:

[raven]

I just had a long and decadent bath, but now I can't stand up. Life, she is hard.

Some notes and queries, before I drag myself to bed:

1. Life lesson for the day. When you decide to use up about-to-go-off milk by making it into custard, using a measuring jug for the purpose, you know what you should do? You should wash out the measuring jug very thoroughly first. You should especially do this when the last thing the jug was used for was making vegetable stock. Mmm, delicately spiced custard.

2. Also, when you have less-than-stellar mental health, you should fill up every weekend so you're busy every calendar day for two months. Actually, yes, you should do this. I am currently too busy to draw breath, but, well, that's not so bad, I think. I need to get more sleep, though, or at least ride out the current bout of insomnia. One of these days I really must make a proper post about Life As An Insomniac, It Sucks, because, well, it does, and it continues to irritate me how people who do not have chronic sleep disorders seem to often think that Glasses of Warm Milk and A Regular Routine and, most nauseating, Maintaining Good Sleep Hygiene is all us deviants need before we're snoring in the rank and file.

(I mean, seriously. I've been sleeping badly for in excess of two decades now. If one of those things was going to work, it would've have worked by now. But I digress.)

3. lgbtfest is asking for prompts again! This time, I plan to participate. You guys should too, it's kind of awesome.

4. Regina Spektor - Braille. I can't stop listening to this right now.

5. And finally, and the real point of this post: tomorrow, shimgray and I skip off to London and trespass on apotropaios' hospitality, and on Saturday morning, bright and early, we're going to Paris! For adventure and excitement and really wild things! Or maybe sitting in cafés drinking good coffee and watching the world drift by. It is cool. To all a good weekend, shall be around on the flipside.

Comments

[likethesun2.livejournal.com]

I agree with pretty much everything in #2, especially the plan of keeping yourself TOO BUSY TO THINK (very good therapy) and this: people who do not have chronic sleep disorders seem to often think that Glasses of Warm Milk and A Regular Routine and, most nauseating, Maintaining Good Sleep Hygiene is all us deviants need before we're snoring in the rank and file. Seriously. I mean, I don't have sleep problems of your magnitude; my issue is mostly having a naturally skewed circadian rhythm with occasional bouts of true insomnia; but I know enough to know that it's really silly to tell people with sleep disorders to just, like, turn off the lights at the proper hour and lie in bed. RIGHT.

3. omg yay! Thank you for mentioning this; I missed it last year, but I'd really like to try to participate this year. Also, looking forward to what you do.

And finally: JEALOUS of your jet-setting ways. :)

[msilverstar]

You are so right, both of you. Glasses of Warm Milk my ass!

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

And decaf can shove it, too!

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

In my defence, me going to Paris is about the same distance as you going to, I don't know, Portland. It's just got more border control. :)

I am planning to have people without sleep disorders lined up and shot. I hope this will not create any inconvenience.

[sophiahagia.livejournal.com]

I love that Regina Spektor song. Is awesome.

Also, have you tried taking melatonin for the insomnia? I've suffered from horrible sleep problems for as long as I can remember. People with no light perception (like me) often have screwy sleep schedules because their bodies don't know whether it's day or night and therefore don't produce enough melatonin. I started taking it a few months ago and it's really helpful. It's available as an over the counter supplement here, but I'm not sure about its availability elsewhere.

(If you're sick of sleep suggestions, feel free to tell me to shut up. Because I feel your pain and lack of propper sleep sucks.)

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

I have not, no. I'll bear it in mind for the next really bad bout - thank you!

[tafkarfanfic.livejournal.com]

I only got (mostly) over my insomnia in my mid-30s. Before that, I only slept 4 hours a night for...well, years. I really feel for you.

(There are a couple of things that worked for me. One was the no-caffeine-after-2pm rule. But I had to put about 5 things together before I could even remotely fix the problem.)

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

*smiles* I have issues with no caffeine because, well, I've had no sleep, so I need it to get things done. Otherwise, I don't know, total productivity failure. But it is good to know that there may be a hope in sight! (It is a wee while before I hit my mid-thirties!)

[ladyfalcon.livejournal.com]

I don't even know what good sleep hygiene means. Like a previous poster, my main problem is just a wonky circadian rhythm with only occasional real insomnia, but I suspect I don't have "good sleep hygiene" whatever it is. I wonder if I can make up for it by leveling-up my dental hygiene through flossing every day.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Ahahaha. Floss more, sleep better. I think this is excellent logic.

[marymac.livejournal.com]

Wheee, Paris!

Go and ask for a sleep study, seriously. At least then you'll have an idea of why?

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

What is a sleep study? I confess ignorance...

[marymac.livejournal.com]

It's when they wire up your head and see what happens while you fail to sleep, as far as I know. I have never had one as my sleep problems lie more with an inability to sleep at the right times, rather than inability to sleep at all, which is the kind of problem for which your sarky git of a doctor mocks you roundly. Between ranting about laptops and posture.

[absinthe-shadow.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I have a Paris question! It's rather odd. Could you possibly cast an eye, on occasion, to pavements/crossings, and see what Parisian dropped curbs are like? And then tell me when you come back? (One can find the odd website about 'Disabled Paris', but there's nothing like someone taking a quick look, you know.)

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

*clears throat* Parisian dropped kerbs are... just like London ones. Shim and I kept an eye out everywhere we went, and we did cross quite a few arrondisements, but generally speaking, they're like London, with the exception that when the kerbs are high, they're higher than they would be here. We kept an eye out on general disability issues most places we went, so feel free to ask more questions...

[clubhopper15.livejournal.com]

Oh enjoy Paris! I've only been once when I was v v v young and for a short time.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

You should go! It was very lovely.