The Natural State

Everyone has those times in their lives when everything is so chaotic they can’t remember what day it is.  When you’re getting ready one morning and realize the entire week has passed and the last memory you had was from two weeks ago because everything since then is one gigantic blur.  So you neglect things.  Important things, like eating for example.  Or sleeping.  Or your blog.  Well, for me, this isn’t one of those times.  I’m eating plenty thank you.  I haven’t missed a meal, snack, semi-snack, or satisfied munchies in quite a while.

Anything less than 9 hours of sleep is unacceptable and don’t forget naps during the day.  I’m turning into a cat.  Well, except for bathing myself with my tongue and coughing up hairballs.  So why is it again that I’m negleting this blog?  I dunno.

I’m going to copy off myself and post pictures from my photoblog on here.  I took these over the Thanksgiving weekend when I went hiking at Petit Jean National Park.  It’s crazy that I love nature photography and Arkansas is the natural state.  But in all my years of growing up here this was my first time to ever go hiking here in Arkansas.  Go figure.

Freddy Krueger, Welcome

I’m one of those people who, aside from my freshman year in college, has always needed my 8 hours of sleep or more.  And I was one of those people that could just will myself to sleep for 10, 12, or more hours at a time if need be.  Those days are becoming a distant memory I’m afraid.  I still require at least 7-8 hours of sleep but no longer can sleep for hours at a time.  Maybe it’s what happens when you get older, I don’t know.  But I do know that for me sleeping is precious time not to be wasted.  So I’m peeved when my time of rest causes anxiety and stress that result in long, grouchy days.

Lately I’ve been dreaming that I’m at work.  And not in some bazare, tripped out version of work but I’m doing my actual day in/day out, run of the mill stuff.  This blows!  The dream seems to last all night and the night seems to last forever so when I wake up I feel like I never left my job.  I’m exhausted in the morning and begin to resent having to go in when I feel like I just spent the night there.  This isn’t the first time I’ve had these crappy work dreams nor is it the first time I’ve had a bad nights sleep because of what I’ve been dreaming.

In high school I ran relays on the track team.  Many a night before a meet I had that “I’m trying to run with everything I’ve got but I’m not moving dream.”  Everything is in slow motion, I can see other teams passing me, my coach is on the side lines yelling, and try as I may I can not reach the finish line.

I once dreamed that I got engaged to a former co-worker.  This was and is the worst dream I’ve ever had in my life.  I remember that I wanted to say no but said yes because I didn’t want to hurt his feelings (??).  My plan was to turn him down later in private (he had asked in a semi-public place) but somehow word got out to the rest of my co-workers and I felt stuck.  And sick.  The dream was so real that I literally woke in a panic until I realized after almost a full minute that I did not have a ring on and that nothing had been real.

I returned home after a year and a half or serving a church mission in Guatemala and a week later dreamed I was asked to serve another mission.  The real one was all fine and dandy but in no way did I want to go again especially after I just got back.  And the real kicker was that instead of going someplace cool like back to Guatemala, I was asked to serve in Little Rock, Arkansas –  only a half hour away from my mom’s house.  What?  No thanks.  But I was stressed in the dream because I felt like I had to accept even though the circumstance was so bazare.

Towards the end of my senior year in college I dreamed I wasn’t eligible for graduation because I was short one credit.  I went into the counselor’s office and went over my credits and pointed out that I had met all the requirements.  She then told me that I had failed my hula class (yes I really took hula one semester.  I went to school in Hawaii) and that was causing me my graduation.  Apparently there was no way to make it up and I went around the campus trying to make appeals to whomever would listen but kept being told that all classes were meant for learning and that if I couldn’t take hula seriously then how would I be able to take life seriously and make a difference in the world?  Yeah, it didn’t make sense in my dream either. 

Why can’t I have a dream where all I do is sleep?   I think someone has a twisted sense of humor…..it’s probably me.

I Think I’m breaking….No, Just Getting Old

Let me start off by saying that I’m not old.  I’m only 28 which should be the prime of my life but my body feels much older.  Or at the very least I’m starting to notice I’m no longer 18.

1.  I can’t stay up late.  My freshman year in college I could function off 3-4 hours of sleep.  Now, I’m lucky if I make it until 10:30.  And if I do stay up late I have to make sure I’ll have time to take a nap the next day.

2.  I can’t sleep in anymore.  I used to be able to “will” myself to sleep until the afternoon.  Now I consider sleeping until 8 as a luxury.

3.  While I was home I went to the gym with my sister twice.  I did practically nothing and was sore for 2 days afterward.  Likewise, I went to the batting cages with my dad and raked the leaves in mom’s yard.  Both had the same effect as the gym.  This didn’t used to happen…at all.

4.  I get sleepy after eating meals and need to go sit down for a while.  Again, this never used to happen.  I used to be able to eat Thanksgiving dinner and go play basketball right after without any consequences.

5.  Seeing a lot of junk food in one place makes me sick.  This is not right.  My roommate has tons of M&M’s, candy bars, cupcakes, cookies, chips, and Reese’s Butter Cups in the cupboard and every time I open it I want to hurl.  Also, I can’t watch candy being made because all the sugar and lard makes me queasy.  This absolutely never happened before.

6.  When I would visit with my nephew and nieces I could play for hours doing anything and everything they did.  Now the only games I want to play with them consist of me laying on the floor while they do one (or all) of the following: play with my hair, stack their toys on me and see if they can balance without falling, or put stickers on my face.  I don’t care as long as I get to lay on the floor.

I realize that most of these problems would be cleared up if I got out to the gym…or just got out.  But it didn’t used to be this way.  I never thought about what I was eating, whether I had to schedule a nap time, or worry what the effect on my body will be if I do something more strenuous than sitting.  It blows.