How short this day.

At 4:30 PM October 4th I awoke from a fairly long slumber.  I had gone to bed at three the previous night but even so 13 hours of sleep is pretty dang long.  I awoke this day and went about the many things one does after they awake.  Ate some food, took out some garbage, answered some emails.  Later on I did some other random stuff and then went out to play some ping pong.  Now I end my day and am about to attempt to once again wage the epic battle known as falling asleep.  Now the strange thing about today is how fulfilled I feel.  Compared to many days I feel as though I have done more in this short day than on days that I have awoke at 8 or 7.  Why is this?  That question is all I really wish to ask.  Why?

On the Nature of Time

As pretentious as the title of this piece sounds the subject matter is in fact not that esoteric.  For the “time” that is the fundamental character of this essay is not the endlessly marching behemoth of years and centuries, nor the ever fleeting hours in a day.  Rather I shall be focusing on a specific segment of time specifically that which falls just before one must wake.  During this time the mind is for me at least in a very strange state.  It is not always the same state and yet it is always abnormal.  Anecdotaly, I woke today to the sound of my roommates alarm while he did not.  As mundane as it may sound it was rather strange for a combination of reasons.  I am and always have been a very deep sleeper.  I have been known to sleep through earth quakes, sleep walk into many a strange location and if my alarm clock isn’t right next to my head I will never awake to its keening.  Further more my roommate went to sleep later then me, he was planning on waking up earlier, and his alarm is no where near as loud as mine.   And yet it occurred.  He did not wake for his 6:00 AM run and I quickly returned to my slumber in  order that I might wake once again in less than 2 hours.  What purpose or point does this story serve?  I don’t think it really serves to show anything really except how bizarre our unconscious or semiconscious minds are.  I was fully rational for the few seconds I awoke to the alarm of my room mate.  I understood that he was probably going to be late if he did not awake and yet only a few moments later after deciding to go and wake him up I was once again slumbering.  Does this really show anything at all?  Maybe not.  Maybe he just had a hard day yesterday and I was sleeping lightly for reasons unknown.  Who can say?  I can say this though.  As run of the mill as this particular story of the strangeness of sleep is and as susceptible to alternate interpretations it can not be doubted that sleep, in all its glory, is really freakin’ weird.