Maura's Illuminated Manuscript

No post yesterday because I woke up at 0330 and stayed awake for the rest of the day. It was one of those where I went to bed because I got dizzy from the fatigue.

So what happened to my theory that a lower hormone dose might help? Falsified.

The good news is that I got eight hours of sleep last night, even if it took me ten hours. And I had the sense not to ride my bike in the freezing fog this morning. Go me?

I got my bike pannier today. I hope there's no freezing fog tomorrow because I'm unduly excited about using it.

Yesterday's outing was lunch in the International District with tylik. Much talk. Very noodle. Wow. Spotted an anti-ICE sign, partly in Chinese, in the window of a business. Nun-approved.

Skipped nap in favor of doing laundry. Got eight hours of nearly uninterrupted sleep. Maybe there's a connection, but gift horses.

So I woke up at 0330 or so due to a vivid dream, then tossed and turned for over an hour. Nothing unusual about that, you say, but here was ticket back to dreamland: turning off my morning alarm. I got an extra hour plus of sleep, and I still made it to work on time. This isn't the first time that I've managed this.

Am I unique this way? Does the threat of loud beepiness at 0600 mess with your early morning sleep as well?

I have slept for eleven out of the last twenty-four hours, and now that I think about it, thirteen out of the last thirty hours. I mean, I haven't been staying up really late or getting up really early since last week. What's going on?

Edited to add: no happy lamp today because I slept well past sunrise. Also, I've only had one cup of tea today. Gosh, that may explain everything.

Bummer #1: I woke up at 0310 and couldn't get back to sleep.

Bummer #2: I broke something at work, and I wasn't around to fix it because I was at the dentist.

Bummer #3: The Halloween party that I wanted to go to so badly has been cancelled due to the hosts' need to recover from COVID.

But! I have backup and other plans for this week, next week, and the week after that. So take that, bummers!

You may recall my griping about fall and reduction in daylight hours per day. Well, as I mooted in that entry, I did indeed get a small happy lamp. So far so good, as evidenced by:

1. I seem to be capable of doing things in the early evening besides sleep.
2. I can do the yoga tree pose right after lamp exposure, which is my usual time, without having difficulty with my balance. That's right: I have trouble with that pose in the fall and winter because my brain is using my eyeballs (overmuch?) to tell it which way is up.

Caveats: It's been really sunny the last couple of days, and I spent Sunday recovering from Saturday night. The real test will be later this week when the rain returns.

After udon courtesy of the Wendling for dinner, a little housework, and (yeah, I know) Duolingo, I started to feel sleepy. It had been a rainy day, and local sunset yesterday was at 1837. So I listened to my body and went to bed.

I woke up afet 2230, took off my makeup and brushed my teeth, and fell asleep again around 2315. I slept until my alarm went off at 0600.

That's over ten hours of sleep. And I got what I thought was a decent night's sleep Tuesday night. I'm not entirely sure why this happened, but this is definitely a gift horse situation.

I know what I'm doing for Halloween. It doesn't involve travel, it doesn't involve (much) money, and it does involve people I've wanted to see for years. They shall soon see, for the first time, the Devil Girl in all her glory. Can you tell I'm psyched?

Oh, and I seem to have fixed my sleep issue by going out for drinks with the latex folks last night. Socializing is good for whatever ails me, if not you too. Fun fact: trans people were about 10% of the attendees. Mmu hu hwaugh huh hah ha!

I got around to something that I'd been meaning to for years: I finally rode Miss Indigo Bike across the SR 520 floating bridge*. The current bridge there opened in 2017, complete with a lane for peds & bikes, which the previous bridge there lacked. It took me eight years, but I did it.

How'd it go? Well, getting onto the trail involved a few wrong turns and backtracking. There isn't any signage on the Burke-Gilman Trail** telling you how to even go south, much less get on SR-520. The pedestrian-and-bike overpass that gets you safely across the 6-lane arterial has been there for ten years***, but neau, there's no sign telling you how to find it. This looks like a job for a guerrilla.

How's the actual ride? It's a fantastic way to zen all the way out. Bike traffic was light, with a high proportion of serious cyclists, and the weather and the view were right on. And the high rises at the east & west ends aren't that bad, at least if you're used to Phinney Ridge. I stopped at the east end and took a picture, natch. How long did I take? About two hours, including all the doubling back and the break at the far end.

Thence to brunch on the Hill at Lost Lake with Comfy Lady! Her job, in public health, is under direct threat from Trump's gangsters, which... urgh! But otherwise, it was lovely. Happiness is eating outdoors this time of year.

Went home, read, got groceries too delicate for a messenger bag, made dinner, and crashed hard. Seriously, I lay down at about 1930 thinking I'd nap for a couple of hours. I ended up sleeping over nine hours in my clothes & makeup with the blinds & bedroom door still open. I guess the ride caught up with me. Welp, now I know how to cure my own insomnia. Luckily, I didn't have any firm evening plans.



*That's right, kids, a concrete pontoon bridge. We have three of them here in Washington state: two across Lake Washington, which borders Seattle to the east, and one at Hood Canal on the other side of Puget Sound.
**The Burke-Gilman used to be a railroad right of way that got turned into a paved trail not quite fifty years ago. It hugs the waterfront in Seattle's north end, including the University of Washington, for which it's a commuter artery. It runs up the west side of Lake Washington all the way to its northern end.
***The overpass over Montlake Blvd. was built as part of the project for the University of Washington light rail station, and it was an excellent idea. The station is right next to the sportsball stadia. Across from the station is the bulk of the UW campus, of course, and kitty corner is the enormous UW Medical Center. Just south of there is a drawbridge. So yeah, there's a high density and volume of irritated drivers at that intersection, just what you don't want as a bicyclist.

On Sunday, I slept late enough that my whole day got shifted a few hours late. That meant that by the time I felt like my second tea of the day, it was too late. Bad: afternoon zombie. Good: slept the sleep of the just.

Yesterday, I tried an experiment: just a cup of tea late in the morning instead of my usual pot. I slept better last night, even with the same number of tea bags per day — two — as when I don't sleep well. Nearly seven continuous hours!

Moral: it isn't the caffeine, it's the volume? Clearly further research is needed. But... but... I like making a pot of tea. Maybe that'll be my early morning thing.