So here we are. And it's raining again. Of course it is.
This has been the summer of rain; monsooning all day and night, washing away gardens, lawns, and, most recently, trees. The lakes, which last summer were perilously low and dry, are now overflowing into yards, covering docks and boathouses, washing away ladders and tires and other boat-dock amenities, and even going as far as to lift boats completely out of their slips and have them float aimlessly around boathouses or, in some cases, the lake itself.
I've been informed, by people who have found their boats recently floating a half mile down the way, that they are unamused by this development.
Myself, I'm unamused by the fact that the entire back half of my house is starting to wash away, down into the yard. Also by the fact that any time the sun comes out everyone immediately runs outside and simultaneously starts doing All Their Outdoor Projects! And they try and cram them all into the 2.3 hours of sunlight per week we're currently enjoying! And they overcrowd all the parks and the pools and the lakes (which no one is allowed on anyway because of all the floating debris) and then nobody has any fun because we're all bumping into someone else, any way we turn.
So, in other words, I'll complain about anything, and if it wasn't raining continually it would be 105 degrees with 96% humidity and I would be on here, asking who in their right mind would choose to live somewhere that feels like a large, steaming bowl of soup. Once I was reading a travel site, and they were doing a feature on the best places to travel for specific seasons. And conversely, the worst places to travel during specific seasons. They said something like this about the region I currently call home:
Avoid these southern locales during the summer months. The temperatures are extreme, and only the locals can stand to be there.
I beg to differ.
Anyway, we just celebrated the Fourth of July. And it was raining! Surprise! We did actually get one good day of almost no rain, and everyone was so thrilled that we literally did not know what to do. I think something about all this rain is messing with people's circadian rhythms, their sleep/wake cycles, or both.
Because every night, from last Friday night until this Thursday night, the Fourth of July revelers who were residing at our house saw in the sunrise before they felt like going to bed. And what I want to know is, what the hell is wrong with everyone?
We're not 18 years old. Not any of us. In fact, I am one of the younger members of this group, at the not-so-young age of 26. And while I'm fine with pulling an all-nighter or two if it's absolutely necessary...well, no. I'm not, actually. I hate all-nighters, and I think I pretty much always have. However, I WILL do an all-night affair if I absolutely must, but in this case, I just wasn't feeling it. The first night, which was last Friday night, was ok. Everyone had just gotten in, some from across the country. We hadn't all been together in quite some time, and hey! It wasn't raining. So we sat out on the screen porch sipping drinks or inside playing the Wii and whiled the night away. Until 6:30am. Well, I thought. That was interesting! I bet we're all happy we got that night in, and now everyone is going to be sufficiently tired and chilled out the rest of the week, as is befitting the Fourth of July at the lake.
But no! This was not to be. Because the next night found me sitting somewhere, I don't even remember where, at 4:30am, trying desperately to hold my eyes open and trying even harder to remember why I was trying at all. Vague hospitality-centered notions such as hosting and making sure my guests were having a good time worked for a while, but as 5am rounded the corner I decided that I really didn't care about anyone anymore, and went to bed.
By Sunday, I was looking at everyone suspiciously, wondering if they were actually human, or some kind of robot-species that didn't need sleep at all. By Monday, I irritably started asking people if they didn't have jobs, or somehow were looking forward to a week's vacation where they would catch up on all their missed sleep before starting back at normal life. By Tuesday I was hovering somewhere between violent anger, complete despondency, and bitter tears. All it took to set me off was to ask me something innocent like whether or not I felt like going to the movies later on that night, or what the plan might be for the next day. Don't you people have any heart? I would sob. I'm not a rockstar. I have to sleep. Why do you all hate me?
And somehow, everyone else seemed to be fine, making their plans, staying up until all hours of the early morning, sipping their drinks, and generally enjoying life. I, on the other hand, couldn't stop thinking about how tired I was, how I was going to have to get up in just a few hours and somehow face an entire day and night of Doing Things, and how once the holiday was over, I was going to have to go straight back to work and, well. Work. And I'd be tired! Who could bear it?
I've always been this way. Nothing infuriates me more than knowing that I have to get up early the next morning and yet being forced to stay up late the night before, wasting precious hours of sleep doing, well, anything. There's almost nothing in the world that I would rather be doing than sleeping.
So, there it is! I would rather sleep than do anything else. What does that make me? Chronically depressed? A hibernating bear? Not the life of the party, it would seem, at the very least.
To make matters worse, I had to go straight to Los Angeles very early Thursday morning for a market. That meant I had to leave my house at about 3:30am on Thursday morning, when I had only been to bed a few hours before at (very early for the week, mind you!) 1:30am or so. I arrived in LA at 8:50, and then had to, you know. Work. I don't know what I'm trying to accomplish here, by continuing on about this. It's almost as if I expect that next time I type in a sentence about how I was really tired and then had to get up and do things, it's actually going to sound impressive, or, you know, unlike things that everyone else does all the time.
You know, Judy, today I got up, somehow managed to find clothes in the wardrobe, put them on, and then did the laundry AND the dishes! Then, I vacuumed and dusted and somehow managed to eat lunch, all before 2pm. Whew! Can you believe me? I hardly can!
So to sum up, I get tired easily, enjoy my sleep, and dislike it intensely when it's interrupted. Groundbreaking, really.
Here's something, though! On the flight back from LA, I was still tired (shocking!), and was hoping to maybe sleep a bit on the plane. However, I was stuck in an aisle seat, and the lady across from me in the other aisle seat was...well...large. Spilling over the sides of her seat large. And while I will give all sorts of credence to the point that airline seats are ridiculously small and can be easily compared to the stalls they cram cattle into, she was still taking up quite a bit of room. So, anytime anyone needed to walk down the aisle, they had to edge right up to my seat, which meant that if I had any body part, say, my elbow or pinky finger, sticking out of my tiny area of space, someone was going to run into me. And since directly next to me, in the middle and window seats, sat a happy, snuggling couple, I really didn't have much breathing room at all. And therefore I didn't think sleep was happening, as such. However, after a while I did start that whole nodding off and catching yourself thing, where I was sitting straight up in my seat and would suddenly find, due to my chin hitting my chest, that my head had stopped supporting itself and instead was letting gravity take over. This happened a couple of times until my head stopped supporting itself and decided to roll precariously to the left and land directly on the shoulder of the male counterpart of the happy, snuggling couple. Who, more than likely, were less happy to be suddenly sharing their snuggling with a random travel companion. I woke with a start, and immediately removed my head from his shoulder. He looked at me strangely, and I looked at him horrified, and instead of doing anything normal at all, I patted his shoulder a few times and said, Sorry! Sorry!
I then turned to face the seat in front of me, cheeks burning, and closed my eyes, hoping that maybe if I pretended I didn't care, I wouldn't. Also I cursed everyone who had made me stay up so late all those nights in a row and obviously were the cause of such an embarrassing situation. So if you're one of those people, and you're reading this, be warned. You don't even want to know the curses I wished upon you on that airplane. You don't even want to know.
Umm, did the curse have anything to do with a flat tire? Huh, huh?
I blame you.
Posted by: One of the people | July 09, 2007 at 11:30 AM
Gee, Elise. A flat tire is harsh.
Posted by: Amy | July 09, 2007 at 02:13 PM
wuss.
Posted by: Cody | July 09, 2007 at 05:37 PM
I know I'm a wuss!
And One of the people? I promise I didn't wish a flat tire on anyone. I really just wished that you would all go away.
Wait, what?
;)
Posted by: elise | July 09, 2007 at 05:42 PM
remember that time you were going to sleep for as long as you possibly could when i was living with your family? the rules were something like you could go to the bathroom, or get a drink of water (not a glass), but you couldn't be awake more than 15 (maybe 20) minutes?
i didn't know where you were for a day.
you slept for 19 hours.
go elise. you are my hero.
Posted by: heather | July 09, 2007 at 07:42 PM
I truly hate people that stop me sleeping, in this house if someone is asleep you better let them stay that way. I feel your pain and I definately would have been one of those hostesses that say things like " Night then, have fun, I would sit with you all night but then I would have to hate you and that would be a shame..keep the noise down there's a love" and go to bed. I might then feel the need to vacuum at 8am just so they don't feel like staying up all night again. Nothing worse than eyeburning weariness and nodding off on some strangers shoulder ( did you drool? Did you? If you did.. some real curse is called for)
Oh and the rain? England too, drowning we are, a mere 3 days of sun so far this 'summer'....where's the global warming? Send it our way please!
Posted by: Helen | July 10, 2007 at 06:40 AM
Oh you know I'm with you. But you know we're in the same-ish region.
Just the other day, the lady on the news said with a smirk "both coasts are now experiencing what we do every summer."
It was like "YAH! TAKE THAT, PEOPLE WHO USUALLY HAVE NICE SUMMERS! HA!"
Posted by: sarcastic journalist | July 10, 2007 at 10:52 AM
The rain. It is killing me. Totally.
Posted by: wordgirl | July 10, 2007 at 11:10 AM
I just moved to Texas, right, so at first I was kind of assuming that this is what it's always like. And... yeah. Apparently not so much. But now that it's stopped raining for minute, it's about 95 degrees outside with 95% humidity, and I'm not really down with that either. Weather: can't live with it, can't kill it.
Posted by: fist city | July 11, 2007 at 11:33 AM
I wish we'd get some rain here in Ohio! Stop hogging it all! All anyone can talk about here is this ridiculous drought, blah blah blah. They make ME want to sleep!
Congratulations on Post #300! And I'm totally with you on the sleep thing. Poor you!
Posted by: Cassie | July 11, 2007 at 03:34 PM