Life: Sleep and its absence

The flash flood warnings have ended! That’s a treat. I’m dry and on land, and grateful for that. The weather has been highly variable all weekend, and has induced panic over opportunities to take advantage of the harsh, high contrast sunlight I enjoy (I have SO MUCH FILM waiting!), only to to be promptly foiled by low-ish temperatures and the arrival of diffuse clouds.

I’ve taken a brief break from posting while trying to get my sleep schedule back in order. That… hasn’t gone well.

I’ve been delirious after a days of averaging just five hours of sleep, and my punchiness (using the least common definition of that word) isn’t especially entertaining. I’ve increased my exercise and decreased my caffeine, so at least I am warmer and more fit during my delirium.

I’ve been reading, yet my preferred manhwa are either just getting started, not at a sensible reviewing point, or just returning from hiatus. The few ‘mid’ ones aren’t worth your time to read (or my time to write about). I’ve got a couple books going, and am determined to finish them completely before I write about them. I have two new reading friends (!) who love sci-fi (!!), and so may drop everything to start some of their recommendations. I’m selling them hard on Martha Well’s Murderbot Diaries (marthawells.com) and the gargantuan Anathem by Neal Stephenson (nealstephenson.com). They didn’t flee despite the gleam in my eyes, so I am encouraged. (Watching me struggle to maintain my composure while gushing about William Gibson’s most recent work is surely challenging...)

I’ve also found a new way to remain informed of serious journalism, politics, truly bad jokes, good owl photos, and types of fungus I didn’t know existed. Somehow, these are all available in one place. Yes, I joined Bluesky Social. I… will regret this, but not right away: all of my favorite people left the bird site and are using bsky’s tools to reconnect me to the same networks of thinkers, plus a new pool of silliness. (My sudoku scores are about to plummet…)

Don’t be alarmed by my relative inactivity here. I’m hoping to make up for this over the holidays, when I have a near-infinite list of projects saved up to do…