Battling bedtime and bleeding knuckles

(Sorry for no cute pictures... I will do better next time!)

I have never been described as hyper or even as a morning person, but within the last two or so weeks, I have had a personality change.

For the most part, I am a person who fights the alarm clock like it is a mortal enemy and we are locked in an epic battle to determine the fate of humanity. It usually wins after an hour or two.

Sorry, humanity.

And I'm not talking a 6AM alarm, or a 7AM, but an 8:45AM battle. I usually plan my teaching schedule with the assumption I will wake up at 10AM. I end up staying at work until 8 or 9PM, as a result. Before you judge me, you must also understand I have another battle with sleep, one I have fought since pre-memory childhood (just ask my parents). I fight going to sleep as though I know I will never wake, and can easily stay up until 2AM knowing full-well I have to get up at 8 (I stay up much later if I think I can sleep in). Somehow, I am a functional member of society, despite my teenage-style sleep habits.

I hope this background will help you understand my surprise, when two or so weeks ago, even after fighting going to bed (is it left-over boogie-monster syndrome?), I starting waking up before my alarm. At first, 15-30 minutes. Soon, an hour, then two. I was waking up, wide awake, at 6AM, even after going to bed at 12 or 1. What was going on? And I was waking up in a good mood, alert, energized, and hyper. And I would start doing things. Again, to understand the unusualness of this, I am the type of person who basically cannot do any kind of house-work, laundry, or bill paying if I also go to work that day. I place my job above all these things, and then feel so burnt out by the weekend, I usually refuse to do them then either.

I can't believe how much laundry, vacuuming, yard work, grading and t.v. show-catching-up I've gotten done. Sometimes in the office, I have even starting jumping up and down to pass the suspense of waiting for a student appointment, a meeting, or a paper to come out of the printer. Just ask my terribly-annoyed department admin.

Today, I knew I should work on my online summer course (which begins in two days). The other event happening in two days, is the moving-in of my new tenant/roommate. So when given the choice between sitting quietly and typing on the laptop, and cleaning the basement, I oddly chose cleaning. And one thing led to another, as it always does.

To cut to the chase, my hands and arms are aching, and my knuckles are scuffed up... vacuuming a room, lead to opening the windows (which were stuck, so had to have the latches unscrewed), which lead to going into the crawl space to retrieve the screens for said windows (least kitties escape), leading to the sanding of said window-screens which no longer fit the frames, which lead to the hammering and screwing in of those sreens, which lead to the raking out of the leaves trapped in the window-wells, which lead to raking in general, which lead to cutting up fallen twigs and branches for the fire-pit, which lead to cleaning the trailer (Alice Avion will roll again!), which lead to bleeding knuckles and sore hands.

I suspect I will be sore and lethargic tomorrow, but I am so happy to be so full of energy, I can't resist using every bit I can. Everyday, I think, "you're overdoing it. You can't keep up this pace," but then I do. I know it will slow down eventually (probably when it gets really hot and sweaty in Indiana), but it's spring; the birds are tweeting and nesting; the flowers and trees are blooming and coming back to life; and I feel hyper and energized. I'm going to ride this pony till it kicks me off.

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Wish I was in California, to go to Sant Khalsa's opening tonight. Instead, I am in Billings, where there are never Saturday night openings. :(