Hitting Bottom and Starting Upward

Hello everyone. At long last, I seem to have well and truly left this latest bout of insomnia behind me. Last Saturday was utterly torturous. I woke up at a quarter past three and couldn't get back to sleep if my life had depended on it. Resigning myself to the inevitable, I got up at that ungodly hour and began puttering around. I finished Jurassic park for the second time in around seven or eight hours during the long and empty day. It had threatened to rain out and I was little more than a zombie of my usual self just trying to stave off silence and keep my brain occupied. It's on days like that when the disconnected nature of the sort of life society has tossed me into really hits home. The hours just seem to crawl past with nobody to talk to and not enough energy to initiate anything. I had truly hit bottom once again with insomnia. This time around, there were thankfully no nightmares. I still vividly remember fragments of the five-nightmare horror marathon I went through last time I hit bottom. Despite dozing off for chunks of Saturday, I still find it stupendous the kind of tricks time can play with you when you're down for the count. This made even those long anticipatory Christmas
eves seem like walks in the park. Just three or four dreamless dead hours of rest preceded the longest most boring day I can remember. There were a couple of gems. I heard an interesting show about Nostradamus on History Channel. Also, another hour was helped along with a BBC Radio documentary concerning highwaymen. I hadn't realized that in some old pubs over there, people could just open a hatch under the bar and relieve themselves into a "piss channel"[Who'd have thunk?] That was the actual name for the thing.

To my utter surprise, I had a fantastic sleep Saturday night and was brimming with energy on Sunday. Church was a much-needed bright spot in the morning. After that, I was determined that I would go out and at least attempt to find some company for more of the day. It felt like I had been cooped up in there for a century. I also wanted to take the Trekker Breeze with new maps finally installed for more of a spin. Things didn't go as planned. I was so used to taking everything it said with a healthy grain of salt that I ignored signs of its being truthful with me until it was latently obvious I had gone well off course. Rose happened to be riding out there on her bike and got me back on track. I'm beginning to think that I'll have to re-record all my routes now that I have the new maps and software. Lunch at Symposium Cafe was certainly not a disappointment food-wise. Also, I enjoyed the snippets of conversation that the serving staff have time for. There's just that damned empty space that a friend or better yet, a special lady should occupy. I got more fortunate on the way home. The GPS worked perfectly and I was going the right way when I happened to cross paths with Pastor Sam and most of his family. They invited me back to their place for a drink and chat. I spent a good chunk of the afternoon chatting with them. Sunday more than made up for Saturday's troubles.

Over the past few days, I've consistently gotten up at around seven, or eight in today's case. Monday was a little dull but I managed to keep occupied with some online chatting and descriptive movies on Samnet. Also, I purchased the full version of Time of Conflict from GMA Games. I'm still not great with it but it does pass the time trying various strategies against the computer's forces. Yesterday was more interesting. It started with a mobility lesson which went alright. My instructor is taking a week off so I won't have one next week. I will, however, be attending a building barbeque with a new acquaintance I've made while strolling around the lake. I've been doing that more lately. It's proving to be a great way to kill time, get exercise and meet people with a bit of time on their hands. I've gotten contact information from a couple of them now. Not certain if things will go beyond basic acquaintance level but at least more people are actually taking time to ask questions and not just walking past with no more than a greeting. I certainly plan to keep at it as long as the weather's nice and I'm awake enough to make a competent effort of it. Sooner or later, if I keep it up, I'll hopefully become more engaged with the people around me. Perhaps, someone will say something that inspires me out of my writer's block. I'm certainly not there yet but it's starting to feel like I might be headed in the right direction at long last. The trip to Lake Jo is likely the best hope but perhaps, something will turn my creative wheels sooner.

Yesterday ended with the launching of a great new talk show on
www.mushroomfm.com
Jonathan and Julia are two very engaging hosts. I've always hoped they'd do a show that was mainly a talk show and not full of music. They chose "blind moments" as their first theme and had people skype in to tell the audience about those moments where blindness has led to embarrassment or funny outcomes. I shared a couple of stories including the hooded winter walk I took to English class one day while attending Erindale University. It's been quite a while before I've felt like committing to anything online but catching and participating in the Mosen and Minx show is something to look forward to each week. I introduced Sandy to Mushroom FM just before the show and haven't touched base with him yet to see what he thought. I'll be seeing him tomorrow evening to help him with his computer unless something changes that plan.

Today has been less eventful but nevertheless enjoyable. I went out to Symposium Cafe with my father for a midday meal and martinis. There was no need for supper after that so I've simply enjoyed the rest of the afternoon and evening. It felt like it was going to rain so I only stayed a short while out on the balcony with my netbook. It was terrific with that nice breeze. I took in a TV show on History channel about Alcatraz. They were investigating paranormal activity as well as the only possibly successful escape attempt. The paranormal stuff is just bunk in my opinion but is nonetheless entertaining. Not much else on TV tonight but I still have a bunch of podcasts and convention coverage to get to over the next couple of days. On Friday, I may be off to a family gathering and swim if it ends up being warm enough. Seems like it will be. Well folks, I'm off to bed now. Until next we meet, let the good times roll.