I was tempted to say that I've been suffering from insomnia but that's not true. I don't suffer from insomnia. I am simply a night owl, have been since I was a kid. I've always found it interesting that I get chided for waking up late--which makes since when you figure that I don't to bed until way after everyone else does--but no one every says, "Wow! You're amazing. You can stay up later than everyone else."
Anyway, I've just been thinking about how the world--by this I mean my family, the 9-5 work life, school, etc.--has been forcing people like me to conform to their schedules, their ideas of what is normal. But, after 30 years, my body won't change it's rhythm so I have to embrace this.
So, being up late, there's not that many options of things to do. This morning, I was still awake at 6 AM, so my husband and I drove down to the St. Paul Farmer's market and looked around. The weird thing is that I've lived in St. Paul since 1988, but I've never been to the Farmer's Market because--get this!--I never wake up in time. But today I got there as booths were getting set up. Had a really great time just walking about. The sky was interesting. It looked gray as if we were about to approach twilight but the world was so quiet, you knew that this could not be so.
So, cool sky light above me, I checked out booths, had some breakfast, and re-discovered some things I had forgotten. For example, the smell of Hmong cilantro reminded me of lady bugs. As a kid, I remember seeing lady bugs all over the cilantro.
For my husband, nostalgia came in the form of crap apples that were surprisingly sweet as well as tart. Neither of us had eaten crap apples in years. I attribute this to the fact that we haven't been around parens who just randomly stop on the side of the road to pick them from trees.
Anyway, the reason why I'm posting this rant is this: If you have any ideas of things a person can do late at night, let me know. These are things I'm familiar with:
* Going to Denny's or Perkins
* Going to Mickey's Diner
* Going to Walmart in Eagan
* Going to the casino
At home, I'm either reading, watching a movie, baking, cooking a 2 AM dinner, playing video games, or chatting on facebook. HELP ME WITH MORE OPTIONS!
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It's my biased belief that Hmong families don't go to sleep earlier than 1 am. I grew up staying past midnight every night but especially during the weekends when we are frequenting Hmong parties or funerals. That's when staying awake becomes a marathon from getting up early and being awake for 12 hours or more until the Sand Man takes you kicking and screaming to find a spare place to catch a cat nap.
My body can't take sustained 18 hours days anymore but when I find myself up late at night I take a nice warm bath. Once I'm wet from the bath water, I have to go through the routine of changing which is my routine for going to bed. If I still can't fall asleep, I read in bed. My goal is always to go to sleep so reading in bed is a sure way to put me out if I am relaxed.
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