I think I need a nap

Jalál (Glory), 19 Kalimát (Words), 167 BE – Saturday, July 31, 2010 about 9:27 AM Pacific Time

I am about to fall asleep on my keyboard. I am on my fourth cup of coffee and still I want to go to sleep. I ate a peanut butter sandwich earlier, perhaps I need something a little more substantial. I will go fix a couple of eggs and if that does not help then I will take a nap.

It is cloudy today, so the lack of sunshine may be the problem. I keep yawing and yawing, perhaps I did not get enough sleep last night. I will eat something, get another cup of coffee, and then read the morning paper. If I go to sleep while reading the paper, then I do need more rest.

Looking forward to a sleepless night

Istiqlál (Independence), 11 ‘Izzat (Might), 166 BE – Thursday, September 17, 2009 about 10:38 PM Pacific Time

I'm not sure whether I'm going to write, do housework, say prayer, read, or a combination there of. The only thing I am sure about is sleeplessness. I'm not tired. My eyes don't want to sleep. My mind doesn't want me to sleep. Therefore, I'm going to stay up most of the night. There are times when it's better to accept the idea of sleeplessness then to go to bed. Tonight I'm accepting the fact I'm not going to get any sleep no matter how hard I try.

Some call it the bewitching hour

Daily writing practice prompt for Tuesday, June 23, 2009 is “Write about an hour of the day.”

Midnight, twenty-four hundred hours, some call it the bewitching hour or the witching hour. For me it's just another digit on the clock in another sleepless night. Perhaps I don't need a lot of sleep, maybe it's an age thing. After all, I'm 62 years old and I'm not getting any younger, sometimes I'm not sure that I'm getting older, but I do know I'm not getting younger.

Grandma Newland did housework when she couldn't sleep. She would get up in the middle of the night and mop the floor. Sometimes she cleaned the bathroom or the kitchen, but she never lay in bed staring at the ceiling. Normally, I don't lay in bed staring at the ceiling. Often I get up and work at the computer.

Sometimes I lay in bed and stare out the window counting the time Metro's helicopter flies over the neighborhood. Sometimes I check the front door, the sliding door, or go outside to make sure the car doors are locked. Usually I get up and work at the computer, all though I have been know to wash dishes or mop a floor, but those are rare occasions.

Lately I've been saying prayers. I open my prayer book and read the evening prayers. I also read the Long Healing Prayer revealed by Baha'u'llah. I like that to read that prayer, especially on night I can't sleep.

I think I take after my Grandmother

Kamál (Perfection), 16 Kalimat (Words), 165 BE – Monday, July 28, 2008 about 2:20 AM PDT

I have mentioned before about my Grandma Newland and her sleeplessness. Grandma would get up and do housework when she could not sleep. Lately, I have found it difficult to sleep through the night. Two or three mornings a week, I find myself getting up two or three hours before the alarm sounds.

I do not do housework instead; I say prayers, write and blog. This morning I did make an exception to not doing housework. I put a load of laundry in the washer because I needed cloths to wear to work. After I dry the cloths, then I can get ready for work. Laundry is the only housework I will do when I cannot sleep.

The advantage of blogging early in the morning is completing the entries before I go to work. The disadvantage is that sometimes my muse does not get up at the same time as I get up. This can be a problem, especially when I do not plan an entry ahead of time. Perhaps I should try planning daily blog themes ahead again.

I tried that before and found it tedious. However, I could take another approach this time. Instead of having a specific theme for a specific day, I could just keep a list of themes or titles and mark them off as I use them. I will try that during Kamal (Perfection), which begins at sunset on July 31. I can make a list of about nineteen titles to use during the month of Kamal and then use them only if I need a theme.