Christmas.

Christmas was lovely even though it was marred by work for about 7 hours. I got to spend the morning cooking chicken Alfredo for my mom, dad, and I and baking even more cookies (so. many. cookies!) Then I headed over to the BGF's house for a DELICIOUS lunch before I had to go to work (I had to miss the Lakers game, but luckily I didn't watch it because I would've been even more pissed since we LOST...c'mon boys!) After work, I was exhausted but I hung out with a bunch of cool kids (Josh and buds), ate some more delectable food by the best baker in the world, had ONE beer, and retired around 1ish. I could not stay up; all that food and AMC-slaving got to me.

On that note, my insomnia problems have seemed to disappear overnight! I've been going to bed early for the past few days (as in 10 or 11, 'cept last night.) I don't know how it happened, but I'm going to try and keep it this way. I also got to see my beloved Vanessa two days ago and hang out with her family - her mom gets the Sweetest Mom EVER Award. Saw a movie and just Youtubed it for the most part - of course I ate way too much at her house. It was a good day - odd at one point but good. More good news: Caitie is coming home Jan. 5. More good news: Going to Santa Barbara Jan. 7-9 to celebrate birthdays and have festivities. More good news: Cousin is coming in from Korea today.

It's been a really good break. Much needed. I just hope I get New Year's Eve off. That would make it perrrfect.

Winter break (so far), insomnia, and "strokes of genius"

My winter break has been a whirlwind of beer pong, hanging out with friends, mild family drama, and an occassional night of sleeplessness. I don't know how my insomnia's increased since school ceased, but all I know is that it's getting worse. I feel like going to the doctor but I don't want them to suscribe me maryjewanna (just kidding), sleeping pills, etc. I just feel I'd become too dependent on them (sleeping pills). Honestly, I'm not too worried about my insomnia...yet. So long as it disappears before winter quarter starts, I can deal. I had a bout of bad-insomnia my freshmen year in college which I battled valiantly...by taking swigs of Nyquil. I know, it's horrible. But it worked. After awhile I weaned myself off it, knowing getting used to drinking Nyquil would surely start having disastrous effects on me (...right?) I just wonder why I'm so prone to insomnia...it could be that at least 3 nights of the week I'm out until the early AMs...but those nights I usually fall asleep quickly. It's nights when I don't go out that makes me stay up - even until 8am at times. And that wasn't the case my freshmen year; before my insomnia started I usually went to bed at a decent hour (11 or 12). But I think it was mostly due to stress that I was "suffering" from it. Now...I'm not stressed. Or at least most days I'm not, so I really don't know why it's come back with a vengence. Being an insominac (just in general I go to sleep around 2am every night - or morning I suppose, at least before this case started) I've come to realize lying restlessly in bed is when random "strokes of genius" occur - at least for me. It's only increased with me not going to bed until 6-8am. Just last night I came up with a probably 5-page (if I had actually written it down) poem about words. It was brilliant, really. I remember lying there thinking I should really get out of bed, turn on my computer and write down my lengthy poem. Even though I was awake, I was overcome by laziness and convinced myself that I'd remember it in the morning...I didn't, of course. Two nights before that I was making hybrid-words that were supremely clever - and coming up with jokes that were full of cheese but witty nonetheless. I didn't write those down either. My freshmen year when I was going through that awful stage, I came up with the idea of somehow putting ("waterproof") wind turbines in the ocean to use the tides to channel energy (of course, I'm sure this had already popped into someone else's mind way before mine, but randomly dawning on it myself was enlightening) and now a similar though smarter idea has emerged, using "kites" to channel the ocean's tides...of course I had no idea HOW I'd do it engineering-wise. But it was an idea. And an idea is everything.