last night i did not sleep well.
last night i woke up 17 times. okay, maybe not *17*, per se, but many times. and i like the number 17. so there you go.
after an ridiculously exquisitely deep-fried monte cristo at jerry's famous deli in costa mesa, ca, i returned to my hotel room and turned on the tube. on the night before the last day of fieldwork, it seemed like the appropriate thing to do. that was at 10 o'clock.
i fell asleep somewhere around 10:30, if i made it that far.
then for some reason, i was looking at the clock again at 11:43. weird. if you know one thing about me, you know that i sleep well. i am a good sleeper: i fall asleep quickly; i stay asleep. it's kinda my thing. (not exactly a "thing" i can put on my resume ... but my thing nonetheless.)
so waking up only an hour after zonking out was kinda weird.
mmeh, didn't think too much about it ... because i was back to sleep before the clock turned to 11:44.
but, boy, was i restless. i actually remember being asleep and thinking "i'm restless. this is weird." my eyes fluttered open several times over the next couple hours, but i insisted on being asleep.
trying to get past the restlessness, i thought it best to start dreaming. let's see ... what to dream about ... ? summer? maybe. boys? maybe. chocolate. hmmm. that could work ... i sweetly drifted off to a luscious land of flowing chocolate rivers and strawberrys 'a plenty.
at 2:14 i came screeching into consciousness. with a heavy breath and a racing heart, my mind was swimming with spreadsheets; the remnant glare of a computer screen lingered in my semi-conscious mind.
was i ... no ... ... wa- was i ... dreaming about ... work??
no ... couldn't be.
... could it?
as i thought more about it, i started to piece together some of the storyline. i was at my computer. okay. what was i doing? a spreadsheet. yes, i was looking at a spreadsheet. hmm. okay. i, umm, like spreadsheets. okay, no biggie. but what's going on? i looked more closely at the spreadsheet. numbers. some words. hmm. okay. so ... what's the big deal?
i clicked on cell A43, but suddenly my mouse wouldn't respond. excel didn't quite seem to be feeling well. i tried clicking cell E40: nothing. i couldn't click on any cells? umm ... what about the arrows? nope, those buttons didn't work, either. scroll? uh uh. oh no ... switch to something else, let's come back to it: Alt + Tab wasn't working. Ctrl + Alt + Del did nothing! what is going on!? click click, click click!
and *then* ... and *then*! ...
... *then* the spreadsheet started scrolling autonomously. first down about 2,000 rows, then it started scrolling right *and* down. what was it doing? where was it taking me?! i tried to click out of it. i tried Alt + Tab again and *nothing*! arrows? no. Ctrl + Home? okay, that takes me back up to the top left ... the scrolling paused ... maybe it's okay? maybe? ... *nope!* we are headed southeast again! stop! stop stop!! click! arrow! Alt + Tab! stop!! please stop!
and that, friends, is when i opened my eyes to see 2:14 become 2:15.
as my breathing began to slow, i could feel my heart jump back out of my throat. [sigh]. okay. it was just a dream. it was just a dream.
...
i submit that this *could* be a sign that it is *possible* that i am working too much.
