Home Is The Sailor
Well, I'm not a sailor, but 'Home is the General Manager' doesn't have much of a ring. I got a bit quiet at the end of last week due to time differences, general busy-ness and of course a long flight home. I have returned to some odd sleep patterns: first night back I kept going until about 11 before I realised I was nodding off in a chair, crashed into bed and then woke up a couple of hours later thinking "oh no, not again", but then went straight back off and slept through 'till 7am then dozed until 9. Second night (last night that is) I went to bed at midnight, woke up at 1.30 and eventually went back to sleep around 3am. Though it was also very warm last night and I think that was contributing.
The random bonkersness that runs around my head during those hours of wakefulness never ceases to amaze me. I sometimes wonder if whatever's going through my head in those hours is the same stuff that would normally be manifested in the acceptable nonsense of dreams. Maybe the awake/asleep line is thinner than I realise.
On Having One’s Say
The BBC News site has opened up one of its 'Have your say' pages on the IPCC report on the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes, and every single one of the trite reactions you'd expect have been trotted out. No wonder I hate the mass of humanity as much as I do.
My favourite piece of illiterate nonsensical invective so far? This charmer, obviously:
The eye witnesses talking to the media about people vaulting over the ticket barriers, the witnesses did not know how was chasing how!. The media thirst for information caused the confusion. It is not the policemen fault. It is the fault of the terrorist that setup this situation. I have given my wife instructions that if I am shoot by mistake in a anti-terror incident, please blame the right people ; al-qieda and there both here and abroad.
Love that "I have given my wife instructions" especially.
Thank You Pzizz
I meant to mention this a couple of months ago when The Mrs and I were having some sleep 'issues'. We discovered Pzizz, an application which randomly generates audio tracks (some voice, some ambient sound) designed to help induce sleep, and loaded some onto our iPods. It certainly seemed to help, and after a few days we didn't need to use it.
But I've been really out of sync since I arrived in the US on Monday, to the extent that I've been having two to three hours' sleep at night. Last night I suddenly remembered that at least one Pzizz 'sleep' was still on the iPod, so I put it to use. I still woke up a couple of times, but by switching the thing back on I was able to get back to sleep in a way I haven't been managing so far this week.
So I'm here to say, if anyone is having sleep problems, or jet lag-induced insomnia, I'd recommend Pzizz.
There Was This Legless Beggar…
Sounds like the start of a joke, but it's actually the start of a real incident.
Walking into the office this morning I spotted said legless beggar in his wheelchair on the corner. We caught each other's eye and rather than asking me for money, he started shouting at me:
"Hey, freak, grow some hair! Grow some fucking hair you bald freak! Get some hair! Don't make me look at that you freak! Fuck you!"
I didn't really feel that this abuse was at all called for.
Antonioni
So Michaelangelo Antonioni has died, aged 94. I confess, shocking though it is to say, that I'd thought him dead years ago.
I know that everyone always bangs on about Blow-Up as his masterpiece, but (although I completely acknowledge that Blow-Up is ten times better than most director's best), I always think of L'Avventura as his greatest work. And now I'm going to have to get hold of them both, because I've put myself back in teh mood for them.
Big Yawn. *Really* Big
Jetlag like you wouldn't believe. I crashed into complete oblivion at 10.30 local time last night, barely managing to keep my eyes open long enough to get into bed (this is literally the truth), then woke up after what I thought must have been twelve hours' sleep in a bit of a panic that I'd forgotten to sort out the alarm, only to discover it was 2.30am.
And then I didn't manage to get back to sleep for more than twenty minutes in any two hours for the rest of the night. I'm going to be dead tonight.