Notes from the Ass End of the Night, volume 281

I've been through with that cold I had for a few days now, but I never really got rid completely of the sinus congestion. I think the ragweed in the air's got something to do with it. I've got a pretty decent sinus headache, right now. Don't care much for it, to tell you the truth.

Whatever the cause, it's 4:45, and I'm awake.

It's also been one of those nights where I woke up from a dream with no idea of what the dream was about, but bothered by a recurring image from the dream. Not because that image is particularly disturbing or scary or anything like that. It's bothersome only because it just keeps popping back into your head, and it's like your mind, which is about 25% asleep/75% awake, wants to keep running scenario tests.

Tonight, it was walking around in a large city. Nothing too bad. Except that you keep trying to clear your mind to go back to sleep, and without fail, the whole thing where you're walking around in a large city keeps popping back into your head.

And like I said, different things pop up each time you almost fall asleep. It's like a thousand variations on a theme, with your mind just throwing out various scenarios:

Let's see what happens when we give everybody guns.

Wake all the way up. Fade back to sleep:

Okay....let's see what happens when we add....Donkey Kong.

So I got up to get a drink of hot water, take a decongestant (which sometimes causes bad dreams, as well) and see if I could clear my head just a little.

The last thing that kept me up? This was what got me up and out of bed.

Sometimes, listening to the radio or to a CD on low volume will help me. But tonight, I turned on the radio, and at every commercial break, an ad for a hemp shop up in Nashville would come on, and mid-ways through the commercial, somebody in the commercial screams in frustration. And that pops me all the way awake, each time it plays.