148 - What keeps you awake at night?
I actually can say there are a few things, well on the logical side of it. I do end up with more than a few shifts that span those hours between sunset and sunrise. I don't even mind those shifts, because it's not as if the day drags down counting the hours until I can leave. Generally speaking I end up not even realizing that the shift is winding down anyway. It just happens that I glance to my watch and it's closing in on the end. Of course that doesn't mean that the rest of my day doesn't seem to drag. I'm on the opposite schedule of most people, sleeping the day away and waking up after most people have already started to wind down. I mean leaving my quarters at 2300 to head into work isn't a rare thing, it's just one thing that keeps me up at night.
Odd thing is that even when I get off shift, I still don't exactly head straight to bed. If I'm not working I run at night. Alarm goes off at 0000 and I head for a run around the north wing. I started the habit when I was probably in eight grade. By then Dad was working a third job trying to keep those ends meeting up, I was just trying to keep the house from falling apart at the seams. I'd finish school come home, check on a few things and then end up falling asleep on the couch. Setting an alarm for when Dad's shift ended it would go off around ten thirty or so, and then I'd get up and make sure that David was in bed, and wait for Dad to come home so I could see him, even if it was just for a moment.
He'd leave for his next shift and I'd go for a run. Just to get out, and sometimes I could just think about running until it burned, running until I couldn't run anymore, just to maybe get away from it all. I did the same later in life, sitting in my car and glancing to the exits on the highway, just wondering what could happen if I just kept driving. Anyway, I run at night out of pure habit. It's quiet here at night, not a lot of people running around so I can just listen to my iPod and zone out, or clear my head.
There are still other things that make me a light sleeper, but I'm not sure if they count as things that keep me awake. A few tours could wear anyone down to the point that sleep could be optional. It's not always a bad thing, because a slight stirring or sound and I might not be fully alert, but I'm at least headed that direction.
[locked for Jim]
You also have a terrible habit of keeping me awake at night, but I don't actually mind.
[/locked]
Odd thing is that even when I get off shift, I still don't exactly head straight to bed. If I'm not working I run at night. Alarm goes off at 0000 and I head for a run around the north wing. I started the habit when I was probably in eight grade. By then Dad was working a third job trying to keep those ends meeting up, I was just trying to keep the house from falling apart at the seams. I'd finish school come home, check on a few things and then end up falling asleep on the couch. Setting an alarm for when Dad's shift ended it would go off around ten thirty or so, and then I'd get up and make sure that David was in bed, and wait for Dad to come home so I could see him, even if it was just for a moment.
He'd leave for his next shift and I'd go for a run. Just to get out, and sometimes I could just think about running until it burned, running until I couldn't run anymore, just to maybe get away from it all. I did the same later in life, sitting in my car and glancing to the exits on the highway, just wondering what could happen if I just kept driving. Anyway, I run at night out of pure habit. It's quiet here at night, not a lot of people running around so I can just listen to my iPod and zone out, or clear my head.
There are still other things that make me a light sleeper, but I'm not sure if they count as things that keep me awake. A few tours could wear anyone down to the point that sleep could be optional. It's not always a bad thing, because a slight stirring or sound and I might not be fully alert, but I'm at least headed that direction.
[locked for Jim]
You also have a terrible habit of keeping me awake at night, but I don't actually mind.
[/locked]