What follows are the banal ramblings of a sleep-deprived brain. They are of no interest to anyone but me, and I am not even sure about the me part. But I have gone to the trouble of writing it, so here it is.
5:47 is the time on the clock -- the Alexa clock lol -- as I begin to write this post. In the morning, that is.
When I decided that I might as well get up rather than lying in bed, hoping against hope to get back to sleep, the first number on the clock -- the Alexa clock lol -- was 3. Just 3 o'clock.
So what have I done in those two hours?
First: coffee.
Then I checked email, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and blogs. I think I read six or so new blog postings. And then I wrote two (the Friday and Saturday posts), and now I am writing this.
I have also processed an image, and posted a photo to Flickr after perusing posts made by my contacts.
I saw that my most recent photo (inserted below) made it onto Flickr Explore. That is when I go from my normal 100 to 200 or so views to perhaps 1000s. I am at 1,569 views for this photo, and it is early. I am not really concerned by the number of hits since it really depends what photo happens to make it to Explore, and it is not always the best photos that get there -- more likely ones that have piqued someone's interest. I guess the Explore overseers liked the rusting truck and the background sheds in this instance.
I then moved from the computer to my chair, opened the iPad, and played two games of Sudoku. I did well on the Hard level, solving it in something like 13 minutes, well below my average time which is closer to 18 minutes. I consider any time under 20 minutes to be a victory. I mean extra victory since solving a puzzle is a victory, and solving one without errors is a bigger victory. Solving one without errors in less than 20 minutes, is a very good victory.
When I say errors, I basically don't make them. Not ones based on mistaken logic anyway, or not very many. I do make silly errors such as having my finger over the wrong number. For example: this morning on the medium level I intended to hit the 8 key but left my finger over the 3 key. I do this too frequently, and it drives me crazy.
The Hard level, however, was an error-free victory this morning in close to record time.
Medium level didn't go as well. I play that level without making notations to make it more of a challenge. Mostly, I have tended to do better at Medium with no notations than Hard with notations. Until lately, that is.
Recently, I have been concentrating better on the Hard level but losing track on the Medium level. This morning, I made two of the mistakes that I mentioned above -- having my finger over the wrong number. It's a lack of concentration that sometimes occurs when the games are going easily as they were this morning.
Now, it is 6:01. What shall I do for the rest of the day in which I am bound to be somewhat listless after a short night?
It will be several hours before Sue is up which is when I will make a big pot of coffee. I just have a single serving of coffee (tassimo) when I first get up. I had that around 4 this morning.
It could be a long day after that short night.
I have been getting up at 5:00ish most mornings because of my all night coughing. I am on a new medication that "seems" to be working and I double the dose in a few days, so looking forward to that and hoping that after a year I finally have a handle on this! This all happens even after I have taken a small Unisom for sleeping. Love the photo and I see why it was liked. I posted to a photo software group and got 100 hits fairly soon. Like you I thought it was "nice" but not something really special. It seemed a little parochial to me.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if you're at all interested, but learning to meditate does give one some sense of peace. I follow various guided meditations most mornings...from YouTube. The goal is to reduce stress (internal more than external these days.) I like having different kind of meditation every day. You have a keen sense of Sudoku and mental acuity...which is good to hear about...though having sleep troubles is worrisome. I think you will work this out probably. And it's perfectly ok to jot your thoughts here to us bloggers. Many of us have experienced similar frustrations. My cough hasn't gone away...and yet I have good reports from the doc. I feel bad sometimes because my cough is so loud that I probably also wake up the neighbors in the middle of the night. But on the other hand, I can usually go back to sleep.
ReplyDeleteYes, I would say those are ramblings especially on the Sudoku which I ended up skimming over. I never could get into Sudoku. I settle for Solitaire and Free Cell usually just the daily challenge. Sometimes more if I just want to sit.
ReplyDeleteI think the old junker car photo is neat.
I like the old junker picture, too. I think I'll have to start following you on Flickr and get something for my annual fee. :-)
ReplyDeleteI do my Alexa question of the day(if I get the first one right, I get a bonus question but lately I've been awful), then play some wordscapes, read email, and see if there are any new posts to read and comment on. Of course I get up at 8 so by the time I make my coffee, it's more like 8:30 or 9. That is a long day when you get up at 3. Do you nap?
ReplyDeleteI wake mid-night often too but refuse to get up. Eventually I get back to sleep.A nap during the day helps.
ReplyDeleteWhat is Flickr Explore? I always thought Flickr was just a storage site? Is it also a place to display photos for others to see too? Does it have themes or timed competitions to submit photos or some such thing? I would love to learn more. I will explore, but would like to hear your take on it too if possible.
ReplyDeletePipeTobacco
Explore is just the photos that Flickr picks out and flags for extra attention. Many people will check the Explore photos and if something of yours (mine) lands there, more people see it than usual.
ReplyDeleteYou will probably have a couple of naps today.
ReplyDeleteWe do the Globe and Mail Sudoku every morning. It starts as one star on Monday and the level increases to five star by the weekend. Mostly we get them. We print them off and I put notations in in pencil and erase as I solve. We can feel quite brilliant on Mondays, but sometimes Sunday is a loss.
ReplyDeleteAnd I get up and get JG tea and myself a Tassimo coffee in the morning and take them back to bed. One of the major perks of old age and retirement.
May you sleep well tonight.
ReplyDeleteI love the truck photo. I've never attempted Sudoku having the English major's aversion to numbers. My husband often has trouble sleeping but, he says, since Trump's loss (yes, he really lost,)he's slept much better.
ReplyDeleteI just can't get the hang of Sudoku and admire people who can do it. I'm sure it's really keeping your mind sharp. I have a hard time staying asleep also. Melatonin seems to help.
ReplyDeleteThe photo is pure normal Rockwell to me
ReplyDeleteI have never played Sudoku online and am curious about the notations on the hard level. I do the daily sudoku in our paper but it is rarely a challenge anymore and when the one day a week it gets to the expert level, I can still do it but have to resort to notations to keep things straight. I wonder if my notations and the online notations system are the same or if mine is unique. Basically, my notation is when I narrow a number in a group of nine boxes to two places, I make a tic mark in those two boxes. The tic mark is places in one of nine locations inside each box to denote which number, i.e. one is in the upper left corner, five in the exact middle and nine in the bottom right corner.
ReplyDeleteWhen I can't sleep, I get up, go down to the family room and read. Sooner or later the lines on the page start to merge together and if I turn out the light right then and there I can generally fall asleep and get a couple of hours. It's not perfect but it beats tossing and turning in bed - and I am sure Miriam would agree with that!
ReplyDelete