Last night I goofed around editing my latest little video endeavor right up until the time I went to bed. Earl was out of town so I knew that I was going to have a hard time falling asleep anyways, so I figured I’d make myself good and tired then call it a night.
It didn’t work.
Last night I tossed and turned, thinking about what to do for a serious video project. I couldn’t get ‘video’ out of my head! Should I do a music video? What would happen if I tried various camera angles trying then split the screen so I could appear as twins, instead of doing a dead on shot. I kept hearing my transporter sound effect over and over, like a song stuck in my head. Of course, then I would fall asleep a little bit and get my transporter effects in my video mixed up with making out with Jonathan Frakes (I really don’t think I’m his type), then I would wake back up and think really strange thoughts about what is going to happen when aliens finally visit us and how Bush Lite would probably cry… you know how it gets in the middle of the night when you’re three quarters asleep but that one quarter of your brain doesn’t want to settle down and everything gets all mixed up. By 4:00 a.m. I was thinking I was related to Bea Arthur (watching the Golden Girls in bed is not a good idea either); I was certain Earl was going to drive through the bedroom window at any moment and I had a wonderful intimate conversation with our cat Tom, and he was talking back at me, plain as day.
I’m such a friggin’ mess.
The alarm jarred me awake, about 45 minutes after I finally fell asleep. It’s funny, on Monday and Tuesday I worked the 9:00 am shift at work, so I was able to wake up naturally in harmony with the sunrise, now that Daylight Saving Time Hell is over. The rest of the week? Get out of bed to the annoying sounds of our old GE alarm clock.
The creative process always gets my mind going. When I use to paint or write on a regular basis I had to stop before 10 p.m. AT THE LATEST if I wanted to sleep at all that night. But I wasn’t always good at controlling myself. Sometime, working late into the wee hours on a creative project is an endorphin rush.
I don’t know what I would have done if I had combined staying up late making artwork with the insanely weird way I am when Bob is out of town.