Why I drink strong coffee. An essay.

Sleep is an underrated commodity. But who wants to go sleep when there's always something more interesting to do? After a couple of weeks though... I'm here to tell you, it really catches up to a person.

I've spent hours learning the delicate art of design (and barely mastered the basics of html, mind you), chatted with friends and relatives until all hours and had countless midnight snacks (good thing I have a great metabolism, ain't it?).

It's interesting that you can be too tired to move, but so bored you can't possibly imagine sleep. And the boredom usually wins out. Or just plain curiosity. There always seems to be some ridiculous reason I just have to stay up a minute or five longer. Which always turns into an hour or three.

Then there are those nights I'm too tired or bored to care. So I think, "I'm going to be a good girl tonight and go to bed early. Won't it be great to get a whole eight or nine hours of sleep in one night??" Right....

It has never failed at those lovely extra-sleep-promised nights that I am awakened in the wee hours... Usually by Baby-dactyl, but occasionally by the neighbors who drink until early morning and are either fighting or having ungodly-sounding sex in their hottub.

The baby's cries aren't so bad. If she has her bottle and Mommy's voice, she'll go back to sleep - after I'm fully awake and can no longer lull myself back to sleep.

The neighbors are another story...