Reading Aloud

Being an adult without young children in my life, I sometimes forget the joys of reading aloud.  I was recently reminded how satisfying it is, and now I'm looking forward to doing more of it, both reading and listening.  I'll admit that I have more trouble following the twists and turns of a plot when I'm hearing it read aloud to me than when I'm looking at the pages myself, but there's a special comfort in relaxing and allowing myself to sink into the story that a well-loved voice is bringing to life.  My mom and dad read to me a lot when I was little, so the whole experience reminds me of happy times.  It's especially pleasant right before bed to read aloud and be read to.  Gets the brain ready for good dreams.

Sleeping In

Ah, to awaken without urgency, free of any call to rise and meet the day save at one's own pace!  Such is the stuff weekends are made of, or at least should be made of.  With the wispy ghosts of nighttime dreams slipping through the golden glimmers of daydreams, the sleeper wakes and is at peace.  To those who say that sleeping late is a waste of the day, I reply that jumping with unneeded precipitousness from bed is a waste of the most relaxing moments of the week.  Let the sleeper lie a little longer, and let him enter the day rejuvenated and replenished.

Playing the Local 506

I've fallen a bit behind again after a late night, but what a night!  My friend and I played a short set (about five songs) for a benefit concert at the venerable Local 506 in Chapel Hill.  We were one of seven or eight acts, and we performed next to last, when the audience was both smaller and more liquored up.  But they were perfectly well behaved, and it went quite well as far as I could tell.  It was really hard to know how we sounded to the audience because the monitors on the stage were kinda funky and we are not experienced with microphones and all.  But all that aside, it was a dream come true to play for an audience at a club I had grown up hearing about and in which I'd seen bands I love perform.  I don't think I'm cut out to be a professional musician who makes his living by performing, but it's something  I greatly enjoy and want to do more of.  And this was an excellent beginning.

Getting A Good Night's Sleep

So many nights, I have more I want to do than time to do it all, and I end up staying up too late trying to squeeze everything into the evening.  The next morning I wake up tired out and everything goes more slowly, so there's more to do that night and I stay up later to try to do it all.  And the cycle continues.  When I'm overtired, everything seems more complex and difficult, so simple tasks become gargantuan.  My mind--which is already a bit on the overactive side--moves even faster, and my tendency to overthink everything is amplified.  I'll have a brief conversation with someone and then continue analyzing my choice of words and thinking of how it could have been better.  Sleep is so important.  It feels amazing to get comfy in bed, turn off the lights, and let myself slip into dreams.  So before it gets too late here, I'm going to brush my teeth and do just that.  Good night!