The Wild!

#868: Insomni-omni-omni-a

GETTING MORE TALE #868:  Insomni-omni-omni-a

It happened again.  Insomnia.  The battle rages on, win some lose some.  I’m so wired on Friday nights.  Fridays, being the last night of the work week, are the only night I allow myself to enjoy a couple cups of coffee.  That’s part of it, but what really gets me wired is this burst of creative energy that comes with the weekend.  That’s been amplified recently with the Friday night live streams.  Those who have participated know what it’s like.  You get this charge; this burst of adrenaline after a good show.  I’m up for four hours after a decent one, let alone a great one.

Eventually I go to bed but my head rattles all night: ideas, worries, creativity.  The next day is Saturday.  That’s my day to have fun, work on enjoyable projects, and spend time with my wife.  I’ve had problems sleeping in on Saturdays since I was a kid!  It’s a real thing.  I get too excited to get up and at ‘er.

It’s especially unenjoyable when I’m tossing and turning in bed with a song I dislike stuck in my head.  Radio often repeats songs I don’t like.  The Cornell version of “Patience”, or The Wild.  Or even J.J. Wilde.  (I know, I know, she’s local, I shouldn’t say bad things.  I love her voice, just not her song.)  The best thing for me to do in that case is get up and listen to something else.  I have to think carefully about what to listen to, because it’s likely going to be the next song that will be stuck in my head for the rest of the night.  Something old and familiar that feels like good times will work.  It has to be familiar though.  If not, my brain will skip like a record when it can’t remember how parts of the song go.

I have a few strategies in my war against insomnia.  One is to burn off some energy by going for a late night walk, although in recent days this is…not the best option.  Not anymore.  Not since Covid.  A shelter was opened down the street.  We’ve seen an uptick in crime and drug use.  A few weeks ago, a car was on fire in the middle of the night.  I’m not kidding.  This is across the street!

Instead of a walk, I’ll go out on the porch, watch some Youtube, listen to some songs, and eventually go back to bed.  I try not to rise before the sun does.  If the sun is coming out, then I give myself permission to get up.  This does not always work out, but it’s a guideline.  I have also tried turning my clock around so I can’t see the face.  That keeps me from counting the minutes until it’s a good time to get up.

Maybe I’m not the best one for giving advice, but it’s important to talk about this stuff.  I’ve said it multiple times — we are all in this together.  Interrupted sleeping patterns is part of living through a pandemic.  Maybe you can give me some advice.  I’ve tried a few different earphones for sleep but nothing has been comfortable enough to wear longer than an hour.  Do you have any sleep earphone recommendations?  Leave in the comments.  Must be wired — no Bluetooth.  Helping each other is the way we’ll beat this pandemic and the war on insomnia!

 

#627: Pete and Repeat

GETTING MORE TALE #627: Pete and Repeat

 

When I get sick, I go all-in.  No half-measures.  Whatever the illness may be, I go deep.  The Great Flu 2017/2018 is no exception.  I may be back at work but I’m still a mess.

Ever since I was a kid, I used to get annoying songs repeating in my head when I was sick.  It still happens today, and I cannot do anything to get the annoying songs out of my head.  It prevents me from sleeping.  It drives out any other songs I may try to use to change the soundtrack in my brain.  I’ve tried everything.  Nothing haunts me worse than a bad song in the head when I’m sick.  Laying there in bed for sleepless hours, with one verse and one chorus on repeat, as my head pounds in agony.

This time, there was a slight twist on the “sick repeating song” experience.  I didn’t realize it in the fever of non-sleep, but my one repeating song was actually two songs this time.  Two annoying songs by the same band:  The Wild!

The Wild! are another one of those AC/DC-like party rock bands.  They have funny names like “Dylan Villain”, “Boozus”, “The Kid” and “Reese Lightning”.  Their song “Livin’ Free” has been on regular radio rotation and even several days after unplugging, it was still stuck in my head.  On repeat.  But there’s more.

Turns out there, my brain actually had two songs stuck in it, joined together into one.  My sleepy sick self couldn’t tell.  Only after hitting Youtube, trying to banish this melody from my brain, did I realize there were two songs in there.  The other song, also by The Wild!, was the soundalike track “Ready to Roll”.  So similar are they that they both got jammed together into one endless loop.

The Wild! might be right up your alley.  They’re AC/DC and ZZ Top and they call themselves the “God Damn Wild Boys”.  I have no real objections to the band, except that they’re trodding a path that has already been well explored over the last 45 years.  Maybe that’s your kind of thing.  Unfortunately I can’t be objective on The Wild! because I associate them with several days in bed suffering from the plague.

Surely I cannot be the only one who experiences annoying song repeats when sick in bed.  Am I?