Everything Looks Different Today
IT WAS AFTER 3:30 AM when I finally crawled under the covers. The game was over – after more than five hours. I didn’t watch it all, of course. I slept from the seventh inning up until the bottom of the fourteenth – a nice nap. Did I miss much? Not really. The Giants lost, I was sleepy and it was almost time for the sun to peek above the eastern horizon. Dang.
My internal alarm clock usually wakes me up at 7 AM, but I knew that today it wasn’t going to work.
My eyes popped open at about 8:15 AM. It took a while for my eyes to focus enough to verify that. The sun was up, I could hear the traffic up on Wabash Avenue, and I had to pee.
Ahhh, morning.
On days like today, when I have stayed up way too late, I know that everything is going to be a little different for me. And that’s not all bad, just different.
The immediate and longest lasting difference is that the world looks a little different to me. The sharp edges have been rounded off and it all looks a bit smoother – kind of like how Lucille Ball looked in “Mame” or how Hollywood photographed Doris Day for years. I am seeing the world with a fine gauze stretched across the lens. The wrinkles and other surface flaws are filtered away. It’s kind of nice.
Along with the freshly ironed view of the world I also sense that I, and everything else, am moving a tad slower. It is like the whole world is moving at 45 rpm instead of the 78 it did just yesterday. I don’t think I’m missing anything. It’s not like that at all.
I think I may have found the key to a “kinder, gentler world.” Just stay up until 3:30 AM and then get up after about 4 ½ hours. It is like all of the rough spots have been sanded down and everyone has taken a “chill pill.”
While this all seems to be working just fine for me today, I know that it could be a problem if I was still working in the 9 to 5 world. I’m seeing the Big Picture, but I’m sure that I’m missing some of the fine details due to the “Doris Day Effect.” Typing up a blog posting – no problem, doing a heart transplant operation – somewhat trickier.
It’s a good thing I was a Liberal Arts graduate. No one would let me near a scalpel. Giving me internet access is dangerous enough, but allowing anything even close to “life and death” would not be advisable. I can’t even keep potted plants alive.
I’m pretty sure that I won’t be staying up as late tonight. The game still starts at 10:15 PM, but I’m sure that I will be snuggled deeply in the Rip Van Winkle Memorial Chair before Buster Posey comes to the plate the second time. To be completely honest, I may not make it past the Star Spangled Banner, even if the singer does it straight and leaves all of the vocal gymnastics at home.
If I do get a good night’s sleep tonight I won’t be seeing the world like this tomorrow. In a way I will miss it, but when I am like this I feel older than I really am. On most “normal” days I feel younger.
I’ll opt for that.
Down the Hall on Your Left 