Rip Van Winkle

These days, you can call me Rip Van Winkle or Sleeping Beauty. Basically, I have been back to the humbling midwest for 49 days (more than a month, not quite 2). The New York pining has begun....in bits and pieces. There will always be things I miss about New York - the pizza, the bagels, my friends, the food choices, the walking everywhere, running in Central Park, NYSC, 3 Banana Republic's with amazing sale selections within a 10-block radius of my apt, etc.

Sidenote: Bagels are so mediocre here, and just not quite "right" that they must be toasted. And I have caved in to this.

But back to my post. The thing I absolutely, in no way whatsoever, don't miss is lack of sleep. I actually never really realized how sleep-deprived I was in NY until I came back here. In NY, I would get up one, sometimes two times a night to go to the bathroom because I was awakened by something - car, alarm, loud building tenants, dog barking, garbage truck, yelling, etc. I was in a constant state of exhaustion, no matter how much sleep I got.

Now, in the 49 days that I've been back, I dream again (I kind of want to stop remembering them, as they are fucked up and very macabre. I am positive that Tim Burton directs them), and sleep soundly. In fact, I'm so rested, I don't find myself needing that mid-afternoon caffeine fix anymore. It's quite pleasant.

All said, I do look forward to the day when a 4 AM sanitation truck rumbling my windows wakes me again. I do love me some big-city-livin'. But I also like catching up on 7 years of sleep deprivation.