Behind the Green Curtain
...written on 2001-06-16, @ 11:28 p.m.
Sat June 16, 2001
Lately I have been a grouch. Not so much externally as on the inside. This has been rather troubling to me. I do not consider myself a grousing grumbling type of person (see Reading between the lines
),but ever more often, I was catching myself cursing privately at every little piddly annoyance.
I stopped to consider what could be happening. Hmm, I'm at the nine month stage of life in a foreign country, could it be that culture shock roller coaster rearing its ugly head? Maybe I haven't been eating well and need some vitamin "H" (happy)?
Then it ocurred to me. Lack of sleep! For the past few months, as the sun has risen earlier and earlier, my snooze time has drastically decreased. At 5 am, those piercing rays burn off the fog in my brain and propel me into a vertical position for the next 20 hours. The weight of dragging around the bags under my eyes has sharply deflated my mood, to say the least.
Ivan has already mentioned his own dueling with the light invader and said that he finally rigged a heavy blanket over his loft to block out the sun, but that unfortunately, it blocked out the cool air as well, so he was still tossing and turning from the heat.
I noticed that there were two curtain tracks in my windows and thought that my best bet would be to buy some kind of sun shielding curtains. So, off I went to Tostem Viva (home decorating and office supply place) and after much loitering and pondering and imagining, I bought two panels of a light green curtain, that when I held it up over my face and looked at the store lights, no light seeped through. I tossed the plastic bag of 150cm x 250 cm curtains in my cart, hoping that the ever so non-scientific measurements I had taken were adequate.
I must say that I am very proud of that particluar purchase. Not only did the curtains fit perfectly with no alteration needed, but they looked sooooooo beautiful behind the first set of curtains! I had form, and I had beauty. Now, I just needed to be sure I had function.
Before going to sleep that night, I made sure that every possible little crack in the window area was covered. I snuggled into my futon and covers and marveled at how dark it was with no street light coming in. It was so dark in fact, that I had to get up and cover the lcd on my telephone, which due to the increased darkness in the room, looked like a 40,000 watt kliegel. The true test however, was still to come.
The next morning I woke up at 6am, looked at the clock, looked at the cool dark room, and then looked back again at the inside of my eyelids for another four hours. EUREKA! SUCCESS!
For the past week, I have gotten plenty of rest and I must say that my mood, unlike my room, has brightened considerably! I am now, once again, my happy, cheerful self!