Is there anything more annoying than falling asleep, waking up a few hours later, and then staring at the ceiling for three hours? I think not.
Maybe not falling asleep at all.
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by John Cole| 50 Comments
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Tom65
yeah, this Dijon-gate thing has me up at night, too.
mhanch
Yes, doing this night after night after night….
Woodrow "asim" Jarvis Hill
John, you need to see this new STAR TREK film — if nothing else, for their use of the Beastie Boys. I swear I busted out laughing when the song started up…
The rest of the flick turns out not to suck, either. :)
Mikeg
Same stuff for me last night. Only, it was my wife’s fault. I was out cold @ 11pm. She comes in @ 1am after a few wines with her friend and just has to tell me about how this girl’s husband is “stupid effing redneck.” 30 minutes of that… lights out again, only now I’m staring for hours at the cat who’s digging into my chest with his wet nose perched on my chin.
geg6
Ha. Just be glad you’re a man. You have no idea how much worse it is to fall asleep, sleep a couple of hours, wake up and stare at the ceiling, all while sweating buckets because your hormones are in the years long process of shutting down.
Michael D.
In fact, yes, there IS something MUCH more annoying!
My opinion? With the stroke of a pen, Obama could make this law unenforceable. So far, he’s not, or doesn’t appear to be, willing.
And another much-needed military person with excellent skills in Arabic is fired for no reason.
Thanks for nothing.
wasabi gasp
Yup, that’s the problem with ceilings.
arguingwithsignposts
Speaking of Carmena Burana, here’s a good NPR piece about it.
That Maddow piece was great. I especially liked the part about “every american family being mailed their very own terrorist to take care of.” FTW!
Laura W
It is all my fault. I put the hex on you last night by implanting the vision of me and You-Know-Who Of The Left “double-teaming” you, which did not mean what I meant it to mean, apparently.
#84 (Let’s see how well John sleeps tonight with that image seared into his big forehead.)
I will petition the fat white cat in heaven and see if he can remove the curse tonight so that you can rest in peace. Er…
Edit: I am boiling kale this very moment. Perhaps that image will soothe and relax you.
geg6
@Michael D.:
Which would make him different from W, how?
This is the problem when you elect a president for his respect for the rule of law. He has to follow all of them or risk turning into exactly what we thought we got rid of.
Michael D.
@geg6:
Dude, if the bar your setting is “As long as Obama’s bad stuff is no worse than W.’s, then no problem!” then you deserve the president you get.
DougJ
The same thing happened to me last night. But I finally managed to get back to sleep.
J.
No, but The TODAY Show comes close.
MattF
@geg6
Well, there’s staring at the ceiling and having to get out of bed once an hour because of an enlarged prostate. Every night for the past fifteen years. I only mention this because I recently got repaired. Thank you, Dr. Losee.
Krista
Or to fall asleep, only to wake up every single hour thereafter due to 1) being kicked repeatedly in the cervix and/or bladder, 2) having to pee, 3) your hips hurting and tingling, 4) your hands falling asleep, 5) being too hot, or 6) all of the above. :)
Sounds like we all slept well last night!
cleek
Falling asleep, waking up a few hours later, and then staring at the alarm clock for three hours.
Halteclere
At 3:30AM I woke up last night to the stinky smell of my dog’s explosive poo. By the shape and location of the blobs I could tell that he tried but didn’t have a chance to make it to the doggie door. After liberally dousing the rug and hardwood floor with cleaners I was too much awake to fall back asleep.
So I reconciled my finances and fell asleep at 5:00AM.
Luckily someone brought in donuts with lots of sugar into work this morning.
sparky
@geg6: no. executive orders–that what this is, and that’s what i got excoriated for the other day here cuz i had the temerity to point out how easy it was to change these kinds of rules. Obama’s chosen to keep it–or at least hasn’t gotten around to lifting the pen to change it.
it is starting to look like the only way to get Obama to move out of his comfort zone is to push him. if that disturbs the perfect picture well that’s just too bad.
Krista
That really sucks, Mike — hopefully Obama will do something about DADT while in office. It might take some time, though. Hopefully this Choi situation will be publicized enough to create some public outcry.
sparky
@cleek: yuck. i turn mine face down so it doesn’t glare at me in the dark.
cleek
DADT = 10 U.S.C. § 654
it’s a law.
Presidents don’t write laws, and can’t override them when they feel like it. i thought that’s what we believed ?
geg6
@Michael D.:
I think you misunderstand me. In fact, I know you do. All I’m saying is that creating law by presidential fiat is something W raised to a high art. And it has hurt the country, the Constitution, and the separation of powers. There are those in Congress who, just in the last couple of weeks, have been saying that DADT isn’t important what with all the problems occurring right now so there’s no need to repeal it quickly. Perhaps we’re witnessing a little of that Obama-fu to push Congress to do their job on this issue.
Halteclere
@Krista:
Are you sure you aren’t my wife posting under a pseudonym? (she/you has/have just one more week of baking).
The Grand Panjandrum
@Michael D.: @geg6:
In yesterday’s WaPo I read this interview of National Security advisor James Jones with great interest. At the end of the piece I find this snippet:
The first thought that came to mind was that it will NEVER be the right time. It is always easy to tell someone to stay in the back of the bus because it just isn’t convenient for the rest of us right now. You know how messy all this sort of thing can get to be.
sparky
cleek, et al: I apologize: I was wrong about DADT. I had it in my head that it was an EO, not a statute. Sorry about that. You are quite right that it should be repealed via Congressional action.
That said, I don’t understand exactly why it has to wait two years. Maybe someone can enlighten me?
amorphous
Whoah hey! Did John go out and get a nearly nine month pregnant wife who all of a sudden turned into Snores McGee for the last trimester without telling us? If so, man I feel your pain.
On the plus side, I’m quite used to sleeping 5 hours a night now. So that’s a start.
Krista
I’m pretty sure. :) I’m due in August, so my fun is just beginning.
And that’s the bitch of the matter — where do you prioritize, especially considering the overflowing plate that Obama inherited thanks to that fuckstick of a former President you had? I agree that it’s very important to get ride of DADT, but I can definitely sympathize with Obama not particularly wanting to juggle yet another hand grenade right now.
Napoleon
Cool, you are running Wallace and Gromit ads. I love them (and will give you a click through).
Krista
Oh yeah, I forgot about the snoring. My poor husband. Add “being woken up by husband informing me that I’m snoring” to my list. :)
JohnR
Been doing that for years – at least, if you’re about to have a pup, you’re all mentally ready for that part of it – but I always thought that was why computer games were invented. Not video games; they get you too wired up, but turn-based games like Civ or Jagged Alliance. After you wake up for the second or third time in the middle of a turn, you can totter back to bed and ( assuming your wife doesn’t start screaming and hitting and kicking you “in her sleep”) nod off for a couple of hours before you have to drag yourself to work.
TR
This happened to me Sunday night/Monday morning. Woke up at 1am and could not get back to sleep for the life of me.
Have fun when your body shuts down at 4pm.
BigSwami
Never understood insomnia. I could wake up in the morning, have 4 cups of coffee, listen to the entire I Get Wet album by Andrew WK, and then crawl into bed for a nap. Seriously, who isn’t constantly exhausted in this day and age?
My wife can’t sleep from time to time, but I just figured she was busy plotting my demise.
geg6
@The Grand Panjandrum:
And I’m saying that you’re right. Congresscritters have been saying that for weeks. Which may be why this case is now out there and showing how Congress needs to act.
Michael D.
@cleek:
Then I imagine you also disagree with Obama’s decision not to enforce federal drug laws by telling the authorities not to conduct raids on medical marijuana facilities?
robertdsc
I’ve been that way for the past several weeks. Stress sucks.
Michael D.
@The Grand Panjandrum:
This is not controversial. Most Americans support repeal. Unless the president is scared of Republican politicians.
Tattoosydney
@Laura W:
Good morning.
R-Jud
More annoying than staring at the ceiling is having the crushing desire to sleep, but knowing that it’s useless to do so because the baby will be waking up in 15 minutes to demand food from you. Which will require you to sit up in bed for another hour, pinching yourself until you bruise to make sure the poor kid doesn’t get smothered by you falling asleep on her.
I actually miss being an insomniac. It would’ve come in handy over the last few months.
arguingwithsignposts
@Michael D.:
Medical marijuana facilities that are licensed by states? There’s an issue of states rights involved there (IANAL), and there’s a difference between telling federal officials where to spend their resources (like stopping trafficking in cocaine from foreign countries, for instance) and a flat-out refusal to enforce the law as it stands in the military.
Rep. Sestak was on Maddow last night saying Congress might try to push through something by this summer. Let’s hope that’s true. But this is a law, not an executive order, and Obama can’t “make” congress do anything. I’m sure if the bill comes to his desk, he’ll sign it.
Napoleon
@Michael D.:
I have repeated this a million times on this blog but so what. It has killed the Democratic party for 30 years that instead of first acting on things that directly effect the largest number of people like health care, they act on social issues directed to a small slice of their base. The second Clinton got into the gays in the military thing the Dems were going to go down to defeat in the following mid terms. It plays into the worse caricature the right makes of the left in this country.
Get health care passed and Obama could gay marry a goat on tv and get re-elected. Push the social issues first before he health care has gone anywhere he is going to be viewed as a garden variaty 70’s liberal.
Thankfully Obama is smarter then you and he is going to save it until the fall.
Terri
Must be manopause, John.
Incertus
@Woodrow “asim” Jarvis Hill: Indeed–we saw the new Star Trek last night too and really liked it. Amy wrote a spoiler-ific review of it over at my place, if anyone’s interested. Lots of changes to that universe, but it’ll open up all sorts of new possibilities as well.
KRK
re DADT —
This seems to me like community organizing fu: certain ordinary individuals step up to be very publicly hauled off to jail, fined, fired, or, in this case, removed from the military in order to be very much in the public’s face about the impact of a given asinine law. A law that people who aren’t affected would otherwise just pretend didn’t exist.
Choi and other members of Knights Out who are still active military obviously knew what they were doing to go public. It seems most likely to me that they WANT public oustings of their highly trained and experienced members. That gets them on TV and gets the issue in front page articles and op-eds where you can build a groundswell of WTF? Putting aside rule of law considerations, if Obama did what you all want and just swept the policy under the rug, there’s NO pressure to change the statute. And changing the statute is the goal.
Phoebe
I agree with KRK @43, but in his letter to that one woman [via link on Sullivan today http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/05/a-soldier-fights-back.html%5D, Obama said changing this law required congressional action. Much like the tax loophole closing, right? So can’t he find anyone to pop up and propose/sponsor this? I don’t know how this works…
Michael D.
Possession of marijuana ius a FEDERAL crime. It seems to me that states CANNOT change Federal law. Obama has instructed Federal authorities to NOT raid medical marijuana dispensaries – even though they are selling a product that is against Federal law.
If he can do that, then why can’t he instruct military authorities to stop prosecuting or discharging people because they are gay?
If he can tell Federal authorities top ignore Federal law in one instance, why are you people telling me he can’t do it in THIS instance???
Is it because the ability to get stoned is more important to you than the civil rights of 5-6% of the population. Gay people only matter to you until they cast their votes, it seems. After that, then we can “hurry up and wait until it’s convenient” until we’re fucking treated equally.
I am absolutely not talking about most of the commenters here, but I can certainly tell who fits that category.
asiangrrlMN
@Michael D.: Queer rights are very important to me as I am bi. I do not smoke marijuana, so that isn’t personally important to me at all. I would like Obama to do the one-pen stroke thing, but I also agree that it’s most important to overturn the DADT crap, which may not happen if Obama puts a hold on it.
I watched Rachel last night. I applaud Dan Choi for doing the right thing. It sickens me that he’s been fired because of this. Good for him for fighting. However, I also thought Sestak had a good point. Let’s do this congressionally. Sestak wants to push to get it done by the summer. I say, give the Congress two months to get this done. Then push back.
@Napoleon: I have to disagree with this. Martin Luther King Jr. was told repeatedly that it wasn’t a good time for civil reform. There never is a good time. You may call DADT special interest, but it’s about civil rights. Civil rights ARE important for society in general. It’s not just the queers who are affected by it. Because of this ridiculous bill, we have now lost a valuable asset in Dan Choi, who is fluent in Arabic, at a time when we, quite frankly, really need Arabic translators. His firing hurts our society. This needs to end.
Michael D.
@asiangrrlMN: I agree that going through congress is best. I was responding to cleek, who stated that because DADT was law, Obama was powerless to do anything about it.
Well, he DID something about medical marijuana raids. Medical marijuana is marijuana, and possession is a violation of federal law. Yet Obama ordered federal authorities to stop enforcing that law with respect to medical marijuana dispensaries.
He could do the same thing in this case: Order the military to stop kicking people out of the military for being openly gay.
Cleek hasn’t countered my response either because he (I hope) hasn’t seen my refutation of his argument, or because he can’t counter it.
alamacTHC
Can’t sleep?
Do what the Beatles (was that Paul?) suggested at the very end of “I Am the Walrus”! Works for me–I sleep fine every night after decades of having the same problem…
p.a.
John, you work for Verizon too?
Michael D.
Hey! I work for Verizon! Don’t hate!!