Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

đŸŽ¶ Those boots were made for mockin’ đŸŽ”

Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

The republican ‘Pastor’ of the House is an odious authoritarian little creep.

With all due respect and assumptions of good faith, please fuck off into the sun.

Balloon Juice, where there is always someone who will say you’re doing it wrong.

How any woman could possibly vote for this smug smarmy piece of misogynistic crap is beyond understanding.

Never give a known liar the benefit of the doubt.


 gradually, and then suddenly.

I am pretty sure these ‘journalists’ were not always such a bootlicking sycophants.

Come on, man.

If you thought you’d already seen people saying the stupidest things possible on the internet, prepare yourselves.

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

Stamping your little feets and demanding that they see how important you are? Not working anymore.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

American History and Black History can not be separated.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

“When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

The media handbook says “controversial” is the most negative description that can be used for a Republican.

Reality always lies in wait for 
 Democrats.

One lie, alone, tears the fabric of reality.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Yeah, I Can’t Sleep Again.

Reader Interactions

106Comments

  2. 2.

    Kobekid

    well it’s 4 pm here in Japan on a cold wet Monday, I’d much rather be asleep… hope your father continues to make progress towards getting back on his feet.

  3. 3.

    piratedan

    well I tend to watch the weather channel in order to go to sleep….recline in cozy chair, glass of icewater beside me, lights low and bald headed guys talking about where the next severe weather is going to be will wipe me right out.

  9. 9.

    TheMightyTrowel

    @Kobekid: It’s 6.30pm here in warm sunny (not flooded) Australia. :) One more monday done time to go home for peach cobbler!

  10. 10.

    GregB

    Try drinking some warm milk and reading Atlas Shrugged, it should put you in a coma within 5 minutes.

  16. 16.

    John Weiss

    Go to the doc. Get a ‘script for Ambien. Take half a pill and a shot of whiskey. Does it for me every time.

    Or get into astral projection, go to mars.

  18. 18.

    Politically Lost

    Been using guided meditations I found on youtube piped through some headphones from my iphone to fall asleep. Been working pretty well. Note to those who try it…

    Make sure there isn’t some abrupt change in the music or voices on the video, that can totally blow the mellow.

  21. 21.

    Comrade Mary

    If you were up until 5:30, and you went through a rather stressful weekend, being up right now is completely physiologically normal. Don’t start worrying that the insomnia is back: your sleep pattern just may need a couple of days to get back to normal.

    Chat with us a bit, or amuse yourself without us, and before you go to bed, maybe open the window to get some cool air in your room.

    See you tomorrow ca. 1 AM, and the next night maybe midnight. You’ll be fine.

  27. 27.

    Gwiwer

    Learn to meditate. I know, I know, it’s sort of the new New Agey fad cure-all, but there’s a reason half the world has been doing it for almost 3,000 years. It works surprisingly well even if, like me, you’re too impatient to do it for more than 10-20 minutes at a time or learn to be particularly good at it. I have really bad anxiety and sometimes have problems with restlessness and sleeplessness and even my half-assed approach to meditation has helped me quite a bit in a relatively short time.

  28. 28.

    JR

    Coincidentally, I’m coping with an inability to sleep by watching “Sleepless in Seattle” on A&E.

    My friends and I had a conversation last night about what the best romantic comedy is. Many supported “When Harry Met Sally,” though I personally went with “Sabrina.” Other nominees?

  29. 29.

    Little Boots

    John, I hope you get how many people like you and care about you. I hope you see that, at least.

  32. 32.

    Mike S.

    Maybe you’ll be able to sleep if you envision each of Obama’s broken campaign promises as a sheep, and count them.
    Don’t worry, you won’t run out of sheep.

    Harris and Schneiderman appear co-opted, the robo-signing settlement money is coming out of the peons’ 401(k) plans, and once again none of the bankers get criminally prosecuted.

    Tell me again how the Obama administration is different from the GOP – oh and culture war distractions don’t count.

  36. 36.

    The prophet Nostradumbass

    @John Cole: When I have a hard time sleeping I usually cue up some George Carlin or Mitch Hedberg. If I’m not going to sleep, at least I’ll be entertained.

  39. 39.

    wilfred

    This is priceless:

    Finally it was on. Brady engaged and spoke softly. Gray asked what he was thinking for all those minutes under the towel, staring at that locker room floor.
    “I think it was just the missed opportunities,” Brady said.
    Soon he was ushered into a hallway, off to where the podium waited. He went through a side exit, not the main one where his wife, Gisele Bundchen, the Brazilian supermodel, had been waiting.She heard he’d gotten past her and began sprinting – in black boots with three-inch heels – after him. He was 30 yards ahead of her.“Tommy,” she shouted. “Tommy! Tommy!” He didn’t hear her. She finally plowed through the crowd, the lingerie model throwing elbows until she stopped him in mid-stride and offered a big hug, a kiss and a look into Brady’s still-red eyes. Cameras flashed all around them.It was 10:43 p.m.

    Cannot be parodied.

  40. 40.

    Little Boots

    would you just talk already.

    you’re obviously awake, we know you’re going through something, you’re a good guy, just say what you wanna say.

  41. 41.

    piratedan

    @Mike S.: while the rest of us work to re-elect a guy who won’t continue the ongoing “culture” war against women, minorities, the poor, the elderly and the disenfranchised, you can just sit there in the corner with your middle class outrage and take a number. Culture war “distractions” my ass, legislative warfare against immigrants, voting rights, women, personal freedoms, sexual orientation just don’t cut it as issues, right?

    If you really don’t think this guy is different from the GOP, look at who he’s nominated and what he’s done and how lacking it all is and then close your eyes and tell yourself in your secret heart of hearts, just how much more fiscally responsible Senator McGrumpypants would have done if he had been elected.

    After you’ve finished reflecting on that for about 15 seconds, then you can come back here and apologize for your last incredibly insipid post.

  42. 42.

    FlipYrWhig

    @Little Boots: No, you have to understand. When Obama brings Schneiderman on board, he betrays liberal values. Also, by not bringing Elizabeth Warren on board, he betrays liberal values. The important thing is, whether by involving good people or not involving them, the other thing was better and the thing he did is the worst betrayal since the last thing he did or didn’t do.

  44. 44.

    Little Boots

    @FlipYrWhig:

    she’ll be so much more effective as a senator.

    could everyone stop pretending that everything is about what Obama does or doesn’t do. it’s so much more than than, including what WE do and don’t do. everyone stop dicking around.

  48. 48.

    Little Boots

    If only.

    okay, seriously, just do what you do. but sometimes you piss me off. nobody cares what I say, but they do care what you say.

  53. 53.

    Little Boots

    and John, I’m not really that demanding. I just want to know how you are.

    okay that’s a little pushy, but not really, is it?

  57. 57.

    JR

    @Little Boots: When I was going through my mom’s year and a half battle with terminal cancer, sometimes I wanted to talk about the stress, the teeth grinding, the anxiety attacks, the fear, the doubt…and sometimes I just wanted to sit with a glass of Old Overholt and not think or talk about it. And when I was in the latter mood, I’d sometimes let people know I was feeling that way, not as an invitation to converse, but as a way of telling them that I just didn’t want to talk about it.

  60. 60.

    Little Boots

    @JR:

    fair enough. and if john would rather everyone, like ahem me, would shut up, just say so, john.

  61. 61.

    Little Boots

    actually, maybe you’re right, nostradumbass. he doesn’t have to say anything.

    hope you’re okay, john. i should just shut up.

    sorry.

  62. 62.

    hamletta

    Sorry for scrolling past, but a legend of Nashville radio just died. Suddenly.

    David Hall died Friday night.

    David Hall rocks y’all no more.

    I am so sad.

  68. 68.

    Arundel

    So it’s way too late, it’s practically morning an I’m impaired after the Super Bowl to even be typing.

    But on my teevee, David Gregory is giving Newt Gingrich the longest, slowest, sloppiest BJ I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen terrible things. Perverse things, but not as perverse as this. David Gregory is a pervert. Taking the likes of Newt Gingrich up the ass like that, wow. Just letting the fucking egregious lies about us liberals and Obama fly, sure. Newt talks the most satanic shit about us, and David Gregory seems to love the fuck out of it, but also seems to not know what words mean. He really seems uh, I want to say “retarded” but that’s a controversial thing to say.

    So I’ll say that jackass David Gregory just gave Newt Jerkbag a wide-open ten minutes to blag his utter, utter bullshit, and his worst, most evil characterizations of Obama.. let’s just say that it’s David Gregory’s dismal job to put a pretty face on the worst fucking shit, with glee. Serving his corporate masters well. His show if fascinating in the worst way. Literally amazing in how full of shit he is. Nauseating.

  69. 69.

    andynotadam

    To help sleep, try half a Benadryl (or, more economically, the generic equivalent). It almost always does the trick and alcohol only helps. Plus, you’ll breathe easier through the night. This was a recommendation from my psychiatrist and he said they are not addictive (unless you want to be addicted to sleep, something I personally find attractive).

    I now have an expensive anti-depressant medication that puts my ass out big time so I don’t Benadryl anymore, but I’m hoping to switch back after the damn SAD season slips away.

  72. 72.

    magurakurin

    @SiubhanDuinne: bored

    and @kobekid you gotta admit though that it was a hell of lot warmer today that it was all last week. Last week was cold one in Western Japan. And how about in Hokuriku and Tohoku? Unreal snow amounts and with the thaw today and tomorrow it’s gonna be a real mess. The forecast for Wednesday now is 5 degrees here in Tokushima I reckon Kobe will be the same. Two more days of cold and then back up to 10 in the day. We are probably through the worst of the winter now. The plums are blooming now in the nearby mountain village of Kamiyama here on Shikoku.

    That being said, I’m going surfing tomorrow morning right at daybreak. This little low pressure system has brought some waves. Should be a cold one.

  74. 74.

    The Tim Channel

    I watched the Super Bowl live here in Germany last nite from midnight until four a.m. and that was a really late evening for a man in my delicate condition.

    Enjoy.

  75. 75.

    bob h

    You do know that alcohol can affect sleep? I try to get my drinking finished by 5 p.m. or so. Alcohol before bed will be bad for sleep.

  76. 76.

    Raven

    @bob h: Yep, I don’t drink anymore but my wife got half-a-load on during the game and she couldn’t sleep last night. Of course, drinking is sooo much fun that no one wants to hear it.

  77. 77.

    harlana

    good morning!

    anybody notice that the Obama administration (you know, that Food Stamp President) is GOOD for the private sector – see graph

    take this chart and shove it up your right-wing buddies’ respective arses

  79. 79.

    JPL

    Raven or SiubhanDuinne, Did either of you happen to catch the John Rocker interview on the local nbc news. He was simply misunderstood when he went on his racist rant.

  82. 82.

    Southern Beale

    @harlana:

    anybody notice that the Obama administration (you know, that Food Stamp President) is GOOD for the private sector – see graph

    Yeah, the Republicans noticed, that’s why they’re trying to distract everyone with BS like phony contraception wars.

  83. 83.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @JPL:

    I had mercifully forgotten all about John Rocker. Completely scrubbed him from my memory. Had a look at the Wiki entry on him and (1) can hardly believe that whole thing was 12 years ago, how time does fly, and (2) what a horrible turd he is, down to the core. It’s a shame he ever wore a Braves uniform.

    Nope, didn’t see the 11Alive interview. Why are they even wasting their time on him?

  85. 85.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @JPL:

    More likely, he just found a publisher, after at least six years:

    In late 2006, Rocker was interviewed by the popular sports blog, Deadspin along with girlfriend Alicia Marie. In the interview, Rocker discussed his “Speak English” campaign, as well as his upcoming book, which has yet to be published.

  86. 86.

    amk

    @Southern Beale:

    that’s why they’re trying to distract everyone with BS like phony contraception wars.

    Yup. BS is all they got at this point. The question is whether the weather wane indies see it or not.

  87. 87.

    gene108

    What has worked for me, when I go through bad bouts of insomnia: Go to bed, turn off everything in your bedroom that could be a distraction – computer, modem, cable box, etc. – and play some very relaxing music at a low volume and try to relax.

    Keep your mind as clear as possible.

    You may not sleep much, but you will get some rest.

    The human body needs to be lying down for a period every night. We really screw ourselves up by not doing this, even if we can’t sleep.

  88. 88.

    gene108

    @harlana:

    Fox and Friends isn’t wrong from their point of view.

    Government “jobs” (no one really works anyway) aren’t real jobs, because they take money away from taxpayers, who could better allocate those resources themselves.

    I really do get a schizo vibe from right-wingers that alternates between fascist, authoritarian, tendencies to want conformity to anarchists, who hate anything and everything government does and don’t want any government involved in anything, at any level (except the military, which doesn’t count as part of the government).

  89. 89.

    dance around in your bones

    Not being able to sleep is the worst feeling.

    I usually have the opposite problem, I wake up at 3 or 4am with Balloon Juice still up on my computer, the tv is on (Netflix movie ended many hours ago) and I woke up because my own snoring woke me up. Hahahahahha.

    Or the Golden is snuffling around on his own dang self, and I have to throw him out of my room to get back to sleep. And the room smells like big old dog.

    I hope you finally got to sleep, and aren’t too creeped out by Lil Boots ;)

  92. 92.

    anna

    I really hate to be a nag, but have you tried Melatonin? Pick it up at any pharmacy, use the highest mg, give your body a few weeks to get used to it. Google it. No detrimental side effect (other than drowsiness upon awaking, but that will disappear in a few weeks). In your next “I’m not sleeping” post, mention if you have tried Melatonin, and I will quit nagging.

  93. 93.

    Svensker

    @andynotadam:

    To help sleep, try half a Benadryl (or, more economically, the generic equivalent). It almost always does the trick and alcohol only helps. Plus, you’ll breathe easier through the night. This was a recommendation from my psychiatrist and he said they are not addictive (unless you want to be addicted to sleep, something I personally find attractive).

    Benadryl is super for sleep. You don’t get the best quality sleep, but you do sleep, and that is WAY better than no sleep. However, there are a few people who react to frequent taking of Benadryl with heart arrhythmias. And not just little heart arrythmias. The kind that make you keel over and faint dead away and your doctor sends you to a cardiologist and you’re doing a stress test and an echocardio and scared shitless. Then the cardiologist says, after finding nothing wrong and everyone is puzzled as hell why your heart is mimicking failure, “you’re not taking antihistamines by any chance, are you?” And when you stop taking the Benadryl, after a few weeks you stop having arrythmias and you stop fainting and stop turning blue and you feel pretty good again.

    Of course, then you can’t sleep, but at least you’re not in the emergency room with heart failure.

    This only happens to a few people who take it, but it’s definitely something to be aware of.

  94. 94.

    Zastrozzi

    John,

    Have you tried melatonin? I recommend 3mg about a half-hour before you want to fall asleep. Does the trick for me. I also recommend vitamin D supplements, especially at this time of year.

    Cheers,
    Z.

  96. 96.

    capt

    Just had a doctor pal tell me his patients have had great success getting better sleep by going “gluten free”

    He was addressing dietary issues but the side effect of better sleep and feeling better rested was nearly universal.

    If that isn’t possible or doesn’t work, a little cannabis can do the trick too.

  97. 97.

    divF

    I haven’t been following your sleep problems, so I don’t know if the following has been suggested to you. I suffered from increasingly bad insomnia over a period of decades. If dropping caffeine doesn’t help, you should check into two possible medical problems: obstructive sleep apnea, and restless legs syndrome. I have both, and once I got them treated (using a CPAP mask, and a handful of pills an hour before bedtime, respectively), I sleep relatively well.

  98. 98.

    Ronzoni Rigatoni

    “I haven’t had tea or coffee or other caffeine in five days.”

    Maybe that’s your problem. Copious amounts of late-night caffiene-laden cawfee sometimes laced with a drop or three (or four) of Kahlua, and a very boring book, works for me.

  99. 99.

    SectarianSofa

    Ambien? Exercise in the morning or midday? (The latter is probably preferable, I suppose. A lot more time-consuming.)
    These days I often fall asleep doing crosswords or playing solitaire on the phone or tablet.

  100. 100.

    Original Lee

    Some other things that can affect your sleep patterns:

    Exercising after 6 PM
    Having an irregular bedtime
    Playing video games within 2 hours of going to bed
    Taking naps after 4 PM
    Not getting 7-8 hours of sleep regularly

    Obviously the last one isn’t helpful if you start out with chronic insomnia, but the idea apparently is that having regular sleep habits mitigates the insomnia when it does appear.

    Also, don’t try to jump into a regular bedtime all at once. Change up by 15 minutes or so every couple of nights.

  101. 101.

    Scamp Dog

    @gene108: I’ll second these suggestions. I’ve read that even if you think you’re not sleeping at all, you’re actually fading in and out of sleep without realizing it.

    Just accept the situation, lie still in bed, and let nature take its course. Light on the eyeballs, especially from screens, tells your body it’s not night time, which keeps you up, in addition to messing up your circadian rhythms.

    Good luck!

  102. 102.

    The Bobs

    1000 mg of tryptophan and 1 mg of melatonin works great for sleep. I’ve had trouble with sleep my whole adult life, and this combo is the best thing I’ve found. No side effects either.

  103. 103.

    Rawk Chawk

    Counseling, Mr. Cole.

    I’m wondering if you’re clinically depressed.

    Seriously, counseling and maybe antidepressants. See your doc.

    It works.

  104. 104.

    stevestory

    I would like to go to sleep listening to quiet PBS shows on their ‘World’ channel, but during the 5 minute breaks between shows, one or two of their promo clips are screamingly loud, even at 3, 4, 5 a.m.

    The result of some sort of PC policy to hire a few mentally handicapped employees, I assume. Probably the same guy who decided that between every show on their ‘Create’ channel, they should repeat the word ‘Cree-ATE!!!’ about 89 times.

  105. 105.

    farmette

    If you can’t fall to sleep (love that phrase) within 30 minutes, don’t fight it. Get up. No TV, computer, bright lights or music. Often thoughts and/or feelings from the day keep the mind aware so you can’t sleep. Take up a pencil and start writing whatever comes to mind. Don’t stop and correct anything that you write, do not read what you write or stop writing until you feel too tired to write any more. You can also try reading a book you have read before and enjoyed. Writing and known reading lets the mind wind down without surprises or discovery. When you lay back down to sleep, just listen to your breathing and truly relax. I hope you find sleep and vice versa.

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