Crummy Night

Last night sucked.

We put the kids to bed at about 8:30-8:45, something like that. Then Jen and I went to our room to sit in bed reading. We were both very tired and didn't expect to last long before nodding off.

It was dead quiet in the house. I could hear everything going on inside and out.

Outside there was a car that sounded like it was flying up and down the street. The engine was so loud that I couldn't tell if it was on our street or another one nearby. The roads near us are all pretty narrow and in some places you can't fit two cars side by side. Whoever this guy was he didn't care. It sounded like he was flying.

I also heard some yelling outside. I couldn't tell what they were saying or who was yelling at whom. Many of my neighbors speak Spanish so even if I could make out words I might not have been able to understand.

I was annoyed by this at first. Then the sirens started.

Police? Fire? Ambulance? I couldn't tell, but it sounded like a lot of them and they were on for a good long time. 10 minutes maybe. They seemed to be coming from the top of our street. That was when I started thinking about that Sunday night and the possible intruder in our driveway. That's when I started freaking out a little.

Jen was sound asleep. At around 9:30 I turned out the light and tried to go to sleep too. It was no use at all. Every sound outside made me jump. Every footstep in the apartment next door made me nervous. I was completely exhausted and wide awake at the same time. My tooth was hurting a little but I have slept through worse. Jen was snoring a little but not only have I slept through worse, I actually found it comforting. For three hours I lay in bed trying to relax enough to dose off. Eventually I started moving from feeling uncomfortable to sore. My next started to hurt, my back started to hurt, even my ears started to hurt.

A little after 11:00 I propped up some pillows and sat up straight in the bed. I figured it might make the discomfort go away and maybe help me sleep. It didn't. I could still hear voices outside, I could still hear cars, I could still here the kids next door running up and down the stairs.

At about 11:30 I gave up and got out of bed. I went down stairs and put on the tube. The Dodgers were beating the Cardinals and both teams were leaving runners on base at a record setting pace. I couldn't really get into it. I tried to read the last 70 pages of the book I've been working on forever but couldn't get into it. I killed some time on Flickr looking for pictures taken in South Bend Indiana (more on that in the coming weeks maybe) and learned that there is a football stadium, a church, and nothing else. Nothing helped me relax. I sat there feeling dead tired and wide awake at the same time. I was seriously miserable.

A little after 1:00 am I went back to bed. I didn't feel any different than I had 90 minutes earlier, but I had to try. I didn't fall asleep right away. I remember seeing the clock read 1:36, but at some point after that I finally drifted off. I got a few minutes more than four hours of sleep on a night I fully expected to get close to nine.

Last night sucked, and it's going to make today suck just as much.