Tried and true?

It hit me like a ton of bricks yesterday: count some damned sheep.

Even if I play myself into a blocky stupor before bed (ILU TETRIS), I know that some recess of my subconscious is not thinking about video games; as mentioned before, I seem to have acquired the skill to multitask, if only a little bit, and if only in relation to these goings on.

(Ooooh, I really like how that sentence was written!)

I don't know what inspired the thought, but I figured it was worth trying the old method for beating insomnia: counting sheep. Merely counting them would be too simple, too easy to let half of my brain go to think about other things, so instead, I counted beats. I always have music playing while I sleep -- currently the FF9 soundtrack ♥ -- so it's pretty easy to count along to. That, and it made me listen to the music for the first time in ages.

One, two, three, four; two and two and three and four and....

Before I knew it,

One-two-three, two-two-three, three-two-three, four-two-three, one-two-one-two.... (I know that's not how you're supposed to count sixteenths, but they were syncopated, for goodness' sake!)

I was waking up in the middle of the night, which meant I had fallen asleep somewhere along the way, and had no dreams to remember. I was amazed. I tried it again, woke up again. A third time. Still working.

It leaves me hopeful for tonight. Wish me luck!

As for today, hitting up the city with Guillermo after work for some noodles and figures, then coming back home and going to THE LIBRARY [/sokka] for true!Seeker. I hope they have the book, and if not ASOIAF instead....

And now that I finally want to read again....

Work was its usual in(s)anity, because I did nothing but play with freight and repacks for five godforsaken hours. And then, five minutes before the end of my shift, some idiot woman wanted EIGHT things framed. :::rolls eyes::: I'm glad she got the hint that I was being short with her on purpose.

So twenty minutes late, I skipped out of work and down to the LES. Met Guillermo on his stoop, and we went to Menkui Tei for lunch. Kyushu-men. Awesome stuff. After that, we hit up Toy Tokyo, and I got another Strawberry-chan set (didn't see the Cowboy Bebop or Moofia figures, though!), and a new mushroom dealie. ~*Kinoko World*~ (That's actually not what it's called, though... Um. Yeah.) And then we went to Jas Mart for snacks. I went home after that.

As I promised myself, I stopped at the library. Only about half of the Sword of Truth series was there, and the earliest book of the lot was Temple of the Winds (fourth of eleven; as the website is telling me now, Central has four copies of WFR: two are withdrawn, two are on hold. LIC and Kew Gardens Hills each have a copy, but they're also withdrawn (and fuck if I know where those branches are). What the fucking fuck). Failing that, I went for A Song of Ice and Fire. NOTHING. There was a book that was edited by Martin, but nothing he actually wrote. Okay, desperation time. *STAR PRISM* [/Relm] After I stopped myself for going for New Spring (a copy of which I got for free at I-Con a few years ago and since packed away, but also was so poorly written/edited, I wanted to get out a red pen while reading), I decided to pick up the first Terry Pratchett book I could find, which was, lo, The Color of Magic. I find it utterly boring and I'm severely disappointed and depressed. Wizard's First Rule is due back at Central on 18 March, which means it was withdrawn yesterday, y'know, when I was gonna go to the library, but forgot to bring my card? Yeah. *sigh*

I did, however, come across an interesting story via The Phoenix Requiem this morning. And hell yes, I read all of it. Effie is ... amazing.

I'm gonna give CoM another try before I give up and count beats instead. Otherwise, between last night's discussion, good sleep, and Guillermo, today was a pretty good day.