Repeat Visits by Martin

Reverend Martin Ssempa, of the Uganda Makerere Community Church, visited with me twice during the past night.

On both occasions I found myself scampering out of my own bed, to get away from him. I woke up laying on the floor, having hit my head on the nightstand with my heart racing wildly from the scare.

Why the homophobic Pastor "Eat Da Poo-Poo" should suddenly wish to raid my dreams I cannot explain.

I am going back to bed again now, hoping my sleep will not be disturbed again.

A Looooooooooong Weekend

I was supposed to work half the day tomorrow, but I have taken the day off, Friday is a holiday and then there is the weekend, so now I get f-o-u-r whole wonderful days off from work! WooT!!!

And boy do I need it!

Since my last visit with my sweet Hungarian doctor a month ago I am under instructions to reduce my normal daily dose of antidepressants from 20 mg to 10 mg. I have done that quiet successfully without any major setbacks. I do however feel unfocused, tired and in need of more sleep and I also feel an increased melancholy. Although my doctor told me that I can increase the dosage to 15 mg or 20 mg if and when I feel the need, I still want to give the lower dosage a chance to stabilize so I can get a sense of how I will feel.

I am going to use the long weekend in first life to relax, rest, sleep more and visit with mother once or twice. My laziness during these four days will break every existing record, I can promise you that!

In SecondLife I am going to kick-start the immense "Organize Your Inventory"-project. It hasn't been done before during my more than eight years here, so it is really high time to take control of it and get it in some order. Every time my well organized hubby gets a glimpse of my Inventory he cries out in shock and amazement "You have everything stored in the root folder, that is crazy!" or something to that effect...

Furthermore I am hoping that Botanical will finally release it's new products so that we can finally finish Project -15, the landscaping project in the South-East corner of the sim. It already looks wonderful and I am extremely happy with the results so far of the toils of Samuel Fallen, of Lytton & Fallen, and Tomais Ashdene and Butch Diavolo, of Southern Charm.

Once the landscaping is all done Tomais and I are going to throw a party to celebrate. You will all receive an invitation through the blog and/or personally.

Sleep

One of our present Western work-culture's main characteristics is that we are all living under the dictatorship of the early birds. I'm not a worse person because I need to sleep longer in the mornings.

My Parade Blunder

Remember how I have been going on about how much I have missed the opening parades at Second Pride? And how happy I was when I learned that we would have one at this years Second Pride?

Well, I managed to botch up my participation by going for a short nap four hours before the parade was going to start and then sleeping for five hours. This despite having set several wake-up calls both on my landline telephone and my cellphone, all for safety's sake as I could not imagine I would sleep that long.

Luckily my family members (hubby Tomais, son Guyke and son-in-law Garrett) were at the right place in the right time and could represent the McMillan colors.

Photo by Tomais Ashdene

Photo by Tomais Ashdene

Photo by Jeff Ellsworth

According to the reports I have received from the Opening Parade it was a tremendous success, with more than 180 avatars taking part or watching from the adjacent sim. There were only a few problems, which were to be expected considering the amount of avatars there. I am so upset with myself for missing it.

Well, when I finally did wake up I logged in as fast as I could to calm my worried family and could get a feel of the parade anyhow as it runs 24/7 (except the short while the sim is restarted everyday). I went a little crazy and tried out many of the floats, as documented below by blogging buddies Jeff Ellsworth and Carl Paneer and my Tomais.

Photo by Jeff Ellsworth

Photo by Jeff Ellsworth

Photo by Tomais Ashdene

Garrett & Guyke watching the Bock-parade
Photo by Carl Paneer

For more great pictures from Second Pride Festival, please visit my blog buddies Jeff Ellsworth; Jeff Ellsworth Witnessing A Second Life: Second Pride 2014 Live and Lively (live blogging) and Carl Paneer: NakedCarl Second Life.

"Gone Fishing"

Today at 4 pm I started my glorious three week vacations, but this year I have a hectic program lined up in both my lives.

First Life

1. Monday June 17, 2013, 10.30 AM local time - Eye-examination and possible laser surgery
2. Wednesday June/19, 2013, 1.30 PM local time - Doctors appointment for check up on my blood sugar and to get a referral to a dietitian.
3. "Rehabilitation program" to change my first life back to what it was and become a healthier, fitter, slimmer and more "old myself". Eat better! Sleep better! Exercize more! Socialize more! In short get back a first life worth calling "a life"!
4. Take care off and see more of my first life parents and hopefully friends also
5. Have sex...maybe, hopefully, perhaps...
6. ...and relax and have a lot of fun...

SecondLife

1. Second Pride Festival celebrations 
2. SL10B - the celebration of  SecondLife's tenth birthday
3. Take care of my SecondLife family and friends
4. ...and relax and have a lot of fun...

Funny Coincidences

Yesterday my buddy NE0 Timeless posted a response to my recent post about my problems with insomnia. In his post he suggested a wonderful piece of interesting, soothing and relaxing music that I should listen to whenever I had problems sleeping.

The music was Thomas Dolby's song N.E.O. which I am sending you to NE0's blog to listen to, Free Your Mind: A song dedicated to Bock McMillan.

While I was listening to the song I focused on the photography of a meteor that is displayed throughout the video. Suddenly I saw a vague outline of my own face on parts of the meteor, which was rather amusing.

The next funny thing that happened was that when I was going to comment on the post and thank him, I got the following word verification.

Thank you so much for the caring suggestion buddy, I will try it the next time I cannot sleep!

Insomnia Sucks

It's 3:39 AM local time and I still haven't been able to fall asleep.

I hate insomnia!

Initiating Changes

We have been laying plans for the commencement of the changes to come in my first life.

The steps we agreed upon to improve my overall physical condition are
- improving dietary intake and eating habits (regular meals, no junk food and no snacks),
- improving my fitness through exercise,
- improving my sleeping habits,
- reducing my cigarette consumption or quitting smoking,
- reducing my weight and
- reducing my absenteeism.

The exact goals to be achieved during the three month period from June through August of 2013 are to be agreed upon by me, a personal trainer and a dietician. The hope is that this kick-start will get me on the right track for keeping it up on my own afterwards.

It will all start already on Tuesday with a complete health examination and an expanded health and lifestyle survey, including a fitness test. If I should wish so along the way I can also receive some counseling or other psychological or motivational support.

In the spirit of "Mens sana in corpore sano" it is also hoped that the physical changes will improve my psychological and emotional condition.

Sounds like quite a plan, huh?

Following Doctor´s Orders

Every time I complain to my sweet Hungarian doctor that I need to sleep too much, he tells me in almost perfect Swedish, "If you need to sleep, then sleep!" 

So that is what I have done after work today and will keep on doing until the morning!

I hope to see you all in the morning, meanwhile please enjoy this picture of New Zealand-born Australian actor Russell Crowe relaxing in the bathtub. It´s got absolutely nothing to do with my first life or my SecondLife but as a blogger I am using my powers to stuff you with things I like, so do not bitch about it.

(I am sorry but  do not know whom to credit for the picture, but I will be happy to do so when I receive information in that matter.)

Sleep Cycle

My sleep last night. The app tells me that my "sleep quality"
was 73 % even if it to me looks like I was awake a few times.

I have installed the app called "Sleep Cycle" (url) on my mobile phone a while back. It is actually the best alarm clock I have ever had in my life.

You put the mobile under the sheet at the head-end of your bed and it analyzes your sleep cycle pattern while you sleep. Of course you have all kinds of options in setting it, but I have set it to wake me up in a 30 minutes time-frame when it best fits into my sleep cycle. 

The thing that has always made me totally sick of other alarm clocks, the repetitive buzzes or other monotonous and noisy sounds, which have always freaked me out and made me very angry or irritated first thing in the morning have now been replaced by a lovely, kind and unobtrusive tune that is called "Warm breeze". After a while it adds a friendly vibration.

I highly recommend downloading it, I have never been happier to wake up than I have been since I started using it.

P.S. And of course (sic!) you can set the app to send messages about your sleep to post on Facebook.

Sedation (Updated)

Well, I really don´t know what is going on. I don´t blog and I don´t log in to SecondLife, but I think of both those things all the time and miss my friends in-world.

As opposed to my problems earlier, I now cannot sleep when I need to. The last week I only got four to four and half hours of sleep a night. This week I have decided to take some drastic measures to induce sleep.

I do not drink very much ordinarily, so to bring myself to that stage of tiredness I am now sitting here with no less than two 5 cl snaps-bottles which I am going to drink while writing this post. I will give you a report tomorrow if it helped.

The two are Norwegian, one is Trondhjems Aquavit, it tasted great but perhaps a bit too chilly, while the other one is Taffel Aquavit, which doesn´t taste as good and has a strange oily aftertaste. But hell I am not drinking them to enjoy them, so down the hatch it goes.

Now I will wait and see if they are enough, or if I need one more.

Update My unconventional solution worked well and I had a good nights sleep. I woke up bright and early feeling rested and ready to take on the world. Of course I realize that this is not a remedy that should be used often, but this once it worked fine.

Another Sleepathon

So, now I have completed another sleepathon, the second in two weeks. This one only lasted two nights and a day (from Monday 6 PM until Wednesday 6 AM) but still I am getting worried because I am going to start working again on Monday.

The difference between this time and the last, is that I actually had a dream this time. I think I may have felt guilty - or at least had a bad feeling about - the last response I left to a comment by my Chief Technical Officer Mrs. Vampi Twine-DeSantis-McMillan McMillan (honorary) and her presumed sex life with my Sergeant at Arms Lieutenant Colonel (retired) sirhc DeSantis-McMillan.

The dream was that Blogger somehow posted a warning message to my blog telling me that I should refrain from commenting on other peoples sex life or they would shut me down. The dream was so vivid that I even saw the strange post and had to check the blog when I woke up.

I Should Be Sleeping

I should be sleeping, but I am not.

I had gone to bed and fallen asleep but I woke up after about two hours with acid reflux. It´s a problem I haven´t had in the last several years.

I logged in-world to see how things were there ,with the sim and all. Talked a little with my brother in-law Dej, who had had a rough day but seemed to be doing a bit better now. I may have said it before, but let me say it again, I am so happy to have him on Southern Charm. He keeps me grounded and makes me feel safe.

We talked until I felt sleep attacking me again so I am on my way to get some rest for a little over three hours before I have to get up for work.

Sleepless in SecondLife

Ziggy and I

When I logged out from SecondLife after Feline´s set at The Sanctuary yesterday (see previous post), I was happy, tired and sleepy and was looking forward to a good nights sleep.

As a part of my regular ritual my bedroom had been had been well aired while I took off my clothes, brushed my teeth and washed myself. The room was exactly the right chilly temperature that I like when I crawled under the duvet, but the second my drowsy head hit my fluffed up, eiderdown filled, soft and well chilled pillow there was an almost audible ***Bazinga!*** ...and I was wide awake again.

I am not unaccustomed to this phenomenon so I have strategies to handle that situation. I stay in bed, just rest and focus on myself breathing in and breathing out, breathing in and breathing out. Any thoughts that come up quickly whisked away as my focus is turned back to resting and breathing, in and out, in and out.

This usually works well for me, but when I hadn't fallen asleep after an hour of this, I go to the next step. Get out of bed and do something relaxing or boring. I had to make a choice; Dreary sitcoms on television or back into the world that never sleeps? I chose SecondLife.

As I was logging back in I thought I remembered that Wesley Spengler had a set for the Americas on Fridays so I went to his new club The Tribute.

Well I remembered wrong, there was no party there, but the radio was on a good channel and there were a couple of friendly guys chatting and dancing there anyway. I joined them and asked my buddy Ziggy Starsmith, who was also inworld, to come and join us.

Wesley Spengler

After a while Wesley himself joined us and we all had a good time chatting and dancing.

About an hour later I was ready for a new try with my bed and this time I was more successful and fell asleep the second before my head rested on the pillow.

I am a fortunate man, to have a world handy where I can always find rest, relaxation, good music and great company whenever I need it.

Sleep

"To die, to sleep;

To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;

For in that sleep of death what dreams may come"

---

I have always had a strained relationship with sleep. I really love sleeping but 

detedt going to bed to sleep and definitely detest to wake up, or rather being 

woken by someone or by a damn alarm clock.

After only getting about three-four hours of sleep each night during the workweek for a period of about three years I was first put on pills to induce sleep, then to a "sleeping school", where I was thought routines to help me during the workweek.

I follow these routines strictly - I would say almost religiously if I weren't a 

damned Atheist. It has been really helpful. So nowadays I start signaling to 

my body whats going to happen by observing my own special routine and when I go to bed I fall asleep almost immediately. 

Once asleep I am hardly disturbed by anything happening around me. Men can snore, children can scream or my neighbors can go at it like crazy animals in heat, it makes no difference I just sleep through it like a baby.

The photo I am using in this post is beautiful, but there is also another reason why I use it here. The picture reminds me of how I sleep.

I have a big bed but I always sleep on the right side of it, never the left, it´s always left empty for someone. Just like the pale man in the picture I prefer sleeping on my left side.

If you want to see more of Elisabeth Ohlson Wallins photography please look here.  I recommend 
you take a look at her exhibitions "Jerusalem" and "Ecce Homo".

Today´s After-Work Nap

"Sleeping Man", drawing by Michael King

As has become my - bad - habit, the first thing I do when I come home from work is to get completely undressed and go to bed for a nap. I am fully functioning, alert and focused when I am at work, but when I come home I just drop.

I discussed this "problem" with my doctor last time I saw him and his response was brief and to the point, "Well, if you need to sleep, sleep!". I think that´s one of the main reasons I like this doctor, he is straightforward and astute. So sleep after work is what I do, especially on Fridays. Usually 30 minutes to an hour is sufficient. I wake up refreshed and ready to tackle my first and second life again.

Today I was really very tired when I got home at around 5 PM, but it was warm and the humidity was high. Even after opening all the windows of my apartment and the balcony door, I still couldn't fall asleep. I got out of bed to drink, smoke, pee, rearrange the sheets and pillows in mu bed, smoke again, drink again and pee again.

Finally I brought out the ultimate weapon, my fan! I wished I had thought about it earlier but I guess I was too tired. The cooler flow of air on my body was enough, I fell at sleep around 6 PM and slept until 10 PM.

The dream this afternoon was one of those "searching dreams". I was helping my boss with a speech she was going to give. We had tossed ideas and phrases and as usual worked well together, getting the whole thing done well in advance. I had jotted down notes in a black notebook and only had to do out the final draft, so we took a break and went for lunch.

Horror of all horrors, when I got back the notebook was gone. It had completely disappeared. I searched my office, I searched her office, running around like in one of those slapstick movies in one door and out and through another door,  faster and faster until I met myself several times and getting more and more frantic by the minute as the time for the speech was coming closer.

I woke up without having found it.

---
The art in  this post is a drawing by Michael King, you can see more of his work at Michael King Paintings.