Post for no good reason other than insomnia...

So I can't sleep.

I get that all the time.

Things I do when I can't sleep:

Watch movies.

Read.

Try to write something.

Play video games.

Drink tea.

And combine various of the above.

Things I like about not being able to sleep:

Guilt-free time to yourself:
You're not being difficult or a loner, you just can't sleep, so you're up when the world is asleep.

Dawn:
I'm lazy and don't get up early. And I like to take photographs, so insomnia is my best shot of taking dawn shots. I live in the centre of Dublin, opposite the Ha'Penny bridge. Sometimes when I can't sleep I go and wander the city from there outwards, up along the river, and the city looks beautiful at dawn, like a lot of cities do. Sometimes people come up and talk to me, but there's a strange blessed feeling to that kind of insomniac wandering... nobody picks on you. They ask you about your photographs, they talk to you about the night they had, and then they wander off.

Late Night Movies:
Movies I wouldn't otherwise have taken a chance on start to look pretty good at three a.m.
Ever seen Frankenhooker? I have, buddy. It's pretty funny. And no, it's not as graphically horrid as it sounds. It's a bad eighties comedy. But kinda funny. Ever watched Citizen Kane and Starship Troopers 2: "Hero Of The Federation" both within a six hour period? Actually... I wouldn't really recommend that. Though it does help to highlight how good Citizen Kane is. And I don't mean that in some pretentious beret-wearing way... In fact I'll probably do a whole post about this soon, but for the moment, I like great movies that are also good movies. Kane is an example: you watch it knowing you're witnessing greatness, but it's also really entertaining.

Drink Tea:
Listen kiddo, a cup of tea when you're sleep-deprived at, say... 6.06 AM on a Sunday morning... It just tastes so damn good. Your body soaks it up so easily you feel like you could ingest it through your skin if necessary. Actually... I'm gonna have to make a post about tea as well now.

Another thing I like about being up when nobody else is:
There's not much to be pissed off about. You don't feel angry at the world, or at people, or at least I don't... You just feel a kind of detachment, that to be perfectly honest is just a teency bit addictive.

Inauguration is often dull.

You wouldn't believe the temptation to write for pages and pages about why I've finally decided to start a blog.

I'm struggling, so bear with me if I lapse.

Right now I'm 28, and my life is good, but I've never achieved anything that I'm aware of. I have a girlfriend, and I make her happy most of the time, which is I think the best thing I've ever done, but I don't think I even get that right all the time.

But I'm kind of a cool guy, everybody likes me, and I get by just fine. So there's the question. How far can you progress, how much can you get out of your life while still completely avoiding any major undertaking, or any achievement?

I like to take photographs, and I've started an online gallery at http://www.freakyjesus.com but they're not that good, and I haven't taken enough. I like to write short stories, but I haven't written one in over a year.

I'm going to see if I can make any sense of it, and by reading this, you can watch me fail, but I'm hoping to fail with panache and wit.

Once somebody quoted something clever Hemingway had said while they were talking to F Scott Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald, who had been friends with Hemingway, replied something like. "Yes...Hemingway speaks with the authority of success. I, on the other hand, speak with the authority of failure."

Great quote, but I haven't written any great novels like The Great Gatsby yet, so I probably shouldn't be closing this entry on it.