Things That Make Me Lose Sleep

Monday night I was up watching TV while procrastinating in writing a paper (actually as I write this I am procrastinating the same paper, but now with an urgent deadline). Anyway, my plan was to really start working hard on this paper at about 11:00 and staying up until about 2 AM working. I was entirely prepared to do this until I flipped on CBS at about 10:45 and saw the hockey game. Now I know if you are from Louisville, you may not even know what the NHL is, or what the Stanley Cup is, but the NHL is still one of the four major sports leagues in North America.

Anyway, the Stanley Cup Final this year is probably the best matchup you could ask for, Detroit and Pittsburgh. I turned the game on and it was 2-1 Pittsburgh early in the 3rd period. Detroit was up 3-1 in the series and could clinch the Cup at home with a win. Well, I decided to watch because I hate the Redwings and wanted to see them lose at home. Instead, they scored a tying goal shortly after I turned it on, and a go-ahead goal at about the midway point in the period. For some reason, I chose to keep watching. Probably because I think that the awarding of the Stanley Cup is the best Championship celebration in all of sports. And the Stanley Cup itself is the best trophy in sports. If you don't believe me, just watch it. So I was prepared to watch (grudgingly) as Detroit was awarded the Cup at home. Instead, to my distinct pleasure, Pittsburgh scored a tying goal with 37 seconds remaining in the period, and the game went into overtime.

Now, I know hockey has lost a lot of popularity in the past few years, and regular season hockey is sometimes hard to watch, but in my opinion there is NOTHING better in sports than Playoff hockey overtime. Sudden death, 20 minute periods, and NO COMMERCIALS. There is literally no down time for 20 minutes of playing time. Playoff overtime is one time when I can watch any two teams play, no matter what. If you have never watched a playoff overtime game, then try to find some kind of replay of one, or just keep an eye out next year (or even in Game 6, which is tonight). This is the only sport besides soccer where the game can end at any moment, and I personally think this is more intense than soccer since the puck moves up and down the ice so quickly. I was on the edge of my seat for over an hour just watching the overtime. I guess it helped that I was pulling for one team. But this game was no disappointment at all. In the end, it was the 5th longest game in Stanley Cup Finals history, going to the halfway point of the 3rd Overtime before Petf Sykora scored on a power play to extend the series to at least 6 games.

So now that I've ranted about that, it got me thinking about the other things I've done that have cost me a lot of sleep in the past. And it turns out the list is fairly extensive.

- Procrastinating doing homework: This takes the top honor, as I can't recall how many times I've stayed up literally all night just to complete a paper on time. I have some sort of mental block that doesn't allow me to begin writing until the last minute. I can do research, but the writing is an entirely different story.

- 24 hour NES marathon: Actually it was a 21 1/2 hour NES marathon where we literally played NES nonstop for almost a full day. I fully intend to blog about this in the future, so I won't go into much more detail.

- Playing NES in general: Did I mention I'm addicted to this system. I can get so into a game that I'll play it for 3 hours before I realize it's 2 AM and I have to get up for work at 7:30. This has been an issue since high school, and still sometimes happens even today.

- Not sleeping: Of course not sleeping, that's the point of this list. But by not sleeping, I mean INTENTIONALLY not sleeping. I once chose to stay up for over 4 days without sleeping. This story, again, deserves a posting of its own. But I will say that this was the only time in my life I've ever hallucinated.

- Watching crappy movies on AMC: Sometimes I'll be up watching TV and just before I plan to go to bed, a movie that I like is just starting. So I can either go to bed or stay up and watch the movie. Too often, I choose the movie. One night I was up watching Jaws, and when it ended at 1 AM I prepared to go to bed, until I saw Jaws 2 was on right after that. I'd never seen the sequel, so I obviously had to stay up. And when that was over, what came on? Jaws: The Revenge. I can't believe I stayed up for this absurd movie, but in the end I was up until about 5:30 AM having an impromptu Jaws marathon.

- Driving to St. Louis and back in one evening to watch Wrestlemania. Back in 2001, my friend and I ventured to St. Louis, leaving at around 2:30 pm here in Louisville and arriving in St. Louis around 5:30 local time, just in time to watch Wrestlemania 17 with a group of friends. And when it ended at 11:00 in St. Louis, my friend and I got up and drove straight back, arriving at 4:30 AM, in time for me to make my 8 AM class in the morning. The tally: 8 hours of driving, 600 miles, 4 hours of Wrestlemania, 14 hours from the time I left to the time I arrived back, one class in the morning skipped.

Now I'm sure there are several more instances just like these, because in the years 2001-2002, I remember telling people I averaged roughly 4-5 hours of sleep per night for the course of the year, so I must have been doing something right. But hopefully this entry will get you thinking about some of the idiotic things you used to do that had an adverse effect on your health. Happy memories!!