SLEEP!

The bulb in my giant TV blew out last week.  I was in the middle of an episode of Castle when it just went, "POP!"  The sound continued to work for a minute but then it just quit altogether.  The good news is that I found a replacement from a website at a much lower price than I was told it would cost when I first bought the television.  But that only makes sense; projector bulb prices in general have plummeted and this is basically a really fancy rear projection TV.  The bad news, or so I thought at first, is that it will take 5-7 business days from the day they processed my order.  It's our only TV, so I've been without for the better part of the week.

But something has happened.  I've found I don't miss it.  Last night Andrea and I ate supper together.  Often, though not always, I would go downstairs and watch TV in my recliner while she ate upstairs in her recliner.  We would shout back and forth, but the reality is we were on opposite ends of the house.  But last night, we were in the same room and we carried on a conversation.  After dinner I read some Sherlock Holmes adventures--one of my favorites--and then cleaned up the dinner dishes and got the coffee ready for this morning.  And it wasn't even 9:00PM yet.  So I read some more, then went to bed.

That's when the really crazy thing happened.  I SLEPT!  I mean I fell asleep quickly, slept through my alarm, and barely got up in time to have breakfast and get to work.  Luckily I had run yesterday and showered before dinner and there is food provided today for Teacher Appreciation Week, so I just had to eat and get dressed.  But the key concept here is that I SLEPT ALL NIGHT.  I may be reading too much into it, but I don't think it's a coincidence that the entire evening involved no technological stimulation.  Well, technically speaking, I was reading on my Kindle, but it was still just a book, after all.  I was relaxed, my mind was clear, and I went to bed without it going a thousand miles an hour.  And I feel awake today.  People who don't have sleep issues have no idea how significant that is.

I know that the bulb will be coming soon, but I may not install it right away.