Tails of a 17th Street Geisha

This is a most introspective blog post, but I had a conversation with a guy last night about the things he needed to sleep consistently and it had me evaluating myself and the things I need to sleep, to stay sane.

An exboyfriend who is bipolar controls it with medicine and  counselling, but he also has to control his environment. In order for him to stay sane (literally, sane), he has to avoid alcohol, sleep regularly and exercise consistently. He also needs a life partner who will keep things stable (which is why we couldn’t be together!)

Here is a list of the things I need in my life to stay sane:

** Water, daily. I don’t know how my sister lives her life without drinking even a glass a day. She lives off of Sprite. When I’m in a bad mood, half of the time it’s because I haven’t had enough water in the day. I think we probably wouldn’t have all these wars in the world if people drank more water. Just kidding

** Exercise, daily. I can’t sleep at night if I don’t work out for at least an hour. Now, the workout can come from walking around or something light like shopping for shoes — it’s doesn’ t need to be an intensive grueling sweat-fest at the gym.  However, the more intense the workout the better I sleep.

** A consistent sleep schedule. If I’m in bed and asleep before midnight and up by 6am (and at the gym by 6:30) I am VERY VERY happy. The last several weeks of endless birthday parties and gay-clubbing with the ‘mos is very fun, but I’m ragged at work, without focus. I also lose valuable gym momentum as I can’t wake up to workout and I never leave work early enough to work out (plus a late workout isn’t good because it takes at least 2 hours for my body to cool down to sleep)

** Music, nearly 24/7 –I can’t stress that when I’m in my apt, in front of my computer at work, working out or lollygagging around town, I want my MTV… or Pandora or iPod. I need a soundtrack to the day. The music either revs me up when I need energy, soothes me when I’m stressed, gets me in the mood getting ready to go out, or focuses my mind when I want to think or read. I remember when I lost my iPhone headphones and refused to buy new ones ($40!) I spent a week at the gym without music and my workout suffered. Give me a good beat!

** Social communication, daily – I love to talk. Remember when all we had were telephones, attached to the walls of our homes? I kinda loved those days. Cell phones, text messages, chats–are all fun, but sporadic and superficial conversations can’t be the only form our social outlet for me. Back in the olden days of landlines and call-waiting (when I was 12,) if I didn’t have a friend in front of me chatting,

 I was on the phone non-stop with them. I love having my friends to gossip, complain, debate, advise, deliberate, scheme…

if I don’t have at least one good conversation a day, I feel a little lonely, sad.

** Sex, at least 3-5 times a week –I’m currently a bitch because I’m not getting any. Climbing the mother fucking walls I tell you. Green Day has it right “Masturbation’s lost it’s fun…” it gets old after 2 weeks.

** Being alone — My God, I need at least an hour a day to myself. Otherwise I start saying things aloud that might get me locked up.

Without these things, watch out!

Things I don’t do often that keep other people sane:

** Watching TV – not so much, I can get hooked on a show, but I hate commercials and I’m never at home to watch it much. When i DO watch TV, it comes in the form of hour-long marathons through Netflix, NBC4.com or Hulu.

** Drinking/Boozing — I don’t need it, had a phase of crazy drinking in my 20s and I’m burned out. It’s out of my system. There’s a long story here, but I just don’t drink any more.

 ** Dining out — Sure it’s fun, but I would be happy (if I had time/energy) to just save money and eat at home every day. Fuck, I’m like a cat–I could eat the same Cliff Bar (or Power bar or Fiber bar) at every meal. Food is just a means to a metabolic end. However, I appreciate good food and I love the process of making a delicious meal for myself or others.I also enjoy going out from time to time, but I don’t make it into a sport and I’m not a foodie by any stretch of the imagination. An organic apple tastes exactly the same as a shiny, pesticide-filled one. I just don’t get hard for food in the same way that others seem to.

Caffeine — I enjoy coffee, love organizing the social around it, but if I’m drinking coffee or soda on a daily basis to keep my energy up then I’m doing something wrong and I need to fix my regular schedule. Therefore, I usually don’t need caffeine to stay sane and I hated my life when I was addicted to it. I had a 2 red bull a day habit during my darkest time of life, working for a TERRIBLE boss who makes the Star War’s Emperor look like an Ewok.

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 16th, 2009 at 11:42 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.