Good night, that's an early morning.

I haven't slept since July.

I think it was July, at least.

July is the month that I've attributed to long, restful nights of 8+ hours of sleep. July is when I gave up caffeine. July is when I read summery book after summery book.

And then it all changed.

I've been trying, since July, to figure out whose fault it is that I don't sleep anymore. I think it's MB's fault.

When she signed a lease up at 125th and Columbus, her move to NYC became more than a fluttery little dream. Part of facing the reality that was coming on September 1st was a commitment to 'do something fun in DC every day' until MB left.

This is where the problems arose.

See, for one of the two of us (hint: she's taller than 5 1'), this kind of socializing had to be intentional. For the other, who has long suffered and recently been diagnosed with FOMO (fear of missing out), a challenge like this was just a needle in the hand of an addict. A no-max credit card in the hands of a shopaholic. This is what this excess of plans were like for me.

It's a real problem. A very real problem.

I keep telling myself that it's a good problem to have. I mean, it is, right? To just enjoy humanity that much that I can't say no to hanging out?

Just to be clear, it's not always a plethora of plans that keeps me from sleeping at night. There is another culprit. It's the simple fact that many (a possible majority?) of my friends fall into one or more of the following occupational buckets: unemployed, partially employed, or bizarrely employed.

In contrast, I would just consider myself traditionally, 9-5ishly, suit-wearingly DC employed.

Unemployed, partially employed and bizarrely employed do not follow the same schedule as the rest of the universe. For some, evenings begin at 12 am and breakfast doesn't happen till afternoon of the next day. For another lucky crew, the whole day is spent in the comfort of Tryst, or a living room, or a park, solving the issues of the world one Gmail ping at a time.

They generally aren't forced to look alive by 8:30 (or 9 if I'm pushing it). So when they want to laugh til dawn, or bake at midnight, or go for a late movie on a Tuesday, it's simple. I just give in.

But there are some things, as the CEO of the org where I work likes to say, that are just true.

For me, the truest thing at the moment is that I will just die if I don't get a grip. My October Mom, MD, is reminding me of this every morning, smilingly saying that if we have an in-house H1N1 outbreak, I'm going to be the first to go.

Here's what I'm proposing for myself:
Mondays - sleep by 11
Tuesdays - sleep by 11*
Wednesdays - sleep by 11
Thursdays - sleep by 12:30
Fridays - ???
Saturdays - sleep the heck in

Stay tuned.
Maybe I will be able to start my next post with "I've been sleeping since October..."

*Tuesdays when Hanson is playing do not apply to this schedule.