technical difficulties

so...

i've started my new job and am still at the old job until sept 6. so, right now (and probably once i find a new part-time job) my monday through thursday work day is 8:30 - 6. that's a long time. and that's early. Early.

i make no secret about my sleep difficulties. i have issues both falling asleep and waking up (although i'm more hopeful abuot the waking up now that i have a job that i enjoy). falling asleep is my cross to bear, i suppose, but waking up...that can be a bad thing. earlier this year, when i was donig the school tour, i bouhgt a clip lamp and attatched it to the bookshelf next to my bed. i also bought a hideous light bulb that gives off REALLY bright light for it. i put it on a timer so that it would go off roughly when my alarms were going off at like 5am. it helped, it realy did. that light is a bitch. but without the sound added to it i sleep right through it.

this job makes me worried about over-sleeping. so, for this week, i've been doing my usual thing for wake-em-ups - set my old alarm clock that plays music and alarm at the same time, set my cell phone alarm, set the both alarms on the clock with two alarms on it, set the lamp thing. i also added to my wake up menagerie the most annoying alarm clock ever. Ever. and i've had some pretty ridiculously annoying alarm clocks in my day.

this guy is a little orb with knobs on it. it's shaped that way (presumably) because it has a setting where it will vibrate and you can actually put it in bed with you so it shakes the bed. this is why i bought this alarm. now, there are classier versions of the shaking alarm clock - i'm told - that cost upwards of $50. i do not have upwards of $50 to spend on anythign right now, nevermind an alarm clock. so i spent $15 on this guy at target. if you'll notice, i keep replying to this thing as a guy. that's because it has voices. 7 'different' voices to wake you up. i say 'different' because it's clearly just one guy doing horrible dialects and impressions. like bad john wayne, bad marlon brando as the godfather, bad hindi dude, bad not effeminite enough but clearly supposedly gay stereotype dude.

ah, the voices. the voices are what make me want to get up. because, unless you press snooze, the thing repeats it's little beep-beep, stupid phrase, and vibrate cycle until you hit snooze or turn the thing off. it's wretched. Wretched. and, call me crazy, but i believe it's a totem hell bent on destroying all other electronics in my room.

wtf, eve?

well, i'll tell ya wtf...monday during the day, my timer for my light stopped working. this happens about once a month, i just have to reset it, no big whoop. but it had already happened like three days prior. i had just reset it. which, you know, i'm a cheapie, the thing may be dying. taken alone, i wouldn't think anything of this.

i also wouldn't take by itself my older alarm clock getting stuck in the 'sleep' mode as any thing to worry about. it fell, apparently on it's face, and now it thinks it's on sleep and the face only reads 0:00. which is annoying, but the alarm still went off, so i guess i'm okay. this happened yesterday.

again, the two events seemed unconnected and the alarm clock falling was directly due to my actions, so, whatever.

well, then it got weird. i've got this lightsaber in my room from the episode I marketing blitz. it was part of my graduation from high school present. i don't play with this thing a lot, but it's fairly classy. it's got the 'chinese yo-yo' style flip out, push button light and sound. it's nice. i have it leaning just inside my bedrooom door in front of my bookshelf, because that's apparently where i put it when i moved in and i haven't found another place for it yet.

so today, after both works and therapy, i get home and i'm feeding the cat and i walk in my room to check my answering machine (yes, i still have a land line). and i actually have three messages. none of which were junk, well, i'm about to press the answering machine button and i hear -SSCCCHHFWING! wom wom wom- and my lightsaber, which i'm a good 4 feet from and which the cat is no where near has decided to turn itself on. i walk over and press the button a couple of times, try waving it around, nothing. thing stays on. so i check my messages and it's auto-turn off thing shuts it down in a minute or so.

and then about 15 minutes later (when i'm trying to lay down for a nap) it goes on again. and shuts itself off. this happened another 3 times in the span of about an hour. i knew it happened two more times because they both woke me up. the third one i know about because it got incorporated into my dream.

anyway...none of these things happened before this stupid talking vibrating alarm came into my life. which, i mean, i'm totally open to the possibility that this is all just random and explainable and will soon pass. but i'm also a total dweeb who is open to the possibility that this stupid talking alarm clock is going to kill everything electronic.

hmm.

well. i have to go to sleep. i'm tired, really tired. this week has worn me out. and it's only half-way done. sheesh. i think i might make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich though. i forgot to buy breakfast food at the store this weekend. yay for dweeb-dom.