hey So, much like the title suggests, Dale has not been sleeping. I have been lying in bed, with my eyes closed for the most part, but have not been paying any visits to DreamLand. At this stage, even lengthy visits to its creepy contemporary cousin, NightmareLand, would be some sort of welcome experience. Currently, I have managed a mere 7 hours sleep since Sunday. It's wednesday. Monday was the worst. It was hot. That weird, humid kind of hot, too hot to sleep under covers but not hot enough to sleep without them. Coming off 2 hours of low-fi sleep on Sunday night, I could barely kkeep my eyes open when I opted to go to bed at 10:30pm, only to lie awake for a further four hours. Last night was much the same - killed myself at karate (on that note, a warm welcome to the return of my stuffed-up right ankle, back with us after a 5 month absence), went to a mate's 29th birthday dinner at a Mexican buffet where I ate more refried beans and other delights than you can shake a big stick at, got tanked on tequila and then still couldn't fall asleep. Even when I did, it was more lo-fi crap sleep, fraught with sudden wakings and general restlessness. Oh yeah - and it was close to thirty degrees as well; Celcius, too, not that crappy Fahrenheit bollocks favoured across the pond. Already had 3 cups of my uber-blend of super-strong anti-decaf mega coffee and still the synapses are barely firing. and I have to work tonight, so it's at least another 13 hours before I can fall into bed and not-sleep again. hooray! In other news, Claire called from jnb yesterday. Seems she may have to cut her trip short on account of the US Embassy denying her application for a visa. So bang goes her plan to attend a conference next April in Colorado in the middle of the trip; and subsequently bang goes my plan of attending the same conference and seducing her with my wily charms, something which has failed rather dismally for the last 21 months or so anyway. -d-