Pzizz iPod Blog

So, as you may tell from the multiple posts today, and the time since the last Pzizz, I've used Pzizz several times without then immediately blogging about it. This one, I have to tell you about. It's bizarre, and it gets to a central point of any sleep aid: have the time to sleep.

I had finished placing my orders for delivery, and was all ready to go to sleep, when, at 9:30, my boss called me.

"Hey Erich, say, listen um I don't know if we can get the truck to Houston by Friday, maybe we can come down Saturday."

"Saturday? But no one will take deliveries Saturday!"

"I know, but, uh, that's where it stands. I was going to, but my twins (newborns, cute as can be!) and my wife need me to do some things here at the house. I asked my Cousin, but he just called -- his uncle came into town, and he's got to take him out, treat him right."

"Oh."

"I'll see, though, I might be able to, or find someone. I'll call yah back."

Obviously, I was kinda distracted by the phone call, focused on it and then mad to boot. When I pulled the ear-set out of my ear and hung up the phone, I noticed that there was a lot of smoke coming from my stove. Specifically, a LOT coming from the small pan I in which I was warming soy oil and almond oil to cook my tofu. OH $#$#$#!!

I run over, turn off the stove, move the pan to a back burner, turn the exhaust to high. My place reeks, and I notice that smoky haze has begun to fill the house. I open the front door, turn a floor fan to move the air out of the house, and return to the smoking pan. It's still smoking. A LOT. Even tho I know better, I get a little bit of tap water (warm) and pour a tiny amount onto the pan, in the hopes of cooling it off.

Oil splatters everywhere! And after fizzling for few minutes, the pan stops smoking. I put it under the faucet and rinse out what's left.... oh no! It burned! My brand new fancy pans and one's burnt! eeeeek!

The phone rings again.

"Erich, yea, no go. It's got to be Saturday."

"What? What-no Saturday's no good. I'll drive up to Austin and drive the van myself."

"Oh. Are you sure? What time do you think you'll be here?"

"Let's plan on sometime before 6am."

"OK, Erich. Get some sleep."

"Ok. I'll call yah when I'm driving into town."

Now it's after 10pm. I'm hungry and extremely pissed off. I get out the bigger pan, and successfully cook my dinner. It's delicious, and so is bitterness as I relay the developments to my fiance.

"Well baby, what time is it? YOU GOT TO GET TO BED!"

"I know baby."

"Sleep! Get some sleep! Goodnight, GOODNIGHT!"

"I love you."

"I love you too. Now, go to sleep!"

It's almost midnight, but I'm just too fired up, too many thoughts running through my mind, to get to sleep. I play some flash animation games on my Mac, and flip through the daily deal sites to see what's up. After a bit, I've gotten into the zone I can get into at this time of night, where I just "compute" and "multi-task relax" until I actually look up and realize it's freaking three AM!!!!!

This time, I don't' go quite that long, since in order to be in Austin by 6am I have to leave Houston by 3am. But it's still damn late. I get ready for bed, and now my cat Julius has decided to sleep in my room, as well. He's a big ol' tabby capable of unhinging heavy heavy doors I can barely lift, so I decide it's not worth the trouble to kick him out to the hallway.

The neighbor's dogs are crazy barking at the moon. I climb into bed, anyway. Lights out, Pzizz on.

The moon. The moon is full, or nearly full, and streaming full force through the slats of my blinds and illuminating my pillow. The dogs are still howling. It's been, what dammit, 20 minutes? I've got to sleep! I've got to wake up in two hours!

The Pzizz sleep module is only 30 minutes long, and I have to say, it's as effective as it has been, in that my cycles are slowing way down, I'm groggy, I'm fading,I'm falling asleep. And then the Pzizz module faded away and ended.

Maybe it's because I was afraid I'd be still be awake when it ended, maybe it's because I was so angry about how little I was going to sleep, and was thinking maybe I should have used the Energizer module, or whatever: I noticed it's end, and woke back up, nearly completely.

I had to pee. I was wide awake, anxious, so I read something, some trade magazine or local press, tried to quiet my thoughts. Finally, got back to bed, fell sleep. For like an hour, and woke up.

Now, I should stress here that I believe the Pzizz module I had played this night was actually the second one that played my initial night, before I made playlists, and immediately followed by the raucous humor of Mr. Hicks.

So, two conclusions:

1. DO attempt to be ready for sleep when using the program. It's an aid, not a magic trick.

2. Believe them when they say that it's the randomness of the mathematical algorithm that does the trick. Repeating a session, the brain knows what to expect, and never really lets go of alertness as a side effect of paying attention.

3. Again, actually have several hours to sleep. This is probably medically necessary, anyway. Insomnia can be a killer.