The Little Things

Sometimes, I mean most times, I live in a daze. Previously i would have dismissed such realization in a heartbeat by convincing myself that every person of the Ipad generation who is deprived of sleep for a couple of years is a bit dazed. Then I look at Shaleni (good friend, food fan, saint of sorts), she is not dazed at all but quick-witted I would say. And she never sleeps. Her dark circles are so big the government is planning to build an airport there. I think she hasn't sleep since 1969. But she talks fast, gives responses in 0 second and could cook up a joke in no time. Normally I would just walk about zombie-eyed and stare into the space like I'm solving some sophisticated mathematical equation for Harvard but really I am just damn sleepy.

But being an insomniac is not without its benefits. One gets to live the night and let me tell you night is beautiful. Nightfall is often referred to as a mistress; seductive, elegant and charming and I am a firm believer that beautiful things(as well as most crimes) only happen after nightfall. The stars lined the shores of a vast sky, the moon is hung up to provide substance for a poet's masterpiece as well as to lend passion to heated lovers, Nature retreats into Herself as angels come out to play. As darkness blankets the earth, our insecurities retire, our features soften as stress is being washed away, the world closes in, defensiveness dropped and every single object is awashed in a dazzling light (no, Im not high).

Fueled by copious amount of coffee and wanton fetish for nights, I sit up reading a book, call a friend, say a prayer or write a piece. For people who do not like what I do when I can't sleep, that is why God created Facebook.

The enormity of an insomniac's problems cannot be negligible. It is beyond just dark circles. Those circles widen to pull in a truckload of inconsistencies. Your metabolism slows down, your logical reasoning falters, vision blurred, hunger pangs set in and everything stands still frozen in time while your mother screams from her room at the top of her lungs threatening to disown you if you don't fucking sleep already.

Painting by Maya Kulenovic