So I decided not to go to sleep at all. I figured, if I don’t go to bed and work all night, then my blog post won’t be due. Instead of winding down my day with some writing, I decided to work on a silly project that in no way needed to be done the next day. But every 1/2 hour I’d feel close and want to push on. That happened until 5am at which point I refused to go to bed knowing that it’d only be painful (or impossible) to get 3 hours of sleep before work meetings. Then the sun came up, work happened, afternoon dates came and went and I could finally take a nap. I asked my housemate to wake me at 5 if my alarm clock couldn’t, as I had a dinner date I didn’t want to miss. Dinner happened and karaoke sucked me in and suddenly it was 1am again. By the time I made it home I was in no blogging state. Luckily, I had the fortitude to know that I’d need to make up my lack of sleep and asked my morning riding partner to wait until 10 or 11 to call.

So this is my post for what most folks experienced as 2 days and what I rolled into one.

And in case you were curious, some fun facts about sleep:

• Humans are the only known animal to purposefully delay or withhold sleep.
• Most healthy adults need seven to nine hours of sleep a night. ¹
• Sleep helps you remember important information. During REM sleep, our brains determine what’s important to know and stores it for future use. (Looking back through old journals, in search of my passport today, I noticed a good 25% of entries and letters mentioned recent all-nighters and lack of sleep — so I’m no longer baffled as to why I have such little recollection of periods of my life.) ²
• Women who sleep less than 5 hours a night gain a significant amount more weight over time than those who sleep 7 hours or more. ²
• Most people can’t stay awake for longer than 48 hours, but the record not sleeping is almost 19 days. As a result, he suffered hallucinations, paranoia, blurred vision, slurred speech and memory, and concentration lapses. ²
• Night owls are less healthy than early risers. People who stay up late, even if they get adequate sleep, exhibit a marked increase in psychopathology, i.e. mental disorders.  Early birds, or morning types, also tend to have healthier lifestyles. ³ (Before this blog challenge I was getting to bed much earlier! Blogging is clearly dangerous for me.)
• Night owls are more politically radical. Like the source where I found this one – this one made me laugh. And clearly true as my girlfriend is a night owl and much more politically radical than I am.³
• Showering before bed helps you fall asleep. If only I had problems falling asleep, I’d probably shower more.³
• Sleep makes you more attractive. You’ll have to read the details on ReturnofKings to follow this one. As such, I feel the most responsible action I can take right now is to call it a day and hit the hay.

Sources:

• 1 – Sleep Foundation
• 2 – DoSomething.org
• 3 – ReturnofKings

Extra: Today is Day 19/20, Post 16 of my 30 day blog challenge. Click ‘Follow’ at the bottom of the page to receive weekly updates in your inbox or follow me on Tumblr if that’s your scene.

The post Who Needs Sleep? Some fun tidbits about that thing I wish I could get more of. appeared first on Jewels.

Did you know, for instance, that kitty-corner evolved from catty-corner, which evolved from catercorner? Catercorner was a compound word from the now outdated cater, which meant four. Four corners- get it?  (I tried looking up the etymology of cater to no avail, though found a separate obsolete meaning, matching cater with the purveyor of foods.) The word finally makes sense to me, as I rarely see cats scuttling across streets, corner to corner. (They tend to prefer the safety of curbs.)

As it turns out, when the root of a word dies and loses it’s contemporary meaning, people often mistake that root for a different synonym. As such, asparagus became sparrow-grass in Europe. (Who knew that originally took its name from the Person asparag, meaning “sprout” or “shoot”? Fun little run-down on wikipedia.)

After digging around on some folk etymology history, here’s a few of my light favorites:

• French (e)crevisse  (likely from Germanic krebiz and Old English’s crabba for “crab”, which became our crayfish / crawfish
• Old English bryd-guma (“bride-man”) became bridegroom after the Old English word guma fell out of use and made the compound semantically obscure.
• hangnail from agnail (from the Old English, “A corn or sore on the toe or finger.”)
• penthouse from pentice (“An extension of a building’s roof and the protected area beneath.”)
• chaise lounge from chaise longue (from the French, meaning “long chair”)
• A slug of liquor from the Irish word slog , meaning to swallow
• Island gets a little more complicated- you’ll just have to read about it here

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8413122.stm

The post Where brat, bufoon, rat and scumbag are NOT ok, f**k is. appeared first on Jewels.

If only New Orleans wasn’t such an awesome city, filled with fun and friendly people, delicious food and an abundance of liquor and festivals I wouldn’t be in this predicament. Yes, another sign that life on the road can be challenging.

Let me go back to the beginning. As a highway ferry transports me across the Mississippi, I transfer my love of Mississippi into Louisiana. Spanish moss hangs from statuesque oaks, black cats roll on the ground, baiting me to pet them, at the #1 haunted mansion in the world and Jaik’s mom welcomes me with the finest home cooked dinner I’ll have all trip. (I need to take better notes since I’m not quick with French, but the dinner included lots of crawfish in both etouffee and pizza and a French cake with 7 layers of pudding diving a rich, white cake.)

I spend Saturday learning all things Cajun and some of the Creole, before heading to the Atchafalaya basin, towards New Orleans. In Breaux Bridge, locals point me to a meat market for some famous Boudin (pronounced BOO-dan). Though the owner doesn’t want his picture taken, he packs a beer from his personal stash in the back, along with the purchased sausage and stuffed mushrooms in my cooler. And it continues to get better.

Once in NO, I manage to get the last dorm bed at the India House, the best hostel in the city and meet up with two fellow travelers I met back in Flagstaff. As we head for the French Quarter to check out the Friday night life, I text Hannah from Tucson. (She’s a friend of a friend I just met and absolutely adore.) A few excited messages later and we’re sitting in the bar Hannah used to work at, doing some shots with her best friend (in her honor of course) and making a positive first impression of the city.

The next day we set out for plantations and will have taken 10,000+ steps by the time we retire at 6am, including the time change. We all stay in the French Quarter and make a trip down Bourbon avenue: drunk people overflowing in the streets, each with beads, beers and fancy daiquiri to-go cups. We try the Texan sized mixed drinks and stand awestruck as a karaoke dj/performer dances MC Hammer style, complete with a standing flip. As we wind up our morning at the hotel, I learn Dutch while teaching Go Fish. Yep, I can really travel the world now with “give me”, “do you have”, numbers and face card names, “go fish” (my favorite!) and a swear word I cannot repeat.

Despite having to check out of our hotel only four hours after falling asleep, we find energy in Cafe du Monde’s coffee and beignets. And I can’t leave out the impressive troupe performing acrobatics and break dancing. Unfortunately, a lavish military performance for Extreme Home Makover across the street in front of the cathedral, forces a frustrated man with a megaphone to shut down the troupe. Apparently they can’t hear their TV show host above the music and fanfare from our crowd. (I’ll post a video, as the guys are phenomenal and I want Joe to learn these tricks. They walk up stairs on their hands, slide across the ground on their heads, break dance and make the grumpiest laugh.)

Lousiana is hard to leave. I want more days to tour the swamps, to walk the antique malls, eat Cajun and learn French. If I don’t get this ticket I may just have to go back.

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