DawnPapuga.com — Reality 101

Yesterday Scott started a conversation on Twitter and then his blog that got me thinking.  Well, a lot of people, really.  He posed the question, “If you could have someone narrate your life, who would it be?”  There were some interesting responses from some friends–Jennie said she’d have Sigourny Weaver narrate her life, and Dave threw his lot in with Morgan Freeman.  Scott himself claimed Mike Rowe–the narrator for Deadliest Catch.  Considering the way my life goes, I’d need someone who has a range of emotion in their voice.  I need someone who can carry the weight of history and yet manage to be touching. 

My gut response was immediately Cate Blanchett.  She has a range in her voice that can shift from serious and severe to soft and touching in the span of a sentence, and that seems to be me in a nutshell.  As Scott asked, I included a clip below.  I’m sure all of you are familiar with this particular snippit, and I considered using one from one of the Elizabeth movies, but this happens to be my favorite part of LOTR, so why not? 

It’s not just her work on LOTR that impresses me.  Obviously her performances in both Elizabeth films were impressive, and she showed an even more down to earth side in Notes on a Scandal.  I’m still impressed with her rendition of Katherine Hepburn in The Aviator.  In fact, I can’t wait to see what she does in the new Indiana Jones film, too.

Sleep, Bear, Sleep

Originally uploaded by Simon Chambers

I don’t know what’s going on with my sleep pattern, but it’s getting out of control. Last night I fought sleep from the moment I got home from work until I finally crashed. We’re talking head bobbing, can’t concentrate, wanting to prop my eyelids open with toothpicks kind of sleepiness.

I usually don’t sleep more than 5 or 6 hours at a time, and sometimes less than that. I’ve made an olympic sport out of power napping and strategic sleeping over the past 13 years, so I’m not sure what has suddenly changed that’s causing this irritating need for so much sleep. I curl up for a quick 1 hour nap and wake up 12 hours later, having slept right through the alarm. I have a suspicion that it has something to do with all the stress this month has brought (and my eating habits going to hell again). That, along with the end of the semester and finally settling in to the new job with “real world” hours instead of “Ivory Tower” hours, I think my body is adjusting to a different pattern of sleep. Maybe I’m just exhausted and it’s catching up.

Or maybe I’m turning in to a bear (as Missy seems to believe). A bear, or a cat. Either, I think, would be okay. Cats sleep something like 18 hours out of the day, and considering my recent sleep pattern, I’m worried that I’m going to start scratching things and running the length of my apartment for no apparent reason. I already have Shiny Object Syndrome, so maybe that’s what’s going on. Since I haven’t been around any spinning wheels to prick my finger on, or evil fairies with a grudge, I’m going to have to say this is a valid option.

If I start sleeping whole days away, feel free to toss buckets of ice water on me.

Then run.