Counting Sleep(spots)
Used in a series of sentences: "Whether it was the heat or the fact that I had gotten too much sun the other night, I could not fall asleep no matter how I tried. Somehow the wires got crossed in my brain, and instead of counting sheep to fall asleep, I ended up considering all of the places in my life to date where I had a dedicated place where I could regularly sleep -- so I began counting sleep(spots)."
Here's the output from that early morning exercise ...
... I was born to the place in Bethel (1), but moved to Elverson (2) after the first divorce, and then to Fredericksburg (3) after the second divorce, until dad partnered up again and we moved into her place in Jonestown (4) until the house (an old parsonage) (5) was ready. Since there was a degree of joint custody at this time, there was also the place my mom stayed with her mom in the Bethel trailer (6) until she partnered up with Mr. Fox in the place by the lake in Schuykill Haven (7) and then got divorced and lived in the apartment (8) on the hill in the same town. Back in Jonestown, the church wanted the old parsonage back to make more parking spots and we moved to Cumberland St in Lebanon (9).
... after eight years (is that stability?), I was out of there near the end of my senior year, spending the first night at my friend Jarrod's house (10), the next week at my girlfriend Kerri's house (11) and the rest of my college years at the Woodwards (12). Except for when I was in college in Mary Green in two different dorm rooms (13 and 14), Funkhouser (15) and that special secret place in the basement of the library (16). Oh, except for when I was in Koln, Germany for my semester abroad (17) and in Uniontown for my theater internship (18). Until she died last year, my grandmother always kept a bed made for me at her apartment there (19), and then at her house in Fairchance (20).
... then my "adult" years back in Lebanon, first in Greentree (21) with Jarrod and then the Whitmans, then on Broad St (22) when that all fell apart, and finally on Walnut St (23) next to Big Bertha's for the second attempt at fraternity style living. Then, old age -- next on to Green St in Harrisburg (24) until the move to Chicago -- first in Logan Square (25) and NOW in Wrigleyville (26).
Let me tell you, instead of falling asleep, all that happened next was memory upon memory popping off in my head like those rooms they use to explain nuclear reactions (the ones with the mousetraps and the ping pong balls) ... and then I briefly glimpsed insanity when I thought maybe I should count all of the places I've actually laid my head (summer camp, vacations, parties, after-parties, after-after-parties, etc.).
In a spirit of complete acquiescence, I then just started counting sheep, having learned not to rock the count-the-item-to-fall-asleep boat.
WHERE DID COUNT THE SHEEP ORIGINATE?:
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/103375.html
NUCLEAR REACTIONS AS VISUALIZED WITH PING PONG BALLS AND MOUSETRAPS:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORqc1x3_Evg
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