About five minutes or so ago I took a small dose of herbal melatonin, to use myself (as is often the case) as an experiment in finding aids to sleep given the fact that my mind tends to race and I have a hard time winding down at the end of a night or winding up the next morning, which tends not to be conducive to healthy sleeping patterns (as can be commented on by many people no doubt, given the timing of this post, for example). So, one might consider this short entry to be a bit of a race against time, as I wind down and try to finish my thoughts, to see whether sleep or completion wins this particular race [1], in the hope as well that something reasonably sane and well-thought will end up being written while this race is going on. We shall see, I suppose.

Today was a fitting end to an exhausting week, as I spent most of the evening relaxing and involved in some pretty serious conversation, as is often the case. For a variety of reasons, I had the opportunity to help fill in the gaps of knowledge and try to put some puzzle pieces together to examine the underlying patterns. As someone who has a great love of strategic conversation and an unerring instinct for complication, it was pleasant to enjoy witty banter as well as serious thinking. I greatly appreciate my friends for being good sounding boards as well as being full of sound and thoughtful analysis as well as a great deal of patience about the sort of strategic problems that I wrestle with in the course of my life. I hope I am at least as patient with my friends as they are with me.

As might be expected, the fact that I spoke long and loudly, as is my fashion, made it so that I had to return home late at night with hardly any other insomniacs on the road with me. This was probably for the best, though the one time I encountered a cop on the Sunset Freeway he zoomed past me looking for a more interesting insomniac to talk to, which was fine as far as I was concerned. When I returned home I found a long-awaited book on my front door to read, which deals with the issue of theodicy, also known as the “problem of evil.” This is a problem I wrestle with a fair amount, which is not too hard to understand, I suppose. That said, about the only thing I want to wrestle with right now is my pillows and sheets in a well-deserved sleep. I suppose it would be high time to do that now.

[1] As might be imagined, this is a common race:

https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2013/04/28/asleep-at-last/

https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2013/03/28/i-should-be-sleeping/

https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2013/02/21/robbers-of-sleep/

https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2012/09/08/sleep-is-for-the-weak/

https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2014/03/14/its-a-nowhere-road-and-im-tired/

https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2014/01/24/some-dance-to-forget/

https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2013/12/21/so-happy-together/

https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2013/11/26/remember-who-the-real-enemy-is/

https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2013/11/17/there-is-no-substitute-for-time/

https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2013/10/30/some-nights-i-call-it-a-draw/

https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2013/08/15/breathe-2-am/

https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2013/05/17/you-have-the-right-to-remain-silent-but-not-the-ability/