Saturday - Daysleeper

I see today with a newsprint fray
my night is colored headache grey
don't wake me with so much
daysleeper
...
ocean machine is set to 9
I'll squeeze into heaven and valentine
my bed is pulling me
gravity
daysleeper

These lyrics are selected from REM's "Daysleeper". I have never gone digging around for the full intended meaning of the song, but it's one that rattles around my head alot while working long night shifts. It is an entirely different world that runs silently along while most other people are sleeping. It's very easy to begin feeling disassociated with reality when you work there. This song popped into my head again today as I was struggling up from the couch to go out and take down the flag. Though I have been away and not subject to those 3 am callouts for a few weeks, I did not sleep well last night and was very happy when my day was at last over. I took an unintentional snooze on the couch in front of the TV once off shift, making it very difficult to get back up again and see to the rest of the off-the-clock "stuff" I had yet to do. Amazing how gravity seems to increase on the truly tired. In these situations it always seems like there is something pressing in on me, and I have to work hard at acheiving escape velocity. Often nights when I am working I feel that pull toward the sheets, wishing that I could just go doze off for an hour or two. Sleep becomes the ultimate luxury. Going back on a night shift after a period of dayurnal activity makes the whole world fuzzy. For me, that "headache gray" exists in the period of struggling to stay awake and alert while attempting to readjust against the body's natural sleep rhythms. The world becomes confused a bit - I am there but not there. It is always difficult at first. There is that sense of unreality, for sure. Now, as I am a bit fuzzy at the moment from my little nap, I think I will head back and see what else I can get done before my bed starts calling me again.