Ready for, and in control of, total darkness

As of yesterday, I'm a new man.

Yeah, I know you've heard that one before, but I'm a new man with drapes, or, I guess, with curtain panels; either way, I own a set of opaque indulgences, hung, and, um, ready for action.. though it makes me wonder who or what I'm hiding from, behind this new and heavy and Jacobean fabric. I, of course, remember quickly enough: I've been forever trying to escape from the light.. that is, when I'm trying to sleep (and nothing more sinister than that). You see, I am surely sensitive to the sun in both positive and negative ways.

The thin blinds that have been on the windows in my room reduce the light coming in, but when it's daytime, you know it's daytime; it can still be somewhat bright. And, as such, a quality 8 hours of sleep often eludes me, unless I've gone to bed at 9 or 10pm - a rare occurrence, especially when I'm enjoying the nighttime vices of the city. It's not that I can't sleep "in the daytime" when I'm tired, it's just that it needs to be completely dark in the space where I'm trying to do so.

For example, last time I went to the Art Basel and NADA art fairs in Miami - yikes, it's been a couple years now! - I got awesome sleep, even as we would go to bed with the sun fully up and folks already heading to the beach for a morning tanning session. The drapes on the large windows at our hotel blocked 99% of the sun coming in; and with the digital clock turned down, flat on its face - another (minor) source of light begone! - you *really* lost all sense of time. Waking up at 8am, noon, or (in this case) 4pm: they are basically all the same time of day from the perspective of your body.. an hour in which you wake up fully rested. A new day of art and inebriation (and skinny-dipping) is upon you!

So it seems that with my latest apartment upgrade, I'm fully in control of my waking life here in San Francisco, insofar as it is affected by the amount of sleep that I get on a daily basis. You see, my new curtains can be closed and my bedroom made ironclad against photonic attack. And if last night's 10 hours of blissful unconsciousness is any indication of future success, I'd say things are looking, well, bright.