all-nighter tips

is it 4:30 am? do you still have work to do? is your head nodding as you struggle to maintain consciousness?

I know how you feel. I've been there. I AM there. right this moment.

I needed that "second wind". that burst of energy to carry me through to the finish. do you want to know how I did it? do you want to know where it came from?

do you?

do you really?

because it will work for you. it did for me.



it's called arachnid.
on your bare leg.
with the appearance that it crawled out from UNDER your shorts leg onto your thigh.

you will jump.

you will feel a jolt of energy.

you will leap from your chair, swat at your leg and jump around.

you will reach for the nearest paper product to squash the eight-legged violator.

and you will have the creepy-crawlies, the itchies, for hours to come.



citizens, you will make a noise.

I yelled. it was not a mild-mannered exclamation. it was many decibels. not caring that my husband was asleep in the next room. not caring that it was 4:30 in the morning.

citizens, he did not stir.


my husband is deaf in one ear and OFTEN sleeps on his good ear, thus tonight muffling the shouts of his wife in distress. when he is fully present in the land of the living, if he hears me stumble in the shower (come on, it's slippery in there) he comes RUNNING, worried something terrible has happened.

not tonight. I was left to battle the demon spawn by my lonesome.


have no fear, for I crushed it.






and now I'm wide awake. and you can be, too!

arachnids.
adrenaline.
they both start with the same letter.