Afternoon Delight

My motto's always been...

Starland Vocal Band's song has been a frequent flyer in my house for the last several days. Just not in the way you might THINK. Get your mind out of the gutter!

I'm talking about an afternoon NAP! I've been taking one nearly everyday this week, being completely EXHAUSTED after the day's work at the office and walking back to my car. I think it has something to do with the intense heat, but whatever is causing it, when I get home, I start falling asleep in my knitting chair, and end up heading for the bedroom for a little snooze--say an hour or even two--getting some much-needed rest, apparently, before I go on with the rest of the day, and either blogging or checking Ravelry--even Facebook gets a little look-see before I turn in for the rest of the night.

Why wait until the middle of a cold, dark night?

I mean REALLY now!? Does sleep have to be done only when it's dark outside? I find that darkness does cause me to feel sleepy. With the bedroom drapes drawn tight, though, I can sleep at ANY time of day. In fact, I just took a two-hour nap, and it's nearly sundown, and the drapes are drawn--and I'm YAWNING!

Of course, Afternoon Delight is a song about knocking your socks off at lunchtime. Trying to keep it a little p.c. here, people. The song came out in 1976/1977, and it was one of the albums that I purchased when I was in college. I played the VINYL RECORD (some of you might not remember those) over and over until the needle on the turntable was worn with use, and EVEN TODAY--some (mumble mumble) years later, I can still remember the entire song, and sing along when I hear it on the retro stations.

Imagine that? Me? Retro? HA!

And of course, at the tender age of (mumble mumble), I didn't really understand that the song was about doing the horizontal mambo. I was just SO naive when I was a youngster. The song was done on the television show GLEE! recently, and it brought back all sorts of good memories. The gang I used to hang out with, the friends I made beyond my core group, and the relationships that came and went. Sigh, that was a good year.

And lest I turn about and spin onto a rant about how my parents decided that they couldn't afford to pay for my subsequent years at college, and how that resulted in my NEVER obtaining even an Associates Degree for myself--ah--oops. It was a difficult time, and I was TERRIFIED of going into debt and not be able to find a job to pay it off. So the issue was dropped. I did TRY to go to school part time, only to find that my likes and dislikes had now become too varied to settle down to one thing that could only bore me to death after a few weeks or months.

For I am only temporarily satisfied doing any one job for any length of time. After a few weeks, I'm ready to move on to something different--bigger, better and pay more more more. And more recognition in the form of promotion. I think in terms of stairs....level out for a while, then climb. Level out for a while, then climb. I'm an upwardly mobile sort. Too long in one thing and I stagnate and become very cranky. So a career probably wasn't a good choice for me anyhow.

My dream was to have a motor home and travel all over the United States, stopping here or there, obtaining some obtuse waitress job--work long enough for a tank of gas, and then head out for parts unknown, taking pictures and making friends all along the way. Of course, the reality is that at 6 miles to the gallon in a motor coach, $20 in gas doesn't get you very far at the price of gas THESE DAYS...but who knew that the price would go so high when it was only $0.50 when I was a youngster? Who knew, indeed.

And so, I'm a stay at home, go to the office, work a day, sleep a night, who has integrated a little "afternoon delight" into my day...just later on...Maybe I need the nap to deal with my feeling of boredom? That could well be. But I get restless when I get bored, and that is not conducive to naps or sleep.

Whatever. I still like a nap when I get home from work. Of course, it does make me restless when I lie down to go to sleep at night...and that's why I take a sleeping pill! Still there's just no way that I can let go of my afternoon nap.