As a kid (and to this day) I had a tumultuous relationship with sleep. When I was five or six I had an ancient portable t.v. set in my bedroom. It had an antenna and a radio dial which I could manipulate to receive a very limited handful of channels in black and white on a six by six inch screen. Due to the finite options my t.v. offered I watched Jeopardy on it every night at seven, Wheel of Fortune at eight, and then ghost stories or "stranger than fiction" type shows until maybe ten o'clock. Although given the selection presented by cable I may have favored the Disney channel over tales of tortured spirits I absolutely adored having the shit scared out of me nightly before bed, and especially before I awoke for kindergarten at Catholic school. But any ways, I didn't sleep. I watched dramatizations of demonic possessions and abductions by aliens late into the night, in seclusion and privacy.
When my parents realized some months later how late I was staying awake watching television they took the set out of my room. I haven't had a tv in my bedroom since, more than ten years later.
But I still didn't sleep, so to take up the three hours between bed time and when I finally felt I could close my eyes was Harry Potter. The first book I can really remember reading was Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, and I remember LOVING it. I also remember thinking it was the most massive thing I had ever seen, and that it was immensely impressive.
Eventually my parents realized yet again that their six year old was calling it a night some time around eleven, so they periodically grounded me from Harry Potter. I found nothing to fill time with then. I just remember lying in bed, staring at the ceiling and trying to think of as many different things as I could so that I would forget that I was trying to fall asleep.
When my parents realized some months later how late I was staying awake watching television they took the set out of my room. I haven't had a tv in my bedroom since, more than ten years later.
But I still didn't sleep, so to take up the three hours between bed time and when I finally felt I could close my eyes was Harry Potter. The first book I can really remember reading was Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, and I remember LOVING it. I also remember thinking it was the most massive thing I had ever seen, and that it was immensely impressive.
Eventually my parents realized yet again that their six year old was calling it a night some time around eleven, so they periodically grounded me from Harry Potter. I found nothing to fill time with then. I just remember lying in bed, staring at the ceiling and trying to think of as many different things as I could so that I would forget that I was trying to fall asleep.
