Bill Holbrook gets it exactly right

Absolutely accurate:

Sleepy Apes We Are

I didn't get any writing done yesterday. I'm not sure why. It was just a day to do no writing, I guess. Unusual for me; maybe I'm going through a bit of a dry spell. I've false-started Reservationists IV twice now. I'm making a third stab at it, giving the protagonist a roommate with which to catalyze and antagonize her a bit.

I got home to find riverheart and charlesks packing up some of the stuff from his bedroom and packing her truck. I'm grateful that they're working on returning our sewing and crafts space back to us, but really, guys, don't do it when you're so sick you can barely stand! Both of them were coughing up a lung here and there.

After a dinner of delicious ham casserole (which Omaha was sure she'd botched but turned out great, but Kouryou-chan didn't eat) I uploaded the Lord of the Rings: Return of the King trailer to the household fileserver so Omaha could watch it. Then we wandered over to the hospital for Omaha's overnight sleep study. She's been looking forward to this for months, so she can finally find out what's making her restless at night and denying her the deep sleep she needs.

"Hi, I'm Mike, I'll be your technician for the evening." Mike is a tall, scrawny, somewhat disheveled guy who looks like he belongs on a night shift. He gives Omaha a form to fill out while he goes to get the equipment they'll be using for the night. We notice the window. It's completely black, making us wonder if it's a real window or just something to decorate the room and make us think it's an ordinary room. We try the window, and it opens.

Then, we notice, there's no way to close the window. The handles have all been removed. Being the apes that we are, we begin an series of desperate attempts to close the window. We try everything to hook the frame-- my keys, the body of a toothpaste container-- until finally Omaha wraps some dental floss under the lower corner and manages to pull it close enough that the latch takes.

Kouryou-chan quickly exhausts the room's interesting items and is becoming jumpy and obnoxious just as Mike returns. She gets a little freaked by all the wires and sensor belts so I take her for a walk. We go out to the receiving room, where she amuses herself with the fishtank. We go back, and Omaha is all wired up bodily; they're just putting the electrodes on her head. We decide that it's time I took Kouryou-chan home.

I got her into her jammies and fed her the last of her dinner, then read to her. Although she was vocally quite negative about the whole affair, she did everything I asked, and ultimately went to bed on time and without complaint.

She did climb into bed with me around 5:30, and I lived with it until it was time to get up. I cleaned the kitchen then roused Kouryou-chan, who was very objectionable but finally woke up enough to confirm that oatmeal would make a fine breakfast. So I made a batch of oatmeal (yummy!) and got her dressed, and we went and retrieved Omaha.