I know that head line sounds bad, but it is actually a good thing!

I should clarify that China wasn’t all bad, at least as far as my time there was concerned. I was sometimes annoyed, bored, and variously worried about things at the time, but now that I am at the end of it, alls well that ends well.

My time in China followed a set of patterns. I got there and had no friends. I didn’t see anything working out with my colleagues in terms of a social life. I started watching TV after I finished my late work shift and usually falling asleep on the couch. After that, I started waking up earlier and earlier in the morning. A 3am wake up became my norm. But instead of going back to bed, I started using that time productively. It worked out for the best, fairly often. At some point later, I started going to a local watering hole at night. People started to follow me there. Eventually, evening plans became a thing. Then they became a nightly thing. Then drinking became a problem, but by the time this happened I was so set in my morning schedule that I was still waking up at 3am regardless of how much I put back the night before. Life was good, just not for my liver.

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, and I woke up this morning at 3:41, feeling fresh as a baby. I didn’t need more sleep. I lounged in bed for a bit and then got out of bed at five. As I write this, it is 8:50 in the morning. I have read two short stories, a chapter of a satire, written two blog posts, folded my laundry, drank a coffee, made lunch, cleaned house a bit, practiced some Greek, wrote a journal entry (weak, but it was there), and I still have 25 minutes before I need to leave my house.

I feel fucking great. I think this is what I want from life. If I can do this for a few months, get into a good grove, I will be more than happy to start going to watering holes at night.

This is the kind of routine that I need!