Almond, beechnut, cashew

Almond, beechnut, cashew...

When I can't sleep, I play head games.

I started doing this in high school, during debate season. We'd compete on Friday nights and all day Saturday, and during the night in between I'd lie awake, brain still on hyper-drive and nerves still jangled, worried about who I'd have to debate against the next day. Since I have always loved word games, I started forcing myself to play the alphabet game.

Margaret Atwood, Judy Blume, Truman Capote...

You know the one, pick a category, any category, and start with A. Some nights I'd go several rounds.

When I got better, I'd fall asleep by K.

I had another game in my repertoire, the one where you start with a topic, like licorice, and see what word/phrase pops into your head, like, makes-my-jaw-hurt, and keep going and going... headache, sleep, can't sleep, stupid debate, I can't believe we lost that last round... but you can see why the game sucked: it always led back to whatever I was trying to escape.

Auburn, Burnt Sienna , Chestnut...

Now, many years later, I've gotten quite good and have exhausted the list of potential categories. And making up creative categories, like "things that make me happy," doesn't work.

My favorite was the time I got Husband in on the game and we played smoothie names.

Alohaberry Luau, Banana-rama ding-dong,,Choco Making Me Crazy...