Late-Night Hodge-Podge

So, I haven't been sleeping well lately. Sometimes the sleep I have is fine, it just takes me a long time to get there. And sometimes, after I eventually get there, the sleep is filled with bizarre dreams or interrupted by random wake-ups or just otherwise not very restful. But mostly I've been having issues falling asleep, because of the (not-so-)random thoughts that keep rushing through my head that just WILL NOT STOP!!! You know the ones. It happens to all of us. I mean, I know I tend to over-think things, but I'm sure that even non-over-thinkers have been kept from sleep by those thoughts.

Sometimes they're completely random, like your brain has ADD. More often they're nagging worries of some sort. Mine aren't worries, exactly. Just . . . thoughts. Mostly centered around a particular subject that I'm not going into right now. I should be able to talk about it soon. Not that I CAN'T talk about it now, I haven't signed a non-disclosure agreement or anything. I just don't feel like getting into it while things are still up in the air.

Yes, I know. I'm pissing everyone off by hinting and not explaining. Normally I wouldn't bring it up at all, except it's the reason for my not being able to sleep right now. Although I guess it's still not necessary information. Okay, let's start over:


Guess what . . . I can't sleep tonight! Crazy, huh?

So, since I can't sleep, you get a random bullet-point blog post. Yay!

* . . .


Well, this is how I meant to start this post, except now I distracted myself and can't think of any of the bullet points I was going to use. Blargh. I can't even do an insomnia-induced blog post correctly.

Hmmm . . .

Well, all my favorite shows have started up again, I guess I can talk about that. I've watched the premieres of The Office, Castle, and How I Met Your Mother. The Big Bang Theory premiered tonight; Pat and I will watch it online tomorrow (well, later today). I enjoy all of these, but I think I'm most excited about HIMYM, probably because we are getting closer and closer to the climax of the entire series.

I actually went back and watched the pilot episode today on Netflix. It really strikes me as just being a great pilot. I mean, it's a great episode all on its own, but it really does a great job as a pilot. It establishes what's going to be the arc of the show, it establishes all the characters, and even though it "spoils" itself right off the bat by letting you know Ted and this dream girl are not going to end up together as a couple ("And that, kids, is the true story of how I met your Aunt Robin." "Aunt Robin?!" "I thought this was how you met mom!" "Would you relax, I'm getting to it. Like I said, it's a long story . . .") it just sets a great stage for all of the upcoming adventures.

But the character thing is, I think, what I love most about it. They NAILED all those characters, and they really don't change much from how they're originally presented. If they do change, it's an organic change, the character's growing. Barney, obviously, grows quite a bit. I totally buy him as the single-minded womanizer of the beginning, and yet it still feels real later when he starts to let himself have relationships (including the one with his father). Robin, it's harder to tell what is character growth, and what is just her revealing more of herself to the group as she gets closer to them. Ted is set up from the start as the hopeless romantic, from his "seeing the girl across the crowded room" moment (which Barney abruptly ruins), to his monologue toward the end of the episode. And then Marshall and Lily as the couple who've been together forever. They've matured as well. But they're still, ultimately, the same people.

To compare to Friends (because why not), Phoebe was originally deemed just a little TOO out there, so they start to dial her back pretty quickly. She's still quirky, just not quite so kooky. Ross is a COMPLETELY different character in the early seasons compared to the later seasons; he goes from being a dorky, sort of uptight guy to being . . . well, completely ridiculous. And part of that can be attributed to the change in the show itself. Monica also becomes pretty exaggerated in later seasons, but not quite to the same extent.

And then Rachel and Joey change as well, but those do feel more authentic. Joey's transformation is similar in many ways to Barney's. And Rachel's journey from spoiled rich girl to independent woman is one of the major arcs of the show.

Well, it's 1am, I've been typing for a while. I actually might be tired enough that my body will fall asleep before my brain can do anything to stop it.