Early to bed, early to rise ... too early

My life is like that painting. If you click on it, you'll get a closer look. Notice the single lit window?

As you can probably tell from some of these whacked-out post times, my sleep schedule is basically non-existent. It seems I'm used to getting my sleep in two- or three-hour chunks. The only problem, those chunks don't last the hours I need to be awake. It's been going something like this: I'll finally get off to bed at 4 or 5 a.m. I'll have to wake up for class only a few hours later. I make it though class OK, but in that time between class and work, I'll hit another wall. It's so convenient to take another two-hour nap before work. After which, I'm fine and awake through my shift. When I get home from work -- anywhere from midnight until 2 a.m. -- I'm not tired again until, you guessed it, 4 or 5 a.m.

There are those rare nights, however, when I can get to bed early ... or at a more "acceptable" time. Tonight, believe it or not, was one of those nights. I got home from work rather early -- just before midnight -- and managed to hit the sack by 1. However, since I've been used to getting my sleep in small chunks, here I am at 4 a.m. wide awake.

Obviously, I realize it's my fault. If I could just forgo the nap for a few days in a row, I'd probably break the cycle, right? The only problem is that I can't really afford to be groggy at my job. I can't take a day and hide in a corner cubicle. It's not that my job is one of the more demanding on the planet. It's just that grogginess leads to mistakes. And when your mistakes get into print, it's not good. Anyway, my sleep habit is but one thing I really need to change about my life. There are a few others (and some I've already started).

We'll go with the lucky seven:
1. Drink more water, less soda (I'm drinking water right now, actually).
2. Get to the gym more. I have free afternoons (when I'm not napping), so I have no excuse.
3. Eat less crap (today, I had a nutri-grain bar, apple, McAllister's sandwich ... and pizza).
4. Read more (I'm taking classes, so that's taking care of itself).
5. Write more (and I'm not talking about work/class writing).
6. Spend less $$ (that's a tough one, I eat out too much).
7. Buy more groceries, take own food to work (see above).