a night of gluten-induced insomnia
I had a fun Sunday, despite the bad weather. My girlfriend and I made good on a pact we made during breakfast on Saturday and set off for a walk at 7am. It was humid outside and we were sweating profusely by the end of it, but neither of us minded because we had a surprise staring contest with a young male deer before he shoot back into the wilderness just as I was readying my camera! After our walk, we were productive and stayed out for a majority of the day. While out, I wasn't keeping track of my gluten intake, and before I knew it, I was home with a terrible stomach ache. The stomach ache in question kept me awake all night. But I've never been very good at just sitting around waiting for sleep to come for me, so here's what I did instead.
I mostly spent more time messing with my new favorite book-tracking app, Fable! I merged two of my custom lists separating my favorite books by genre into one because I realized there were a few standouts that didn't really fit into the genre categories I laid out. Plus, I like staring at long lists of my favorite things, so it seemed like the natural thing to do. I also poked around other user's accounts and followed people with similar tastes! Though I mentioned not liking (or rather not seeing the point of) the feed-style homepage on Fable in my last post about it, I've been able to curate it more to my liking by following more people. Now, it seems to show more updates of the people I'm following (what they're reading, adding to lists, etc) than random posts by moderators or authors.
Once I got bored of staring at a screen, I decided to start a new book! Though my last read, Evocation by S.T. Gibson, left a bad taste in my mouth (read my review here), I was excited to start One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig because a long distance friend recommended we buddy read it together! She had actually already read it and was planning on a reread, as the book is part of a duology and she needed a refresher before continuing onto the second book. I was more than happy to oblige, since the dark fantasy elements and unique magic system sounded right up my alley!
"Still, it was the first time I stopped fearing the Nightmare-- the voice in my head, the creature with strange yellow eyes and an eerie, smooth voice. Eleven years later, and I don't fear him at all. Even if I should."
Even though I started the book at around 2:30am and was probably half delirious, I really enjoyed the first chapter! The character work and world building Gillig was able to fit into such a short yet effective chapter was mind blowing, especially considering the total snooze-fest I just finished reading the day before (yes I'm still salty about it). I didn't get very far into it, though, because my Cody decided it was time for cuddles and making biscuits on my lap. He's been obsessed with getting under the covers recently, so much so that I'll find him laying in my bed under the blanket even when I'm not there. He was probably very pleased to see me up at 3am, because he crawled right into the blanket beside me and didn't let me do anything but pet him for an hour. Given the stomach ache, which was starting to take a real toll, it was a welcome distraction. He was like a fluffy hot water bottle.
After some more reading and scrolling around on my phone, I finally got some sleep around 4am. This morning, I've been reading more of my book and getting some rest with the other kitties beside me. Thank you, dear reader, for joining me in my recount of a night of gluten hell. I'm never touching a flour tortilla or croissant again.