I often complain about how not being able to sleep is very annoying, but sometimes I think otherwise.
There are times when I think that laying on the bed in the semi-darkened room of the dormitory is really nice. Especially if there's rain outside. At those times, I curl up and cover myself up to my lips, listening to the small drops of water hitting ocasionally the window and the sound of the wind, like the eerie lullaby of an otherwordly creature. But instead of it making me restless or frightened, it makes me feel warm and protected by these four walls that I've come to think of as my second home.
And while I lie awake, I like thinking about a conversation I especially enjoyed, my friends, my family, a story I just read, my plans for the weekend, tomorrow... I think about these without any rush and, if I'm lucky, without worries.
I guess this is one of those little pleasures of life that you can only enjoy if you stop thinking about your work or studies and about how every minute you stay awake is a minute closer to the repetitive scream of your alarm clock beating your brain.
(I found this when looking for a photo that would suit the blog)
It had to be Japanese...
Every shojo manga (Japanese comic especially aimed to young girls and centered in love stories) worth its salt has, at some point of the story, a scene in which the sweet and oblivious main character shyly lends her lap to the boy she likes because he is ill, injured or just a lazy ass who wants to sleep.
Besides this, the fact that some crazy Japanese company had the guts to make this kind of pillow, makes me wonder if it is some kind of national romantic fantasy or a scientific fact that people's laps make others sleep better.
Maybe I should try one to see if it helps me with my bad sleeping habits...? LOL! Although, I don't know... personally, I find these a little creepy...
Changing the subject, I thought it'd be nice to add to these entries some quotes related to sleep, to make it funnier. Of course, I won't take those words into account for the minimum of 4000 words I have to write in the blog :) .
So, the first one:
“No human being believes that any other human being has a right to be in bed when he himself is up” – Robert Lynd.
This is my real first “I can't sleep” blog entry so I thought it'd be a good idea to talk about the probably most loved sleep-deprived character of the film industry. The thing is... no one knows his name.
I'm talking about the nameless narrator and protagonist of the film Fight Club, performed by Edward Norton.
Fight Club shows the story of an everyday man who lives alone, with no family nor friends, and works for an automovile company.
He suffers from imsomnia and so, because of a comment from his doctor (who is fed up with him saying he's suffering), he goes to a group therapy for men with testicular cancer. Eventually, he becomes addicted to these therapies since they help him cry and, consequently, sleep.
In these sessions, he meets Marla Singer (Helena Bonham Carter), another “tourist”who goes there for fun, and has to divide the therapies with her because her being there makes him unable to cry and then sleep.
Later on, he meets Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) on a bussiness flight, a man who makes soap for a living. They talk a bit and Tyler gives him his telephone number. When the narrator gets home, he finds his apartment blown up and asks Tyler to meet him to talk. After a few drinks in a bar, they get out and Tyler offers his house for the narrator to stay, the only condition is that he has to hit Tyler as hard as he can. They start fighting and after that, they go home.
They keep on having these fights outside the bar and it starts to attract other people who want to participate, so they start the fight club, lead by Tyler. As time goes by and the members start becoming more involved, they create an anti-materialist and anti-corporate organisation, in which all the members have to do some “homework” without asking questions in order to complete the Project Mayhem, planned by Tyler.
At the same time, Marla and Tyler become sexualy involved and because of that relationship, the narrator and Marla also have to deal with each other.
What is Project Mayhem about? Why Tyler and Marla are never seen together in the film? Who blew up the narrator's appartment? What's Marla's role in all this?
Fight club is one of the most interesting and original films I've ever watched. And even thought reading reviews or watching the trailer may give you an idea of a commercial, free-violence film, it's nothing near the reality. It actually deals with themes like consumerism, growing up, disapointment with society, and real freedom.
So give it a chance, it's really worth it.
EDIT: I'll try to upload the videos I wanted to show here as soon as I can ¬¬ I hate blogger right now.
Well, hello, my name is Isabel Alabau and this is the first time I've tried to do a blog, so I'm not quite sure of what I should be saying in this first entry.
Maybe I should start saying (just in case someone happens to find this on the Internet by chance) that the entire blog will be in English since this is a work for my English class in my Translation and Interpretation degree in the “Universitat Jaume I”. Meaning, this is not my first language so please go easy on me, I know I'll make stupid mistakes.
Nevertheless, my brother, who helped me make this account, expects me to use this as a real blog which others can see and enjoy, and that's the only reason why this page isn't completely plain white and has a decent titol. Although I'm not sure I'll give this page to anyone apart from my teacher Justine... I guess it depends on how it will develope and if I'm not too ashamed of what I write.
First of all, I chose 'I can't sleep' as the title for my blog because I'll probably write it at night to kill time until sleepiness comes to me, even though I might update what I write the next morning or something...
I don't know what I'll write about... I guess that it'll be a mix of films, books and songs I like, like a lot of other students, but I'll try to make it a little different so that reading it to correct it won't be too boring.
All that said, I'll end this first entry here. And I'll try to make the next one a little better.
