As of late, my sleep schedule has been in complete disarray due to a few recent unpleasant events I have been through as well as a number of current issues on my head. But last night - it reached epic proportions.

I was sleepy around 9:30pm last night and decided to call it an early night, so I went to bed. After what I thought was a full night's sleep, I woke up and saw that, according to my alarm clock - it was only 11:42pm. Seeing that I still had a full night's sleep ahead of me, I rolled over and tried to go back to sleep - but instead tossed and turned until I finally fell asleep - at about 5:30 in the morning - one hour before I had to get up for work.

I have had bouts of insomnia before - but they were never this bad. There are times I have had trouble sleeping and slept like a baby after taking a sleep aid - but not this time. This time, I have tried Tylenol PM, Celestial Seasoning's Sleepytime Tea - and even red wine - but still managed to remain awake anyway.

Thanks to my ridiculously hectic life, my body is used to only four or five hours sleep a night. The problem I have with this most recent bout of insomnia is that not only am I not getting my usual four or five hours - I am getting only one or two - and they are spread out over an entire night. In other words, I sleep for an hour, wake up and toss and turn for three hours, fall back to sleep for another hour, wake up and toss and turn for an hour and a half, and then fall back to sleep for forty-five minutes until my alarm goes off. So while I may have at least gotten almost three hours sleep - that very much needed sleep was separated over eight hours. That is not good.

The problem with insomnia is besides not sleeping - it causes irritability, lack of concentration, fatigue and a really screwed up schedule. With my life as psychotic as it already is, I do not need the side effects of sleeplessness to gum up my works. Just trying to be Paul Wein is tough enough - but trying to be Paul Wein with no sleep is a true nightmare.

As I crawl into bed tonight with the hopes of getting some much needed shut eye, I will try some old techniques that have helped me over the years. From listening to soft, relaxing music, to drinking warm milk - to resorting to Nyquil as a last resort - I am determined to get the sleep I need and not allow insomnia - or the reasons for this most recent onslaught of it - to keep me awake in the wee small hours of the morning.

But if nothing winds up working - I could always get a night job.