Writer's Block: Nightly Rituals

I think I should go back to having my laptop beside my bed so that I can just get up and start writing first thing in the morning. I always have a lot of brain activity that I'd like to release by doing something other than just lying there daydreaming.

I guess I could just write about my dreams...?

But I'm going to do this writers' block stuff for a little while.

I'm not very good at following my bedtime routine...or any routine, really. Which is odd, considering the possibility that I have Asperger's or inattentive ADHD (or both). I'm very good at following routines given to me by other people! :D?

Maybe because I want to impress them...? And the routines I do for myself are only for myself, nobody else cares. Hmm. That reminds me of something I read somewhat recently (and probably talked about here). Oh, I remember! It was something on Steve Pavlina's blog. Something about humans being social creatures who are motivated more by social rewards than personal rewards that nobody outside ourselves cares about.

Anyway, here's my IDEAL bedtime routine, or my general nightly routine. Usually, night times are gaming times, and I recently picked up where I left off in Okami after finally getting bored of Dragon Age 2. I'll be honest, I think the only reason I'm bored is because of the type of Hawke I chose to play; if I were to restart Evangeline, I'm sure I'd be lost in that world again. However, I'm taking any chance I get to sneak away from DA2 for awhile and finish up the other games I never finished.

I should introduce you guys to my new Hawke...NO NO NOT NOW. MAKE IT STOP. Pretend I never said anything.

Ideally, I want to be in bed by 11-ish, or at least before midnight. The consequence of not doing this is waking up late the next morning! The consequence of that being I lose precious hours of my daytime, and I'm already so easily distracted and take so long to be productive (and recently have been an absentminded space-case, as I have ranted about several times) so I really want to utilize as many of my daylight hours as possible. If I don't, I end up feeling very displeased with myself.

I randomly got the idea of doing everything as though it were a ritual...oh my god I had a dream about witches, I have to tell you later. I just remembered.

WHY AM I TAKING SO LONG TO WRITE THIS. It must be all that excess morning brain activity.

On good nights, I'll remember to force myself to stop at a certain time, and on bad nights I'll keep playing and lose track of time until I'm sleepy, and it's 1 or 2 am. Lately, I've been hitting somewhere in-between, happening to notice the time around midnight and going OH AFDJKAF;JK I NEED TO BE IN BED OR I'LL SUCK TOMORROW.

Then I will brush my teeth, sometimes do things like floss or wash my face, and throw on PJ's before jumping into bed if I'm not already wearing them. I've gotten into the habit of putting them on before game time to make it easier for myself to stop and go to bed. It does kind of work, which is cool.

That's pretty much it.