I've spent the last hour answering e-mail and then sorting out financial stuff; it was looking pretty bleak there for a bit, but some odd money turned up here and there, including a random anthology payment from Thom Roche, presumably for some book I was actually in, but I'm honestly not sure which. I'm not complaining, though! Looks like I'll be okay for the trip to Europe; I can sort out the rest when I get back.
Unless I suddenly get struck down by exhaustion, I think I will just stay up, run some errands this morning. I suspect by lunchtime I'll be ready to come home for a nap, or even several hours of sleep; that's fine. Heck, it doesn't really matter if I switch over onto that schedule entirely -- it'll probably make it easier to cope with the transition to Zurich time. :-)
I'm feeling much calmer, now that I've actually done a few of the items on my mental (and physical) list. A few of the little blinking lights have been turned off; I suspect my tension levels are down, though my shoulders do still feel rather remarkably tight. Apparently, my subconscious thinks going to Europe is a big deal, and worthy of lots of planning, worry, and stress. I doubt I'll be able to convince it otherwise in three days, so it seems better to just give it what it wants. Doing task after task, quietly and calmly, checking them off the list. Maybe then I'll be able to sleep properly.
In the meantime, I'm glad to be home, for a bit. Honey ginseng tea for now; in an hour or two, some rice and curry for breakfast, accompanied with some good Ceylon tea, rich with milk and sugar. That'll carry me through the morning, I think. The last time I went to Sri Lanka, I never quite adjusted to the time change; I tended to wake up at 4-ish, go down to the hotel restaurant and have tea, write a little, wait for breakfast of rice and curry to be served, while I watched the sky getting brighter.
I love the early mornings, when the day is full of possibility. It's easy to forget that.
It may be better for ones body, health-wise, to sleep on a regular schedule; but I always feel that it is better for the mind and spirit to be awake at different times on different days, and experience all the different hours on the clock when awake, at least sometimes. Hope your trip to Europe is wonderful.