Back of the Envelope

I had a rather sleepless night on Sunday. This happens every once in a while, and I hate it, but it's hard to avoid. I guess I have a sleepless night once a month. Generally, when I'm having trouble sleeping, it comes in stages:

1. There's an initial reason for my sleeplessness. I'm not always aware what it is, while sometimes it's obvious. Last night it was mostly temperature. Right now Boston's hovering between hot and cold, which makes it difficult for me to get comfortable, as I can never decide whether I need a blanket or a fan or both or neither. For some inexplicable reason, both seems to work best, but it didn't work last night.


2. After about an hour, I get frustrated at my inability to sleep. This gets me wound up, which makes it even harder to sleep.


3. After another hour, I give up trying to sleep and get up and do something, usually read or websurf, hoping to wear myself out.


4. After another hour--and yes, it really is three hours since I started--I try to go to sleep again.


5. If I'm lucky, I actually fall asleep. If not, I return to step 1.

And yes, I do sometimes try medication to help me sleep. I took some melatonin on Sunday, but it didn't help. I ended up getting a total of three hours. Fortunately, it was a holiday, rather than a workday, so hopefully, it won't strike on a workday anytime soon.

I don't believe I know Jane Park, but I've hung out with the Harvard Graduate Christian group with which she was involved, so it's quite possible I've met her before. At least one of the pictures I looked at seemed familiar. She's been missing for about three weeks now. I know that only a small number of people who read my blog actually live in the Boston area, but every eye helps. From the Cambridge Chronicle:

Somerville Police are asking the public for any information about a missing Berkeley Street woman who has been missing for about two weeks.

Jane Park, 23, who graduated from Wellesley College in 2004 and attended classes at Harvard University last fall, has not been seen or heard from by her family since May 5.

Park was preparing to start graduate school in the fall, and was about to fly to Maryland for the summer when she went missing.

The picture I'm including came from the Missing Person poster. I don't know how recent it is.