look around, choose your own ground

Something woke me up an hour before my alarm this morning. I was in a very deep sleep at the time, and in the resulting fugue state, I thought I was in my own bed. I was very still so my dog wouldn't hear me wake up, and then something in my brain realized that it was way too dark to be my own bedroom (which has lousy curtains and is on the list of things we're remodeling this year) and I remembered where I am.

Years ago, when I traveled a lot to promote Star Trek, I'd be on these multi-city press tours that just kicked my ass, and I frequently woke up with no idea where I was. I started writing down the name of the city and putting it next to the bed, hoping that it would stick in my brains overnight, or at least get rid of that momentary feeling of panic when I'd sit up and wonder where I was. It was awfully weird to feel that way this morning, because I haven't thought about it or felt it in a long, long time.

I couldn't fall back to sleep, so I made myself some coffee, opened up my curtains, and watched the sun spill its light across the condos and trailer parks below me, as it climbed over the casinos on the strip.

I read the paper (how quaint) while I drank my coffee and looked out on Las Vegas, bathed in the cool blue/grey early morning light that I saw at the end of too many days for my own good during the 2006 World Series of Poker.

By the end of the 2006 WSOP, I really hated Vegas (five weeks here will do that to a normal person, I guess,) but I enjoyed myself yesterday, and I'm actually looking forward to shooting our stuff today, and then scouting around the show floor for at least one really cool thing that's currently sitting below the radar.