Walking4Air

Picture found here

It is 3am and I am fast asleep.  So fast asleep in fact I’m in the middle of the most delicious dream.  Roused awake into a fast motion half sitting position – something is beeping crazily.  Through the darkness I turn quickly to the alarm pad to see if there is movement in the house. The only blinking light illuminated on the key pad is from the room I am in. The beeping drones on making a huge racket, shattering the night-time silence. In my dazed and half asleep state I finally realise it is my watch. For some crazy reason my alarm on my watch is going off. It is 3:02am.  Seriously, who sets their alarm for the middle of the night?

Ok, apparently me!

I push every conceivable button on my watch to make it stop.

Suddenly, silence.

I sigh deeply. Place my watch back down on my pedestal next to my bed and lie back down hoping to fall back into that deep sleep and continue my dream where I left off….

That was two night ago.

Fast forward to last night.

It is dark and the house is silent and I am fast asleep and once again I am roused by a beeping that seems even louder than the night before. This is ridiculous! I instantly grab my watch lying next to the bed and push buttons frantically in the dark to make it stop. It’s 1:42am. The beeping goes on, almost seeming to grow louder and louder, ringing through my ears.  It won’t stop. In hope of making the racket stop I shove the watch in my hand under my pillows.

The raucous noise continues.

My pillows fail and act as a pathetic silencer.

It makes no difference whatsoever.

I pull it out again and push the buttons again.

The light of the watch keeps going on, illuminating the time.

Something I really don’t need to see.

Suddenly, it hits me like a bolt of lightning. It is not my watch making the noise, it is my house alarm. A quick, sharp turn of my head, I squint my eyes in the dark trying to focus on the alarm panel mounted on the wall.  I realise, with a fair amount of horror, one of the lights in the house is flashing. My heart begins to pound in time to the beeping. I spring out of bed, literally, turn my light on and check what section a possible intruder is in my house. It’s the garage. For some stupid reason I grab my car keys and push the button to make sure my car is locked. Above the beeping of the alarm, I hear my car lock and the alarm sound to let me know it’s locked. The light on the key pad stays illuminated. The beeping continues to squawk madly. Is someone in the garage? Are they trying to break into the house?

I stood there for a moment, my thinking ranging from did I lock the garage door to did I lock the interleading door to the house to how did they get in? I seriously do not need this kind of excitement at 1:42am when I have to be at work in a few hours.

Then in the middle of the madness I think to myself I really must stop watching that “Park Avenue” series right before bed. That series could cause your mind to seriously wonder, especially at night when strange things are happening and possibly strangers are in your house! I found myself standing there thinking I just hope whoever it is doesn’t have an axe. Oh well, at least I am not in the shower!

I finally manage to stop the insane beeping.

I don’t quite fancy tip-toeing through the house in my skimpy summer pajama’s to check either. I think I’m over reacting if I call the police. So instead I sit back down on my bed and listen and evaluate every single sound I can hear.  A creek in the roof. The wind in the trees. A branch taps on the glass window. Then silence.

After a few minutes I feel happy that everything is okay in my home land and I turn off my light and climb back into bed. I lie facing the alarm pad, eyeing the section that will light up if anyone is still walking through the house.

It stays dark.

Slowly, I begin to fall asleep again.

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.

It’s screeching.

It is so freaking loud.

It’s like someone is standing next to me blasting it right into my ear.

Make it stop!

I literally fall out of bed to see what section is now activated.

This time a different light is illuminated.

The light that tells me the alarm is off.

Some people might panic here and call the police, thinking wires had been cut to the alarm with evil lurking. Scenes from “Park Avenue” briefly cross my mind again.  Then before I completely freak out I walk to my bedroom door, pull it open and peer into the dark passage beyond my bedroom door. I take a deep breath and walk out into the darkness to my study and turned on the light. Everything is exactly where it should be and no one is lurking. I walk over to the far wall, bend down and pick up a plug and push it into the wall socket.

The beeping stops.

I slink back to my room turning off the light behind me, silently scolding myself for unplugging the alarm plug earlier and not putting it back in. Grateful no one was wandering around in my house, I creep back into bed feeling exhausted with the sound of the ringing still coursing through my ears.

Picture found here

I woke again this morning, the light of the day already coming through my windows, one whole hour after my morning alarm had gone off. No doubt as I slept and the beeping began to wake me up, I no less than ‘bashed’ it to off, not caring that it was a work day and completely ignoring the fact that it was time to get up. I made it to work only 5 minutes late. Thank goodness half of South Africa is still on leave and I had no traffic to contend with.

Here’s hoping tonight will be silent and I can get a full, uninterrupted night of sleep.

I so badly need it.

Feeling a little bit worse for wear today.

My eyes are heavy and I feel like I’m squinting at everyone through slits in my eyelids.

But it’s a new day and a new year so no time to waste.

Oh and on that note, Happy New Year everyone!

It’s been a busy year for me so far, I spent five crazy days at an outdoor music festival over New Years, came home to move straight into my new house and still find myself unpacking! I am not online yet at home, I’m working on getting this up and running but it has been a comedy of errors so far and that is just a whole other story.

May 2013 hold happiness, excitement, peace and adventures for you all.

May it be filled with love, hope and laughter and dreams come true.

I don’t know where this year will take me, but I’m ready for whatever is about to unfold in my world.

Make it your best year yet, I know I’m going to!

P.S. For those wondering what happened after I wrote Statistically Speaking, I passed both my Research Methodology (stats) exams that I wrote in November last year with results I have still have no idea how I managed to get especially after they do negative marking ~ but in the end the ‘how’ I did it is unimportant (ok I did study till the cows came home), but all that matters is that I DID IT!

One year down…. One step closer to my dream!

Hello 2013!!