Sorry Romney, Obama and Leher But I Value My Sleep

I know that you have been plagued all day by the burning question of whether I watched the first of the 2012 Presidential Debates.

The answer to that is……

NO!

And that isn’t because I don’t love politics and/or don’t care about politics. Ask HHBL what I think about politics. I love them.

And it isn’t because I don’t care about the issues that are so important in this country. I have DEFINITE ideas about that. And I am glad to discuss them….but not on this blog generally. In person, face to face is a much more exciting way to discuss politics.

You see, I value my sleep. I slip into bed at night and unwind from the day and my mind needs to be able to slowly power down. Sort of like a wheezy old computer with an aged processor.

And that is why in 2008 I instituted my “No Politics After Eight PM” rule. I found that I was yelling at the TV at 10:30p and then I was fuming for a long time after that and I wasn’t sleeping. I was fuming. I needed to take drastic measures. “No Politics After Eight PM” was that measure. And it has been one of the best things that I have done for myself in recent years. That may sound silly to you but it is true. Crazy but true.

It doesn’t matter what kind of political story it is. If it is something that “slants” the way I slant or if it slants in the other direction….NPAEPM!. It doesn’t matter if it is a news program that makes me what to yell, “That’s right! You tell them. You are right on track with that!”…..NPAEPM! Or if it is a news program where I want to throw a shoe at the TV and curse out all politicians and their slimy politics…….NPAEPM!

If it happens after 8pm then I am not watching it.

NPAEPM also applies to extensive reading on the internet. I cut that off as well. And the radio. No NPR after 8p unless it is classical music.

And really, I can read ALL about what was said, even watch the debate in it’s entirety the next day. The talking heads and pundits have gone over it and parsed it and thought about it and debated it and written about it by the time I get up. They have done all the work and I can reap the benefits…………. sort of like a government hand out only without all the paperwork.

And so, the first debate started last night at the crazy time of 9pm. Sorry Jim, Mitt and Barak but I had to miss it because I really wanted to get a good night’s sleep.

I will admit that I did check out what was happening on Twitter just to get a “sense” of what was going on with the debate, monitoring from afar as it were. That was as close as I got, laying in bed and watching the tweets come in at a rate that was faster than I could possibly read them. I looked for a while and then put the iphone down and read a book.

And I slept very well.