The New Year Isn't Even 24 Hours Old...

...and I'm already kind of tired.

To tag onto what I was saying about being well-rested the other day, when I DO get enough rest, the instant I DON'T get enough is so noticeable it's almost laughable. I get cranky, and angsty, and restless without having the energy to do much about any of it. It's really not too bad today, but as we close in on the evening, I can tell it's happening.

And what, pray tell, would cause poor sleep here in Apartmentia? Why, it would be the radiators. No, not the radiators. Except for the one in my bedroom, which is too big for the room, it really isn't the fault of the radiators, even though it is they who crank out the heat that wakes me two or three times in the night. Nay, they are merely the slaves of the Evil Prince Thermostat.

Now come on, I hear you say, that's an easy fix. Thwart Evil Prince Thermostat and turn him down. Turn back the temperature, even though the outside temperature is in the single digits. Isn't that plain old common sense?

Well, yeah, it is, and it would be my first choice if Apartmentia wasn't merely an archipelago in the larger chain of domiciles that is this house. The house is heated by one steam boiler in the basement, which goes to all of our apartments. It is controlled by that cruel dictator, Evil Prince Thermostat. His rule is not democratic. One thermostat controls all four units. And Evil Prince Thermostat resides in his own lock-and-key controlled kingdom. I may have a master key for the whole house, but I do not have a key for that particular little cottage. (We shall blame this on Laughing Boy, in the next unit over. He had a way of turning the heat up to about 80 last winter, when he thought no one was looking.)

Still shouldn't be such drama though, don't you think? I mean, set the thermostat for something relatively comfortable and put on a sweater if you need to, right? Wrong. Evil Prince Thermostat's fiefdom is IN THE HALLWAY. The WIDE-OPEN HALLWAY. The too-damn-close-to-the-FRONT-DOOR-HALLWAY. Which means, the hallway is always colder than any of our apartments. And when it is particularly cold, as it has been the last few days, the hallway is more like a cold storage unit. Which means Evil Prince Thermostat tells the boiler to stay on...and on...and on...despite the fact that our actual apartments are verging on the tropical. When you can SMELL the radiators, you know there's a problem.

My only solution so far is to open my front door (which is three feet away from Evil Prince Thermostat) and let the cold air from the hallway flow into Apartmentia, and the Santa Anna Winds blow out onto the Prince and warm his little fanny. It's just enough to get the boiler to kick off for a little while. Not a bad plan during the day. A horrible, terrible, nasty plan at 2:00 in the morning when I wake up with a bloody nose because it's so hot in my bedroom. And again at 3:00. And maybe again at 4:30.

Pray for temperatures in the mid-twenties and up, please, friends. A girl needs her beauty sleep, after all.