Delirious Laughter

8 Comments

I’ve been running around a lot this summer, feeling like I am being pulled in way too many directions at once.  It happens to everyone at some point, and a lot of it is because of my own inability to say no, so I am not complaining.  Besides, I like to be busy! 🙂

Unfortunately, one of the side effects of this is that my brain keeps going even when I want to just go to sleep.  For the past several weeks, I have slept between 20 minutes to 4 and a half hours a night.  Ah, insomnia (which my mom made sure to let me know I got from her–via Twitter, in the middle of the night.  Thanks mom! Couldn’t you have given me your pretty blue eyes instead? 😉 )

My husband can always tell when I have hit my limit, and I just desperately need to get some sleep.  I hit it Saturday evening.  We were watching TV, and he said something –I don’t remember exactly what, but I do know he was expecting some empathy.

He didn’t get it.

Instead, I started laughing uncontrollably.  Two hours later, I was still laughing, for no reason other than sheer exhaustion.  I laughed until I had a side sticker, and even that didn’t stop me.  Eventually, I laughed myself to sleep.  On a positive note, it is much better than crying to sleep.  🙂

Hubby kept telling me I sounded like Laffing Sal.  For anyone who isn’t familiar with Laffing Sal, she was an early animatronic character for funhouses that–you guessed it–laughed hysterically.  She was creepy!

As a kid, my family spent a week or two in Ocean City, MD every summer.  At the end of the boardwalk sits the Lifesaving Museum, home to a fully functioning Laffing Sal.  My dad insisted on going to the museum every summer, despite the complaints from my mom and I.  And, every summer, I would get freaked out by Laffing Sal.

Of course, not as freaked out as I got from Large Marge from Pee Wee’s Big Adventure! I was seven when we went to see the movie on a daycare trip, and I had nightmares for weeks!

On a positive note, I was asleep by 11 p.m. on Saturday, and slept for seven and a half hours.  Not only was that a big improvement, but I didn’t dream of Sal or Marge once! 🙂

Do you break into fits of laughter when you are overtired, or is there some other way that the people who know you best know you need sleep–STAT? Have you ever seen a Laffing Sal? Do you remember Large Marge? What gave you nightmares when you were younger?

8 thoughts on “Delirious Laughter”

  1. Tami Clayton

    Glad to hear you finally got some sleep. When I’m overtired I tend to get an odd burst of manic energy right before the crash. That’s how I know it’s coming. It’s like my body tries to drain itself of every last drop of energy and then I can let go and sleep. I like your way better. 🙂

    Reply
    • S. M. Nonnemacher

      I think the laughter is what drains me of all that energy, although there have been times where I gotten a burst of energy, too. I ended up sound asleep in the middle of a half-cleaned house. 🙂

      Reply
  2. livrancourt

    Laughing yourself to sleep sounds like an entertaining way to go. I hope you got more sleep Sunday night, too…and maybe a nap on Monday…
    😉

    Reply
  3. Cora Ramos

    I felt tired just hearing about your too-few hours of sleep before the crash-or laugh fest. If I push with too few hours, I will get a bit light headed and get the giggles for sure. But mostly I slide right into a sleep state with little effort. Hope you stay rested. There is nothing more important for your writer brain than getting enough sleep.

    Reply
  4. Barbara Forte Abate

    My family would be so appreciative if I was an exhausted laugh-er when overtired, rather than the bad-tempered ogre that normally crawls into my skin to growl and chew nails. Not being able to sleep when you’re running on empty is absolute torture and I hope those 7 1/2 hours you finally managed to capture are the start of many more restful interludes.

    Bahahaha! Large Marge! A classic!

    Reply
    • S. M. Nonnemacher

      My husband says it is like I am drunk. I am not a big drinker, so it only takes 1-2 drinks before i start to feel it. A little bit of alcohol, and I tend to get giggly really quickly. Unfortunately, when I am over tired, the cranky me comes out a few hours before the giggly one, so my family doesn’t get a reprieve!

      Large Marge seriously terrified me as a kid–I had nightmares fro weeks! I watched the clip yesterday before posting it, and I have to say, she doesn’t seem nearly as scary as I remember her!! 🙂

      Reply

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