Freddie Krueger Has Got Nothing On CNN

Fifteen to twenty minutes is exactly how much time experts recommend you take a nap. It's just enough time to leave you refreshed, but not so long that you enter a deep sleep, which can leave you groggy. It's just right. I was thinking about this last night when, after fifteen or twenty minutes of sleep, my lovely wife woke me and asked me to check on the Princess.

Now I don't begrudge my wife for this. I've said before that this is one of my duties, and while not my favorite, I accept it. So I got up, checked on her, and tried, very unsuccessfully, to go back to sleep.

Last night, it was partially the perfect nap causing this, but mostly it was the television being on. Ordinarily I can ignore whatever she's watching and got to sleep, but last night, some joker on CNN made that an impossibility. See, he was ranting and yelling about how the House defeat of the federal bailout bill, and subsequent drop in the market was going to affect everyone in America.

Essentially, he was trying to convince us that we were all screwed.

Now, I'm ordinarily immune to such FUD tactics. I know it makes a good story. I know it get's people energized to act, even sometimes on stupid things. I don't listen, because the person spitting this stuff is emotional, and thus irrational.

Unfortunately, when I'm half awake, it can get in. So after a few minutes, I was laying there with a ball of fire in my stomach, convinced that everyone I know and love (me included) were all going to lose everything they had. I panicked over my friends who can't get jobs. I panicked over my relatives potentially nearing retirement. I panicked over that clause in every car loan and mortgage that says that the bank can demand to be paid in full at any time.

I ended up getting up and having a drink. I tried to watch television, but I was too emotional. I started crying. I cried when I though about all that I've lost this year. I cried when I though I might not be able to help those that I love. I cried when they pulled Spiderman back into the train and those two kids gave him his mask back. At that point, it became clear that I was having an over-emotional response and I calmed down.

I still didn't get back to bed until midnight, and I have no idea how long it took to sleep after that. I ended up in my usual forum, making snarky remarks, reading random jokes, playing a wonderful choose-your-own-adventure zombie movie (NSFW or mother-in-laws). I got my perspective back. I'm just mad that I let it get to me at all. I know better. For all the panic and terror that they can spin, people are adaptable. We'll get through.

Unfortunately, this does mean I'll be putting off some much needed home renovations, but hey, we're all tightening the belts, right?