‘Sleep’ing with Max Richter: Month 5

In two weeks, I’ll be seeing Max Richter live, and I cannot believe it, y’all. It’s gonna feel so surreal. I listened to the two albums he’ll be conducting on my way down to Canton, Ohio. There are some pieces from “The Leftovers” as well as the incomparable “On the Nature of Daylight”. Eeeee, I can’t wait. I still have to buy some hankies, because I know I will cry.

But until then, I will continue to listen to this playlist every night when I fall to sleep. (and after then too)

The Playlist:

Out of Town “Sleep”-ing

And, yeah, I listened to this playlist every single night when I was out of town. I was slightly nervous about it, but the soundproofing in my hotel was solid. Once I realized this, I didn’t give it a second thought.

I also didn’t get through the full album a single night, though. I stayed up writing this blog, and my brain wasn’t used to doing writing thinking at that time of day, so it took me longer than normal to ramp down. And I had to get up to a schedule, which I am not used to. I still get up at the same time relatively each day, but I don’t have to, you know? I really am very lucky in that regard.

All that aside, I got solid sleep scores. My worst days were any and all travel days, but that is to be expected, because that is when my brain is most spinny.

Pre-Sleep Watch Ritual

Here is a thing I do every night that I want to tell you about for some reason. See? I am faster at my nighttime stuff than Mickey is, so I’m under the covers, galaxy lamp (and playlist) on about 10 minutes before him.

What do I do with those ten minutes? Well, I play on my watch. I say play, but really, it’s like, extremely neurodivergent playing. Here is what I do (and it is in the same order of steps every single night):

1. Check the weather.
   • We often sleep with the windows open, so I like to be aware of what the weather is gonna do that night.
2. Read the news in the little news app on the Apple Watch.
   • I marvel at the lack of information that is shoved into such a tiny space.
   • The headlines are trash and the lil descriptions are pointless.
   • And I can’t click a link to open a story to read it in full.
3. Check the stocks.
   • Do I own any stocks?
     • No.
   • Am I thinking about buying any stocks?
     • Also no.
   • Then, what am I getting out of this?
     • I do not know, but I guess I take comfort in the rhythm of the ups and downs.
     • I look for patterns, and the most notable pattern I noticed is that stocks that have anything to do with human enjoyment are often in the red, and those that have everything to do with corporate greed are in the green.
     • Two years ago this would have been too depressing for me to do, but this is proof that I’ve done massive work on my mental health, because I am able to just observe, say, ”huh” and move on.
4. Look at my photos.
   • Every night there are two curated albums.
     • One rotates and has recently seen such titles as:
       • In Bloom 2024
       • Food and Drink 2025
       • Snow Days
       • Fall Colors
     • The other is my “Featured” album, which is 10 photos from my camera roll that my watch thinks I should see.
       • Spoiler alert: every single day there is a photo of a squirrel butt.
         • It is the same squirrel butt.
         • This is the only photo that does that.
         • I do not understand this.
5. Check out the Night Sky.
   • I open the app and move my wrist about and see what’s happening in the sky.
     • I click on the things to learn more about them.
     • I get excited when a planet is in view.
     • I love the stars.
     • Always have.
     • Always will.
6. Random searches in the App Store.
   • This one feels embarrassing for some reason.
   • Here is what this looks like:
     • I will look up to random words. Sometimes opposing, sometimes similar. Here are examples:
       • Boy, Girl
       • Knee, Elbow
       • Fat, Skinny
       • Night, Stars
     • Then I will look for patterns in that data.
     • I never write any of this down.
     • I just get relaxed looking for them.

Then, by that time, Mickey has arrived, and we’re off to dreamyland.

Sleep Scores (and Dreams)

• Highest sleep score: 100 (!!!!!!!!!)
• Lowest sleep score: 65
• Average sleep score: 85.8

Previous Month’s Scores

• January:
  • Highest: 97
  • Lowest: 52
  • Average: 91
• February:
  • Highest: 99
  • Lowest: 42
  • Average: 88
• March:
  • Highest: 100 (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
  • Lowest: 47
  • Average: 85.77
• April:
  • Highest: 96
  • Lowest: 56
  • Average: 85.4

Here are some dreams I remembred well enough to write down:

• We were watching a movie filmed in Allen Park. It was not a good movie
• I was sharing bikini videos on BeReal.
  • Not sexy ones, just swimming ones.
• Creating outfits that made me look like a candy bar.
  • My most successful one was Mounds.
• I lived in the old red house in Lawrenceville, Georgia, and was in the middle of planning a Leo luau.
• We were under attack while out and about, then when we got home, some dood was there to “take over” our house. He put up a sign that said something like “Antarctica Freedom League”.