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XXXVI: The Nocturnal’s Struggle of Waking Up Early / Notes to Self XVI

If you have been following The Diary lately, you should know that I’ve been making gradual changes in my life. One of those changes is waking up early for work—ideally at 8:00am. I did just that on most workdays after ToyCon 2025, and there were times I even woke up at 6:00am. (That’s a feat for a nocturnal person like me, and even my family is shocked by the fact that I woke up before they did.)

Now it’s beyond the middle of August 2025, and I admit that I haven’t really been waking up as early as 8am lately… and that’s fine.

(Buckle up because this is going to be a long post.)

Song of the Moment XC: Air Supply’s “Two Less Lonely People in the World”

Air Supply’s “Two Less Lonely People in the World” (one of my favorite mellow songs ever) is my Song of the Moment—and it’s not because I’m listening to it repeatedly. It’s because of a few lines from the chorus that got stamped in my mind all day.

XXVII: Just One Jack & Coke Zero

Since last weekend, it felt like a season finale and a season premiere. My heart feels like it has been healed like never before, and I want to make a few changes in my life slowly but surely.

One of those changes is this… moving forward, instead of drinking at least one Jack & Coke Zero on the rocks every Friday or Saturday night (depending on whether I have extra work), I will just drink one Jack & Coke Zero on the rocks every Friday or Saturday night. Just one.

For the past years, I have been drinking my favorite cocktail to numb myself and then wake up the next day feeling groggy. Tonight, I’m savoring every sip from that one glass to celebrate the small victories every weekend.

For example, what are this week’s small victories? Well, firstly, I finished most of my work on time. When I couldn’t finish a task, I told my bosses directly instead of keeping it to myself. I stopped myself from buying things impulsively. I made time to write more in my offline journal, but I also found a way to make the process more efficient. Also, for the first time in a long while, I blogged three times this week. (And this post is this week’s post number 3. Yes!)

And most importantly, I’m drinking because I’m still here. I’m still fighting. That’s a victory already.

Just one ice-cold glass of Jack & Coke Zero per week is all I need from now on.

Mark my f’n words,

The Deranged Writer

Header image: Ron Lach of Pexels. Edited in Adobe Photoshop 2025.

Published on June 21, 2025 at 11:50pm. Minor edits were made at 11:54pm.