Insomnia? Who cares?

I just had an epiphany about insomnia. I don't care anymore if I fall asleep. Why? Because I always survive whatever the next day brings, regardless of having eight hours or two hours of sleep. I can tell it will probably be a two or three hour night.

So I'm grabbing a book, and viewing it as found time for reading. I suspect I'll fall asleep around 5:00 or so, and be up by 8:00.

I've learned that three hours of sleep is enough to function on. And I don't say that sarcastically--it's just the facts, since I've done it myriad of times in the past few years.

It's Done!

I've decided that I've reached my entry for the cake competition. After over 20 cakes, more than three six packs of Guinness, two and a half bottles of Irish Cream, countless eggs, several bottles of vegetable oil and who knows how many bags of flour and cartons of cocoa powder, I'm finished.

I have studied countless recipes, read about ingredients and learned about what goes into a great cake, and ultimately modeled my cake on what has worked for others, and in so doing, have learned more about what I need to do to produce the kind of cake that I want. When I saw the quote below of Thomas Edison, I realized that this must be what successful pastry chefs do all the time, and why I think I finally have my entry.

"Keep on the lookout for novel ideas that others have used successfully. Your idea has to be original only in its adaptation to the problem you're working on."

I'm putting this one to rest, finally. I can start thinking about something else now, and it's perfect timing. I'm off to California on Saturday, and I'll have two weeks where I'm not thinking about anything other than enjoying myself and enjoying California. I'll have ten days when I get back to make the cake a couple of more times, to take a photograph, edit the written recipe and write my blurb about the cake.

But for now, this chapter's closed, and oh, what a relief it is.