So: it’s 5 AM and I can’t sleep. And what do I do on nights when I can’t sleep? It depends.

My first line of defense is to turn on my bedside lamp and radio, get the book I typically stash beside my pillow, and hopefully read/listen myself to sleep. At this time of night, the CBC often plays foreign news documentaries, which can either be incredibly interesting or incredibly depressing.

Assuming this doesn’t work, I normally head to the basement and sit at my laptop, or get a notebook and write down my thoughts on/future goals about freelance work. For the past few days, I’ve been downloading programs like crazy (hello Open Office and Adobe Creative Suite 4!), and trying to learn about setting up my own database for clients, including contact information, quote information, project information, invoice information, etc.

Yes, I’m trying to teach myself how to use a database program. Yes, worrying about invoicing keeps me up at night. When did I get so old?

This morning I remembered that my mother had an old copy of Simply Accounting 2004 sitting around and thought that maybe instead of teaching myself Open Office Base, I should just use SA instead and save myself some grief.

Then, of course, I installed the program but found out I couldn’t register it because I had no idea what the “Client ID” was – most likely my mom was provided one when she registered it herself, and now I have to wait until I’m home and she’s awake before I can rectify this.

All because I can’t sleep, even though I’m thoroughly tired. Sigh.