Why Youtube is Essential to the Living of My Second Childhood, or "Buffy Darling's Adventures in Slumberland"

At 4:17 in the morning, the options for entertainment are limited. (This, of course, is my tactful way of saying that there is piss all to do.)

Lately the already-elusive sleep faerie (far less creepy than the Sandman, yeah?) has been avoiding me like the plague, so i've been forced to entertain myself for hours on end:
- i've covered crafting, which i normally need a break from after half an hour due to either posture or eyesight concerns.
- i've covered reading, but again if my eyesight is wiggly then all i end up with is a headache, not to mention the list of books that i would allow myself to read alone in the semi-dark in the wee hours is a very short one indeed...
- i've covered the Wii, but damned if half of those games aren't akin to running a marathon! i don't have that sort of energy these days...
- i've certainly covered trying to talk myself into going to sleep. (You see how well that plan works? Mmhmmm.)

My current favourite strategy is hunting down all the best children's movies on Youtube or Netflix. i don't mean Peter Pan (though god forbid anyone ever insinuate that there is an occasion the Pan is not appropriate for. i will cut you.) but more obscure titles.

"Little Nemo's Adventures in Slumberland" is a classic. Who doesn't love a flying squirrel? "FernGully" is precious, and isn't nearly as scary as my 8-year-old self once believed... John Denver's original Christmas special with the Muppets is really for any time of the year, especially when you're trying to forget the 80 degrees outside your own window. "The Argon Quest" is one i'm still searching for, it involved Muppet-like puppets and live actors, and i think it was made by Feature Family Films.

But i think Sesame Street's "Don't Eat the Pictures" is one of the best. The Sesame gang gets locked into the Met, and Big Bird helps the ghost of an Egyptian prince become a star in the sky. (Cookie Monster takes a page out of my book and focuses on not eating everything in sight.) It does leave questionable lyrics floating around in your head for some days after, though...

i know i'm far more excited than i should be about Sesame Street. Blame it on my wonky blood pressure, but i still don't think there's anything better to do at 4:42 in the morning. ;)

postscript:: After careful Googling, research has shown that "Don't Eat the Pictures" was a PBS special aired half a decade before i was even born. If i were a normal person who knew how to get to sleep at times like these, i'd have never stumbled across that little gem. Dysautonomia: forcing posterity to expand their generational knowledge.