I'm a Rock Band vet, but compared to the locals, I am the suck at Guitar Freaks and Drum Mania. Especially Drum Mania. I need to bone up on my beat-beat technique. Fortunately, the local arcade is close to the train station that is currently the focal point of my existence, so opportunities for practice are plentiful. Apparently, my first "song to beat" is cover of a Whitesnake song. Yeah, remember Whitesnake?

In the still of the night, I hear the wolf howl, honey, sniffing around your door...

So apparently, Ikea is going to rescue me from my uncomfortable sleeping situation. That's right, Ikea. A few days ago, I had a rice mattress malfunction, and my sleeping setup is currently ghetto rigged like no other. I'm pretty sure it's partially responsible for my wake-up time creeping later and later every day this week. The local Ikea's having some kind of crazy sale on mattresses, so I and another of the instructors (who has been sleeping on a stack of rice mattresses) are going to take advantage of said offer. Also, free delivery. And some of those rancid meatballs.

Cool.

Long story short, I gave rice mattresses a try. My synopsis: it's kinda like sleeping on a couch--short term, it's okay, but after a while, back spasms become your new alarm clock. I suppose if you've been sleeping on them from Day One, you get used to them.