I've been having trouble getting a good night's sleep lately. It's not because I'm not tired at night, but because I'm catsitting, and the cat likes to get up and scamper around in the middle of the night, scratch on things, and occasionally sit on my head. It's also because I have been leaving my windows open at night, and no windows in paris have screens, and although I thought there were no mosquitos here, I was wrong.

last week I tried to sleep through the buzzing insect sounds around my head in the middle of the night. That was a mistake. I woke up with a fine collection of bite marks on one side of my face and neck, and on the back of one hand and arm...all the parts that were exposed during the night.

I learned my lesson. The next time I heard the buzzing, I got up, turned on the light and went hunting. The bite marks weren't from a mosquito, it turned out, but from some type of biting fly. I was happy to find it and get rid of it.

I thought that closing my window before I went to sleep would fix things, but last night I heard buzzing again, so I woke up...then I felt something under the covers next to me. Great, there's a bug there too. I got up and turned on the light, and lo, there's a mosquito on the wall, but there's a *mouse* on the bed, in the warm spot I just left!

After a little chase, the mouse, which apparently knew the way into the room, but not the way out, was caught by the tail, and awarded a new home on the roof of the office building in my courtyard. I showed the mouse to the cat, but she seemed quite uninterested. Figures.

In all the commotion the mosquito got away, so I'm sporting a new hicky this morning at work.

I hope life in your bed(s) is less adventurous.