Normally around 8 pm local time, I start surfing and visiting new blogs and blogs in my blogroll, looking for fresh new content. I just can't do it tonight. I am waiting until the "weirded out" feeling leaves me. I just can't concentrate on what I'm doing. It took me all day to do minor changes to my blog theme, something that normally takes me just minutes.

It all started on March 26th.

I have to give you a little background on my sleeping habits before I jump into this so you can understand where I'm coming from. When my wife and son are both asleep by 10 pm, I'm still awake. I'm writing, reading, web surfing, and whatever until usually between 3 and 4 am. Then I sleep for 4 to 5 hours and start my day again. I sleep soundly in my sleep of the dead, so 4 to 5 hours is plenty for me. I generally have breakfast between 8 and 10 am each day, so I'm enthusiastic and energetic for most of each day.

My computer desk is against the north wall of my bedroom, next to the door. I have a speaker sitting between the desk and the door. I keep the door jammed against the speaker to keep my fan from blowing the door back and forth. I don't have a door wedge and when I'm at a store it never comes to mind. From the vantage point of my desk, I can look to my left and see the outlets on the wall, the bathroom door in the north wall, and the Venetian blinds covering the window in my peripheral vision. I can look to my right and see the upstairs hallway and the second flight of stairs in my peripheral vision.

On March 26, I wrote Atheism Versus Religion in which I asked a few questions. Nothing life-altering or ground-shaking, I can assure you. The comment discussions were mature and thoughtful, not like the flame wars you see on many social sites. That evening, when everyone else was fast asleep, I kept seeing movement in my right-side peripheral vision. It was like someone coming up the stairs. I turned my head each time and there was nothing there.

This has happened every night since then, including last night. Two nights ago was the worst occurrence. I saw movement in the peripheral vision of both sides. The clincher was last night, but I have to digress for a moment.

You see, since first night, I have felt like I'm being watched constantly. Do you ever get that feeling? It's the same feeling you get when your standing in a room, facing one direction, and someone comes up behind you noiselessly. You turn around, not because you heard something, but you could just "feel" that someone was watching you. That is exactly how I've felt every single day and night since the 26th. During the day, I keep turning around because it feels like someone is in the room with me. I even started talking once, the way I do when my wife enters the room sometimes, to find out that I was talking to no one.

Last night, along with all the unusual sightings and feelings, something else happened. I went downstairs to make a cup of coffee, which I customarily do when I know I'm going to be sitting behind the computer for a while. I have a built-in cement and granite-topped breakfast bar that's perpendicular to the northwest back door (there's a kitchen door at the northeast position). I put my coffee cup down on the counter and opened the back door to allow the cooler outside air to blow over me. It's humid and it takes longer for the house to cool down at night than I care for, even though all the downstairs windows are open (with the screens closed).

Another digression is in order. There are no lights on behind my house. There are two street lights on the south end that blanket the front of my house pretty well. My mother-in-law's house, which is right next door and to the right side of my house facing west, has a porch light on every night. A next door neighbor on the left, on the other side of the creek, has a light on that hangs from a tree. You'd have to see it to believe it. The point is that my back yard is not dark at night due to the collateral light.

Back to the topic, last night while I was standing there feeling the cool breeze, something unusual happened. I was looking to my left at the neighbor's yard because there were two puppies wrestling over there. A light came on from over my right shoulder that seemed to come from the light bulb that is on the northeast overhang of my roof. The light bathed the area directly next to my door as it would have done had that light bulb been on. I turned to my right and looked directly at that bulb. It was off. I thought my son might be awake and playing with switches upstairs, in the spare bedroom where nobody lives right now. I ran up there as quickly as I could. No one was in the room. I checked on my son. He was in his bed in his bedroom, snoring like he always snores. I went back to my own bedroom and my wife was fast asleep. So who turned that light on and off? Was it that light bulb to begin with? I was unnerved.

I have been in this state of mind all day today. I questioned both my son and my wife, accusing them of messing with me. Neither had any idea what I was talking about until I explained what happened. So, even after a good night's sleep, going to the former naval base to shop for things, and returning, I am still officially "weirded out". I do not know how long it will last. I will attempt to do the things I customarily do tonight although I'm sure it is going to take me much longer to do so.