Sleepytime

Sleep [sleep] to take the rest afforded by a suspension of voluntary bodily functions and the natural suspension, complete or partial, of consciousness; cease being awake. Synonyms: nap, doze, dream, snooze. Antonyms: waking, consciousness, college.

Here I am, writing a post in the middle of the night. The epitome of college, right? Staying up late, passing out from exhaustion in the wee hours of the morning, and then waking up twenty minutes before your first class. E'ery day of my life. You'd think I'd just go to bed earlier. Nah. There's too much to do! Also, I'm rarely tired at a normal "bedtime".

I am the most tired around 2 in the afternoon, so I take a lot of naps. Whether willingly or not. Sometimes I'll be studying and fall asleep in my chemistry homework. Or I'll start to nod off in class. Or I'll tell myself that I can take a 20 minute nap... And wake up an hour and a half later. Other times I'll be eating lunch and then just pass out and I'll wake up with my face in my Ramen. (Okay, that one's never actually happened. Even the seduction of sleep can't take me away from food.) It's just so hard to stay awake when you're supposed to. I'm pretty sure I'd do better as an owl. I could stay up all night and sleep all day.

Yesterday I heard two teenage girls, probably about 15 years old, chatting about their sleep schedules. To simplify this conversation, let's call them Loretta and Abigail.

Abi: It is WAY past my bedtime.

Lori: It's like 9 o clock!

Abi: Yeah, I try to get to bed around 8. (Here I almost choked on my water. 8 o clock? The day has barely begun!)

Lori: Are you serious? (Seriously.)

Abi: Yeah... When do you go to bed?

Lori: Normally around 11.

Abi: How do you stay up that late? (Really? How do you NOT stay up that late?)

Lori: It's easy. What are you going to do when you're like, in college and have to pull all-nighters and stuff?

Here they went out of earshot, and I was finally able to laugh. I found this conversation immensely amusing. My favorite part? "What are you going to do when you're like, in college and have to pull all-nighters and stuff?" Trust me, honey, when you get here you'll understand. You won't want to sleep.

Grades > Social Life > Sleep. We have priorities, people.

It's interesting to see how my relationship with sleep has changed throughout my lifetime. When you're younger, you fight naps and sleep like a knight fighting a dragon (P.s. What do dragons call knights in shining armor? Canned food. Ha!). Now, I love sleep. It's a weird paradox. When you have it, you don't want it; when you want it, you can't have it. Here's how I see it:

When you get old and decrepit, you will become a baby again, in more ways than one, including the fact that you will sleep all the time.

Well, it's getting pretty late. I guess I better go lay in my bed and try to fall asleep. I'm exhausted now, but as soon as my head hits the pillow I'll be wide awake. Oh well. I'll just lay here trying to fall asleep. And thinking of scenarios that will never happen in my entire lifetime (you know you do it too.) Goodnight, world, and sleep well!