Naps: part of the devil's toolkit.

Due to my erroneous poly/biphasic sleep cycle, there are times when I cannot take any naps in order to refresh myself. Usually, I go to class on 3 hours of sleep, and on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I am able to take a late morning/midafternoon big nap (3-4 hours). But what about the days when I need to attend some sort of event that occurs in the middle afternoon; could be a test or a deadline I have to meet. Today, for instance, I had an Econ test at 4:00 PM. Originally, my plan was to get out of English class around 9:15, sleep until 11:15 and get some studying done before I headed down to the test room.

After a series of surprising events, our English teacher handed back some of our papers and said to us, "On account of it being sunny today, I'm cancelling class." Whoa there. Did I hear you correctly, Prof. NvC? Did you just say you are cancelling class? WE ONLY HAVE SIX CLASS MEETINGS LEFT. WE ALSO HAVE TWO MORE BOOKS TO READ. I'm not complaining, though. Any cancelled class is an awesome class. So I smiled and said, "Thank You!" and waltzed my merry way out of there. So, it was 8:10AM and I was disoriented. What did I need to accomplish today again? Ahhh yes, that's right. I need to print out my two-page rough draft on Mao Zedong and his critique on The Scholars by Wu Ching-Tzu. I e-mailed the document to myself and headed over the computer lab to print it out. I handed it in promply at 8:50AM, a full 8 hours and 10 minutes before the actual deadline. Sweet. I'm ahead of schedule!

I go back to my room. Hmm...it's 9:05AM and I have around 6.5 hours left before the test. Come on, who're you kidding, you're only going to study for an hour at most. Yeah, that's true. Maybe I'll check the various fora that I frequent, check my email, surf the web, etc. Ok, I'll do that. Next thing I know, it's 9:50 and Math class is in ten minutes. GAH. Maybe I should skip it? Yes, that would seem like the more practical choice. I mean, it's just going to be a review of what we did yesterday and so on. And, I really need to be awake for my Econ test. So at 9:55AM I climb into bed and set my alarm for 11:55. That's a good two hours of sleep there. I should be rested. Gah, who am I kidding. You'll probably wake up and say to yourself, "Hmm, I still have a good 4 hours until the test, and since I'm only going to study for an hour, I can allow myself a little more rest." Well, I'd like to give myself the benefit of the doubt. What if I suddenly think of something that I forgot to study and need to allow myself time to learn it? Fine.

ring ring ring goes the alarm clock. Aaarrghhh, it's 11:55 already? DAMN! I'll put it on nap mode for another 40 minutes. I should be awake by 12:30PM.

ring ring ring goes the alarm clock. What the freakin' hell? 12:30 already? Gah, never mind, I still have 4 hours. Plently of time. I'll set it on nap mode for fifty minutes. 1:20. I should definitely be awake then. Yeah, sounds like a good plan.

ring ring ring. Okay, wtf. I seriously just slept 5 minutes ago, how can it be 1:20?! Nap mode. Ten minutes. Give. It. To. Me. PLEASE. Okay, you can rest until 1:30. 1:30 seems like such a better time anyway. I mean, come on, who counts in 20s? What is 1:20 anyway? A third past one? Half past one sounds much better. Yes, 1:30 it is.

ring ring ri---. pllleassee, just ten more minutes! I'll just lay in bed. I won't set anything. I'll watch the clock with my eyes open until it hits 1:40. I just need time to wake myself up. Mmmm....my pillow is so nice....maybe I'll just ---

GODDAMN. It's 1:47PM. Fine. Fine. I'll get up.

I get myself up and take a shower to refresh. Get to the library by 2:15. Only studied for an hour, like I predicted I would, and came back to my room at 3:30 to grab my backpack and headed for the test. Glorious.


Moral of the story? Well, now that I look back at the day, I didn't do anything wrong. I did everything I predicted I would do. I didn't miss anything (with the slight exception of math class), and I didn't get in trouble at any point in the day. I think I fared well...yes, yes I think I did.