October 24, 2007

I would much rather oversleep

Sometimes, you wake up in the morning without your alarm, ready to go, and get your day started without that grating electronic screech telling you to get your lazy behind up and moving.

Today was not, strictly speaking, one of those days, and it reminds me of a similar morning I had in college.

My third year of undergrad I was an RA (actually for all of that year, the summer, and the first semester of the next, but anyway). Being an engineer, naturally I had 8am classes, because the department hated us. I'm sure they wouldn't have put it that way, but that was certainly the message they sent. Neither here nor there. Moving on.

One weekday morning, I woke up without my alarm, hopped out of bed and started my day. Grabbed my stuff and headed for the shower. In the hall, I passed one of my residents, said good morning, continued. The usual. I did notice, however, that there did not seem to be the usual activity I was used to seeing in the morning: people up and about, grumbling about the time, the sorts of things your average class-day morning are made of. I didn't think too much about it, lest I get distracted and end up with shampoo in my eyes, but it did occur to me. I made my way back to my room, at which point I looked clearly at the clock for the first time. the more perceptive children probably have an idea where this is headed...

It read: 3:15. As in a.m., ante meridiem, in the morning, a good 3 hours before I was supposed to get up; and there I was, not just up but already showered, and now more than a little annoyed. I hopped back into bed, determined to get back to sleep for at least a couple of hours before getting up for class. You ever try to go to sleep, like really try to sleep? It's hard. It's easily the least effective way to go about it, but I was pissed and had little choice. Fortunately, I did get there, got a little more shuteye before getting up. Again. Dammit.

Later that day, I saw that same resident again, and we talked about it. He agreed that seeing me obviously shower-bound at that time of morning (or night, really) was more than a little out of the ordinary; to which I replied: then just why the hell didn't you, I don't know, say something?

He just shrugged and said, "I just figured you thought you were dirty."

He just figured I thought I was dirty. And apparently had my cleansing inspiration at 3 in the morning. Um, sure.

This made sense, actually, coming from a guy who showered both when he got up and before bed, but I was less than pleased all the same. But I learned my lesson: look at the clock before you get out of bed.

I learned it. Or so I thought.

This morning was like that, although I did catch my error before actually getting into the shower. But I've been groggy all day and class tonight is not looking promising.

Is it just me, or does this happen to other people?

Just another day that I miss naptime.

8 comments:

Carrie M said...

that *never* happens to me. i don't think i have ever...literally, ever...gotten up before my alarm. i've thought about it. but then i go back to sleep. even if i go to bed at 10 pm (which happens very, very rarely), when the alarm goes off at 7...NINE hours later...i can still barely drag my ass out of bed. it drives me nuts. but i hate mornings.

Jo said...

This happens to me in Winter when I wake up and it's still dark out. But I usually look at my watch constantly (I'm always late for work) so I notice it pretty quickly.

Charlene said...

Thank God this has never happened to me!!!

Brian said...

Well, it's nice to know that I'm the only idiot. Nice for the rest of you, I mean.

The irony is that I'm NOT a morning person, as evidenced by my groggy misconceptions (or stupidity, I leave that up to you to decide). I'm not happy about being awake, I'm just awake at a random time. When I think it's a different time.

When is Daylight Savings, again? Crap.

The Ex said...

I think - and feel free to disagree - that you are a FREAK. That literally never happens to me. I have been beat about the head and not woken up - so the chances of me jumping out of bed chipper and ready to start my day at 3am? UNLIKELY.

Brian said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Brian said...

Ex - First, thank you for that thoughtful compliment (and I don't necessarily disagree). You kind of make my point exactly. Nobody is more surprised than I am when I wake up before an alarm, which is part of where the issue comes from. And let's be clear: chipper never enters into it; autopilot is a much better term.

And it's not something that happens often; it's basically been twice in ten years. So I'm an occasional freak at best. Er, in this context, at least.

mandy said...

"I just figured you thought you were dirty"

Hahahah. Awww.

Once in middle school, I woke up at 7:00 am on a Sunday thinking it was 7:00 am the next Monday and ran around frantically packing and getting ready wondering how my parents could have possibly overslept - see I had a 4 day school trip leaving on Monday - which was supposed to leave the school parking lot at 5:45 am. I was certain I'd missed it. Finally I broke down in tears and ran upstairs only to find my father reading the paper in his recliner.

"Dad!? We missed it!!"

The look on his face was utter confusion.

After calming me down enough to speak - he figured out what was wrong and explained to me that it was, in fact... only Sunday.

Phew.

At least you got a couple more hours of sleep :)

 
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