Caffeine

8:01 AM

The opening notes to Chris Cornell’s “You Know My Name” blaring over my speakers jolt me sudden wakefulness. I hurriedly grope for my peripheral mouse to shut the music off with the vague purpose of not waking up my house-mates, but mostly to avoid the jarring reminder that it is, unavoidably and inevitably, 8 O’clock and time to wake up.

Well – almost. I’ve gotten in the habit of setting my alarm for around an hour before I need to be in class, or wherever else I need to be. My intention in doing this was to give me time to read up on the day’s news; sort through my e-mail; or if necessary, to use the slack time as a sort of “snooze”. You can guess which option is more widely used, and today I bow to temptation.



8:20 AM

The alarm is going off again, and I’m grabbing for the mouse once more. The extra 20 minutes is almost never worth it, but it allows time for the classic symptom of denial to process through my brain before I need to pull myself out of bed: “I can’t believe it” – no one should have to wake up after 4 hours of sleep. Or 4 hours and 20 minutes for that matter.

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