Sitting and Sleeping

I think I have a slight case of narcolepsy. Whenever I sit down, especially if someone is talking to me, it’s all I can do to stay awake.

This isn’t so much a problem on the bus, or at the movies, but it’s starting to bug me at school. In meetings, for instance, it’s embarrassing to be the guy doing the head nod thing when the president is endorsing our institution’s mission, vision, and values.

But worst of all is in the class I’m team teaching when I’m sitting in the back trying to pay attention even as my eyes are drooping and students are pointing and laughing at me.

Today, for instance, my colleague showed a movie and although I was interested in it, I had to stand up, walk around the room, and lean my head out the window to keep from falling asleep.

I’ve always had something of a problem with statis; I’m a fidgeter, and I don’t like being stuck in one position. But these days, more than ever, sleep overcomes me when I stop moving.

Oddly, this isn’t always the case when I’m lying in bed, especially of late when it’s been staying light and getting light so late and early respectively.

I should say, though, that I’ve got nothing on a couple students in my current class. There are two kids, one in particular, who use the class period as their full on opportunity to catch up on forty or more winks.

One of these students seems to be attempting to take in the entire course content by osmosis. Typically, he arrives at his seat, sits down, slumps his head on his chest or forearm and remains that way for as long as an hour or two.

I don’t have the heart to wake him, although I have been thinking of doing Sharpie drawings on his face. That might not rouse him, but his fellow students would probably sit up straighter.