Rant 306 / Sleep VS Coffee

I just love The Onion. This is going to be my new mealtime entertainment website.







This is strange. When I reload this Compose page, the HTML codes for the above Onion news vids are missing, but they're still there when I check the Preview mode. Something's quite wrong with Blogspot.







Today is the first day I've tried to function normally in school despite some sleep deprivation. Slept from 8 to 11pm last night and didn't feel sleepy anymore till 4.30am. By then, it was a mere 4 hours before I have to leave for classes, which leaves less than 3.5 hours for actual rest (need to take into account the time needed to lie in bed and gather the willpower to get up, wash up, dress up and get some coffee/food).

So I decided to forget about sleeping and do something else, something I haven't done in months.

I exercised.

Actually I'm in such a bad shape I merely cycled on my stationary bike for half an hour at a constant heartbeat rate of 130/min (the timer/pulse scanner/magic device estimated I burnt 300 calories for the session). During this exercise session, I thought about what to do next. Should I mug for the 2 tests later in the morning till 8.45 before leaving for school or is there something else I could do?

I felt like shit, thus I wasn't in the mood to suffer through bus/train rides. That leaves only the taxi, but the peak hour surcharge is in effect between 7 and 9.30am. I couldn't leave immediately either because the midnight surcharge ends only at 5.59am. If I was really going to take a cab, I have only a 1-hour window before the fare actually becomes obscene.

It was a hard decision, but I had no choice. I had to leave home at 6.30am so that I could alight from the cab before 7am. That was the latest I could push it. But doubt came. What if there was nowhere I could go? Should I bring my laptop or my gigantic Thermodynamics textbook?

But there was somewhere I could go before the LWN library opens - the old Canteen A which is probably open 24/7. And I decided to bring both my laptop and textbook; laptop for passing time between a brief lab session in the late afternoon and my morning classes, textbook for the open-book quiz. If only "open-book" means laptop with internet connection is fine too...

After about 25 minutes into the session (around 5.25am), I tested myself to see if I could still fall asleep under such conditions.

It turned out my eyes could close tight quite readily even when my heart was beating at 130/min. My mind was almost blank and I was in what I call my zombie state. In other words, it felt like it was possible for me to sleep on the bike.

Before I actually slowed down my legs, I pushed myself back to consciousness and cycled for another 5 minutes. I then went down and stood on my legs which actually felt slightly unsteady even though the workout was so light.

To cool down, I just stood in front of my balcony window and enjoyed the cool breeze. I assure you, nothing possible in the Singaporean climate can possibly beat the cold night wind. It's practically the only thing I like about the local weather.

Then I turned on the kettle to boil some water while I showered. For coffee, what else? Honestly, I can taste no difference between Nescafe freeze-dried coffee and Ipoh white coffee powder. They both taste delightfully delicious. Plus if I rarely drink coffee, then it always feels like the next best thing to multiple orgasms.

Anyway it's 1.43pm now and surprisingly I haven't lost my textbook even though I had to put it down many times. Now I'm going to sleep till just before my lab session begins.