June 29, 2001

If you read my comment from yesterday no doubt by the end of it, you were scratching your head in confusion. Do not adjust your set. This is a normal reaction. What I wrote did not make sense. I have this strange thing about me, you see. When I'm very sleepy and it's late at night, I tend to write very strange things. I believe that they come from dreams that I'm having at the time. But they absolutely make no sense. This has gotten me into interesting situations at times. Especially since I happen to write a lot. I've written emails to friends that make no sense. I've written homework that's made no sense. I've written....well, the worst was in chemistry class when I actually handed in a lab that had stuff written about having an apple in a brown paper bag for lunch. It's a telling statement about the school system that I received the lab back with something like 90%. I wish I had kept it. I would have framed it. Anyways, this is an interesting introduction to the wider world of sleep deprivation.

It's an interesting phenomenon. Without sleep, people start to hallucinate, become short tempered, all sorts of horrid things. People in general, do not get enough sleep. This is true of most people. Consequently, they microsleep. In class, at work, and especially in the car. It seems to me that not having enough sleep should automatically ban somebody from driving a car. I mean, it's worse than alcohol! At least you don't microsleep when you're drunk. You just pass out. It's a danger. Sleepy people and old people. Should be banned. But if you ARE sleepy and driving, the things to do are crank the music on X way up. And roll the window way down. That should do the trick. And if that doesn't keep you awake.....you are in serious need of more sleep.

How many people out there are students? Is there one of you who can tell me honestly that you've never had a class, maybe after you stayed up late the previous night, that you're fighting to stay awake? I fight that battle even when I'm NOT tired. Some teachers.....in grade 12, my history teacher told the class that he didn't mind when his students fell asleep. He said that if we needed sleep that badly, we could take a little nap. We all simultaneously fell asleep.