By Sylvia D'Souza, UAE [ Published Date: September 22, 2005 ]
 TRRRRrrrrrinnnnngggggggg!!!! What the ...? Hey there!! Whoever wants to visit me can come back in the morning.....ZZZZZZzzzzzzzz...
TRRRRrrrrrinnnnngggggggg!!!! Oh No! Gosh it’s the alarm....Why did it have to ring this early? Man, did I set it ahead of time, must have just dropped to sleep before setting it right, and now for my sins will have to get up and set it again..., squinting at the clock.. Wat? That can't be the time, surely something wrong going here, narrowing my eyes at the window, trying to actually see if it is already day or if this clock is just getting the better of me. Normally, I am not at my best in the mornings, spewing warnings at the clock, just you watch, if it is not the time of the hour you're showing, that spells doom for you… DOOM in Caps by the way. Could I be more sleepier than this? Some days are like this and sometimes it could be even worse. How I wish I can just stay at home in bed instead of having to drag myself in to work. Well they all can just keep out of my way today if they value their heads...That shower this morning could hardly wake me up, not e'en a bit. How did I get here? Did I actually drive or did someone drive me...gosh I can't even remember- am on automatic pilot, I guess; well I am not going to strain my brains now, any way I am here, that’s all that should matter, to that fathead and he better appreciate it.
Just my luck to get into the office and run into one of those lively early morning people who obviously go to bed at 7 p.m. and bounce up at 5:00 in the morning, wide awake and ever so cheerful. They better just steer clear my way...
"GOOD MORNING!!! How are you this morning?" "Good Morning to you too" – with a toothy grin (almost yelping).
Man, wouldn’t I just love to smack them across the face and wipe that beaming grin off, Aww, someone please tell them to shut up and let me sleep!
Well perhaps coffee can do its magic, did they have to situate the pantry at the other end of the world, why can’t they simply design offices and pantries close to each other.... this is gonna take me ages before I can get there...
On a morning like this the coffee is never ready. Any other morning the office pot drips coffee through in a matter of minutes. And just when you need it as a life saver there is no one around to even switch it on… though, I hope no one is around so I can take the pot away and put my cup under the drip to catch every drop. They say when you watch the kettle it takes the longest to boil, must have some connection there...This coffee maker is running in slow motion. I've never seen it take so long to process and fill up a cup. Its only a coffee I want.. not some Jazz!!!
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 ...I'm going to have to give up trying to sleep with one eye and wake up for once..
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As I walk back to my office with my black poison, I wonder if I can sneak a nap during lunch. Oh my! Poor me, I sure feel as though I have been run amok in the drying machine and hung out to dry. Peeking in the Mirror, EEKS!!! Is that me???? I have got Shiners!! Most will think I was in a fight yesterday, cannot be helped a bit by the makeup, should I feign some latest style. Is it impossible to hide a lack of sleep with make up? Of course, if I could just keep my eyes wide open, that might help hiding them.
I hope today will be an easy day. Wish I could smile. Someone humour me, or better still wake me up! No, actually, wish I could go to sleep. Maybe, maybe just for a while I will be able to take it off by pretending to read and take a little nap. Power Nap! Yes that what I need. I can stick my head up with my hand under my chin and rest my elbow on the desk. Drat, why can’t I stay up, every time I doze, my chin falls off and it wakes me up.
Wish I were dead. Wish I were home. Wish I were rich and didn't have to work. Wish I had enough sense to go to bed at night instead of staying up for one more e-mail, one more TV show, one more hour chatting with friends, one more excuse to put off sleeping at night when the rest of world is slumbering, one more…. ZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
Grrrrrr!!!..., its no use! I'm going to have to give up trying to sleep with one eye and wake up for once, what is this nonsense? Won't die if I did not sleep properly one night, what’s the big deal…..But whatever you do, don't get between me and the coffeepot on a day like this! Did somebody it switch it off ? Gimme a break!
Never again will I stay up till 2:00 in the morning, specially on a work night! Not for the love of anybody will I.., I have made up my mind… this is what I will do from today onwards... I'm going to bed early and get some rest, That’s it. Early to sleep and Early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise, I know I said that yesterday too, but this time I actually mean it. What day is it anyway? Groan! Only Monday? I could make it for another day but... I just can't make it till the weekend.
I hope that Fathead keeps his distance today, or I'll……; it's absolutely embarrassing to find yourself babbling words that can confuse even the sharpest mind. And that the simplest calculation involving single digits can result in the most intense of headaches. As for maintaining poise and decorum in the presence of the 'high and mighty', two words, STAY AWAY!!!.
Why am I "an owl" in a "roosters" world? Does the day have to start this early in the morning? Can it not wait till about noon, that would suit me just fine and I am sure many others would think it too. I would be ready with breakfast and all, in neatly creased starched suits. How can someone eat at this ungodly hour? The thought of food at Seven or Eight in the morning is revolting.
Well, its only 10 a.m. and the coffee is starting to hit my nerves now. I feel a wee bit better. Maybe I can make it for a while - at least until 2 or 3 this afternoon. Me? Crabby? Aw!! Shut up and mind your own business! Don't you have any work to do, let me know, I could allow you to handle the Water Cooler case.
Heck, at 10 p.m. when the rest of the world is turning in, I'm as good as ready to take on the world, why do you need to rest, time for me to revisit web pages. Hey wait a min! I am online: well today was one hell of a day, feel so stressed, need to de-stress…. will chat with you for a while and then time for my beauty sleep….. I am serious to-day, huh!! Night ??….
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mel tau, Oman:
Hi Sylvia...Sleepwalking? I do it every morning! :( But I am glad I’m not the only owl around on M.Com!
Late night computer...wake up groggy eyed...make a resolution...break it at night...cycle goes on and on. Sounds so familiar Sylvia. That’s what I like best about your articles...I am able to relate to them. Keep writing.
Btw your nocturnal habits are similar to mine...lagtha hai jaldi tumhaari aur meri mulakath hogi! ;) |
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Judith Serrao, UAE:
Sylvia.. love reading your articles. This one is truly very close to reality and actuality. I’m not an Owl …not a sleep-walker. I believe in the adage ‘Early to bed, early to rise, makes a person healthy, wealthy and wise’….. But I have friends.. who are these Owls…I know they sleep-walk through the day….3-4 hours of sleep is all they need. I envy them. Tried once to do some night-duty stuff, slept a few winks, but all I ended up doing is ruining my next day. Could not think straight, look straight and feel straight as well :);). I just ended up being miserable, snapping at anyone who came into contact with me and stomping a few toes….and vowed …never never again.
Keep up the good writing Sylvia. I’m your fan. |
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Amarnath Bantwal, Kuwait:
Sleepwalker!!! Hey that sounded like me Sylvia.
Owl in a roosters club! That takes the cake- Lovely imagery, am smiling as I am trying to get this in the right perspective.
How many of us wouldnt want to relate to that sleep-walking bit at work? An informal survey at the work place revealed 5% OF THE PEOPLE SLEEPWALKED TO OFFICE everyday, the remaining 95% LIED THEY DIDNT. :)))
Sleepy SATURDAYS for us here in the ME, Monday morning blues for those elsewhere, and EVERYDAY blues for those Owls like myself.
Oh, to spend those late nites on working days- keeping away sleep as much as possible, trying to cram in as much as reading/ tv/ internet as one could; Come morning- cussing the bloody alarm (mine's got a rooster setting too to make it real life), draggin my feet outa bed as wifey shouts "breakfast ready sweetheart". No time to tie my shoe laces, thank God for invention of the Zipper. On the road speeding (sleep-driving) to office, the car stereo seems to be humming a lullaby- a monstrous HUMVEE all lights blazing on a bright morning scares the living daylights. A lil less sleepy now, a lil more awake, stereo sings louder, the car suddenly screeches to a stop from 120KM...The darned guy in front of me slammed his brakes. Thank God I am still alive.
Reach Office- meets boss, BOSS asks "You still sleepy?".
"I d rather be dead u AH", I mutter under my bad- breath. BAD BREATH???? I have forgotten to brush my teeth this morning!!
The smell of a hot cuppa..the eternal buzzing of phones, cat calls..end of the somnambulist...back to the bloody grind! Work you bonded labourer, work.
You seemed to speak my heart out there Sylvia. If I had to write an article on this topic would be surely along these lines. But no-where as creative for sure.
As always, Sylvia, your articles have that uncanny touch of realism, sublime reminders of everyday life, of those sub-conscious pressures that are waiting to be dumped on the most undeserving.
Oh to be working, oh to be sleep walking, oh to be working again.
I know a few of us OWLS here in these parts too Sylvia, maybe its time we jammed up together for a winter session of the PARLIAMENT! :))) Lets get hooting! |
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Shaly Pereira, Oman:
Hi Sylvia…u an owl?? Me too:) I know the feeling…..that sudden burst of energy when the sun sets. For us owls the night never ends right??
Seriously speaking I have seen many many sunrises (not by choice) but I still prefer the mysterious beauty of the sunsets….the sudden onset of darkness and then the city lights being switched on one by one until there is light again. Which only goes to prove that despite hating that alarm clock man feels uncomfortable without light;)
Love your writing skills as always. Your description of that coffee made me long for a nice hot cuppa:)
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