Saturday, March 24, 2007

Waking up is hard to do.

I'm sure you know the oldies song Breaking Up Is Hard To Do. Go ahead and substitute waking for breaking, hum the tune, and you've got the soundtrack of my life. I actually didn't have too much difficulty waking up for my Korean class at the YMCA this morning... but then when I returned home, I napped the entire afternoon away. I don't feel too guilty, given that it was a dreary, drizzly day... but still! Do any of you have any non-caffeine related tips for not spending everyday somnolent?

The allegedly "intermediate" Korean class wasn't quite as scary today as it was last week - mainly because I did spend the week studying. Unfortunately, a couple of the people at my level (Rob and Julie, this means you) have decided to go back to the beginning level class, which leaves only me and one other guy whom I don't know at the dumb-asses of the class. I did manage to purchase the So-gang 1A book today, so (in theory) I should be able to catch up on some of the things I'm missing. Or I'll cause my brain to melt down completely. One or the other.

UPDATE: It's 12:20 on Saturday night (er, Sunday morning) here, and I just spent the last hour reviewing the first fifty pages of So-gang 1A. Yes, I am obviously a dork, but that has never in my life been in question. Anyway, fifty pages is a little more than a third of the book, and I feel pretty good about working through that so quickly. Of course, I can also tell that it's going to get tougher. Grrr. If only there was a class that started halfway through 1A! Sigh.

6 comments:

Megan Case said...

I seem to need a lot more sleep than the average person too. I've asked several doctors about it, but they haven't really offered any useful advice. My mom has a thyroid disorder, which can make you somnolent, among other things, but I've been tested several times and they say my thyroid is in the normal range. So I don't know.

Since I'm studying this year and have the luxury of a flexible schedule, I've just been trying to get as much sleep as I need, drink coffee the rest of the time, and ignore Kostia when he teases me about being lazy. (The lucky bastard can survive on 6 hours a night.)

I'm not looking forward to going back to full-time work. But hopefully the next thing is completely freelance English teaching in St. Petersburg so that I can make my own hours.

So, short of medical interventions or amphetamines, I think you can only embrace somnolence as part of your existence.

annie said...

I pretty much have accepted it as part of my existence - I sleep a LOT. My job is pretty awesome in that I don't start until 2:00, meaning I roll out of bed around 11:00 or 12:00 or so... But I do often feel bad about wasting my free time (mornings and weekends) - I mean, today was rainy, but if it had been sunny, I could've done something. Or to be more accurate, I couldn't've, as I would've been asleep. Lucky for me, I do love sleeping. I must say that being at the YMCA, 40 minutes from my house, before 11am is tough. Not as tough as January, when my workday started at 9:00 though!

My mom also has a thyroid disorder and takes many, many naps. (Although she is also one of those incomprehensible morning people.) I too have been tested for such a problem, and nothing was found....

Anonymous said...

OMG, 50 pages in an hour. Please don't tell me you did the listening and reading activities and workbook, too, or I am going to feel exceedingly slow.

So lie to me, even if you did.

Please.

Rob said...

Wow, you are further along than I am. I went over lesson 4 today with a friend after class. We did an hour just on ways to use the word "where?" (어디에) The beginner class is very slow today and I used all my time pretty much working by myself on a workbook I got at E-Mart. I think in about 2 weeks we will be going over stuff I really do need to review though.

Today after Korean class, helping with a friends class, and private Korean class I found a good way to rest yet not sleep is watching Korean movies with English subs in a DVD room. And as it was a rainy day it doesn't feel wasted. =)

Rob

annie said...

Amanda - no need to worry - I did NOT do the listening/reading/workbook stuff. Something to keep me ocupied this week, I guess. Plus there's a lot of 1A vocabulary that I don't know.

Rob - Wow - you had quite a busy day! Makes me feel like such a slacker to have simply gone home and slept.

Anonymous said...

Back to sleeping .... I wonder if anyone else has tried Provigil?