Somniocentricism

As it stands, we’re all in dire need of sleep. Overworked teachers, half-baked “students”, and the like. Our lives have become one of somniocentricism (this word doesn’t exist, YET, but I contrived it from the roots somno/somni/somnus), but we seem to be fighting the urge to sleep despite our bodily yearnings. As a result, quite a number of us students (and teachers) become a tad too neurotic for our own safety. Blame it on school. Blame it on work. Blame it on the episodes of LOST that you’re catching up on while doing homework. It’s all become a warped conspiracy.

But can’t be right. The growth of our society wasn’t planned. Missing those TV episodes weren’t part of the equation, when primitive man first spun the idea of “work”. Being able to catch up on those TV episodes online, on your own time, at the expense of other dire callings, wasn’t factored in either. That one hour of “work” that you’ve compromised might multiply with other radicals, eventually pushing three hours’ worth of extra work onto you. It all degenerates to chaos – so states Chaos Theory, as does the Law of Entropy (going from order to disorder), and the Butterfly Effect (small actions may have large consequences).

Unless you’re a perfect being like Steve McQueen or Paul Newman (or, grudgingly, Patrick Dempsey), these three laws (and all other affiliated branches of thought) work against you. They’re the evil co-workers conspiring to demote you to mail duty. It’s inevitable that you’ll mess up and drop a few thumbtacks on the floor, which will subsequently appear pointy-side-up on the seat of the “executive” chair in the corporate boardroom.

And then you’re demoted.

The same applies to sleep. Every minute of time wasted factors against you, somehow. To combat this, we would need to work at near-100% efficiency; but for the sake of individuality, free thought, and the “Resistance”(1) cause, don’t do it. There’s really no way for us to keep our sanity while following such a strict schedule. I’ve tried. Then blown up.

[Although there ARE a few T-800's (2) amongst us who can stand the rigors of such routines...]

For the rest of us humans, a line must be drawn. You must refuse to carry those thumbtacks. Don’t give the coworkers any excuse to frame you. Don’t keep pushing a lost cause.

Set a time for yourself – a point of abandonment, where you give up all efforts at working and retire to bed, regardless of how much work you have left. Once it’s time, it’s TIME to give up, lest you try and make up for the lost sleep on Saturday. Sunday, too, if you don’t have church.

I find it disturbing just how many of us all try to sleep in on the weekends. I’ve deduced from my twisted reasoning that:

[Procrastination > Feeling of being overworked > Allnighters > Lack of Sleep > Sleeping in]

So, in order to combat the desire to sleep in, I now declare my precipice of abdication to be at midnight, sharp. In fact, it’s 1:02 AM as I write these very words, so I believe it’s time to jump ship.

Here’s a salty toast to my health.

Prost!

Note: Patrick Dempsey, Steve McQueen, and Paul Newman are all celebrities and racers.

(1): The “Resistance” is the anti-machine revolutionary force (the humans/good guys) in the “Terminator” franchise.

(2): The T-800 model is a Terminator robot specifically designed to imitate humans.