Friday, November 21, 2008

As of late...

Life as of late has been rather busy, and somewhat stressful with the end of the semester and all of the obligatory papers and presentations right around the river bend. During an early-afternoon meeting today (right when my biological system heads out on its daily sabbatical - clearly not the best time for meetings), my eyelids were fluttering, so my supervisor shouted "wake-up!" and threw her hands out in the air. I was shocked. Luckily, nobody on our team seemed to care, and we kept on with the meeting unperturbed. However, I did take a mental note to nudge my co-workers if they are struggling to stay awake in a meeting or training, so that it's not the person running the meeting who has to do the dirty work.

Our calendar for the past few weeks: some days there's barely breathing time. Whew!

So here's a question for you (and feel free to click on the button below this post labeled "comments" to respond if you have any thoughts): How do you stay awake during meetings/trainings/conferences, etc? Regardless of whether or not I am actually interested in the subject - and usually I am because I love to learn - sometimes I feel completely out-of-control narcoleptic. A friend once told me to tickle the top of my mouth with my tongue when I'm feeling tired, but that just feels ookie after a while...

Dear Readers, the space is yours. Please give me some tips so that I can survive this internship!

4 comments:

Prouses said...

It's no use.. just take a nap:) Just kidding! I just have to excuse myself and go to the bathroom and splash some cold water on my face, or go outside and get some fresh air. All the other little tricks take way too much concentration, and since I am already half asleep, I can't do two things at the same time... ie. listen and touch the roof of my mouth with my tongue... LOL
** Ask me later what my chemistry teacher did to me in class when i fell asleep.

Damaris @Kitchen Corners said...

I make lists in my mind of all the things I have to do, or want to do, or want to travel, or buy, or watch, or read....you get the picture

melandpeter said...

Play games on your cell phone...if you can be inconspicuous...other than that, just pray that you'll stay awake!!

nicole said...

Nick says that he drinks a lot of water. He says he makes more frequent bathroom trips too, but that could help you stay awake? Believe it or not I never had this problem, even if I was dying to take a little nipper napper in class I could not do it. So I'll just channel my awareness your direction. =)