I must be tired . . .

Image Source

Last night I fell asleep on my sofa around 11PM. This is quite unusual as I practically never fall asleep before midnight. In fact, I usually go to bed around 1AM and after my vacation in Thailand that is two hours ahead of Korea, I've been going to bed even later.

That I fell asleep at 11PM is not the strangest thing; the strangest thing is when I woke up. I didn't wake up until 1PM today! And I would have slept later had it not been for receiving a phone call. I guess I'm exhausted or something. It had been a busy week, but not in the way that I felt a conscious need to be comatose for 14+ hours. My body seems to think otherwise.

Round Midnight

I spend far too little time listening to jazz. And I spend far too much time being awake round midnight.

Cuppuccino en slapelose nagte

Image Source

Gistermiddag moes ek bietjie tyd omkry aangesien ek vroeer stad toe was, voordat my Taekwon-Do-klas begin. Wel om die tyd om te kry het ek in 'n koffiewinkel/kroeg gaan sit met 'n boek in die hand. Die plek het nie warm sjokelade gehad nie so toe bestel ek maar 'n cuppuccino. Ek behoort van beter te weet. Aangesien ek byna nooit koffie drink nie, affekteer kaffeien my nogals sterk. Ek is na een in die oggend bed toe. Dis nou byna vyf in die oggend en ek is reeds wakker. Ek is moeg maar kan nie slaap nie.

Vanoggend moet ek op kantoor wees vir 'n 8:30 vergadering. Gelukkig het ek dan 'n paar ure oop voor my eerste klas. Dalk kan ek terug kom huis toe en vinnig 'n uiltjie knip.

Uiltjies knip en sulke dinge

Image Source: Richard Oshen's Blog; Original artist unknown.

Ek het tot die gevolgtrekking gekom dat ek oorwerk / oormoeg is—dat ek moontlik te hard oefen of te veel hooi op my vurk het. Of eerder, dat ek nie genoeg rus in kry om op te maak vir die druk van my werk, projekte en oefenregime nie. Ek het bewus geraak van ’n duidelike patroon. Sodra ek ’n gewigoptel-oefeningprogram by my gewone oefen program voeg, raak ek siek. Ek doen tans vier maal per week offisieel krygskunsoefeninge: Maandag is Hapkido, Dinsdag en Donderdag is Taekwon-Do, en Vrydagmiddag is Braziliaanse Jujitsu. En soms op die ander dae doen ek ook ’n bietjie ander aktiwiteite. Met hierdie stel oefeninge blyk ek instaat om die mas op te kom. Maar sodra ek begin om gewigopteloefeninge in te sluit—gewoonlik op ’n Sondag—raak ek siek. Dit het nou al met genoegsame repetisies gebeur dat ek die patroon kon indentifiseer. Blykbaar vereis die gewigoptelsessies baie meer hersteltyd, maw baie meer rustyd. Dis nou al drie weke ek ek is nog steeds nie klopdisselboom nie. Die hoesery is darem tot 'n einde, maar my keel is steeds seer.

My huidige sowat ses ure per nag is nie genoeg nie. Ek besef dat my liggaam eintlik nege ure verkies. Wanneer ek nie myself met ’n wekker opjaag nie, dan slaap ek gerieflik sowat nege uur, daarom dink ek dat my liggaam eerder nege ure as ses ure soek. Maar goeie genugtig, waar gaan ek nege ure in die hande kry? Party aande kom ek eers half-elf, elfuur by die huis en daar is geen manier wat ek onmiddelik in die bed kan spring nie. ’n Mens moet eers bietjie afwen. En selfs al kon ek onmiddelik in die bed klim gun dit my steeds nie nege ure se slaap nie – slegs agt ure. (Agt ure is natuurlik beter as die huidige ses ure; hoe ookal, dis nie tans moontlik om eens agture slaap te kry nie.)

Ek dink die oplossing (of ten minste die tydelike remedie) is om dagslapies te neem. Ek moet bieg dat ek knip nie graag uiltjies nie. Dis grootliks my pa se skuld wat ons kinders sleg gesê het as ons in die dag slaap. Ondanks ek al jare op my eie is (nie meer onder my ouers se invloed / dak leef nie), voel ek steeds skuldig as ek in die dag slaap. Nietemin, die siesta is tradisie in vele bevolkinge van die Mexikane tot die Grieke. Ek onthou toe ek in Griekeland was hoedat winkels helder oordag toe maak vir ’n paar ure se middagrus. Ek het ook bietjie opgelees omtrent “napping” en dis duidelik dat dit gesondheidswaarde het. Dagslapies was glo “critical” vir Lance Armstrong se suksesvolle fietsoorwinnings. Ek gaan maar eenvoudig net my skuldgevoelens onder die bed in moet skop en bietjie slaap in kry deur die dag. My werksprogram laat dit natuurlik nie elke dag toe nie, maar daar is party dae wat ek ’n uurtjie kan afknyp. Gelukkig is my woonstel slegs vyf minute se van my werk af, so my bed is gerieflik naby.

Intussen probeer ek baie hard om in die gewoonte te kom om teen middernag in die bed te wees. Ek hoef nie noodwendig te slaap nie, maar ek moet in die bed wees met die lig af. Dit is natuurlik makliker gesê as gedaan. Teen tien uur die aand kry ek my tweede asem. Dit is asof ’n helderheid my beet pak en ek met nuwe oemf kan begin werk aan iets. En dit is dan ook wat ek baie kere doen. Vele aande wanneer ek by die huis kom dan begin ek werk aan iets en voor ek my oë uitvee is dit twee ure later en lank na middernag. Die ideale job vir my sal eers tien uur of elf uur die oggend begin.

Intussen, die volgende twee doelwitte: 1. middagslapies; 2. in die bed teen middernag.

Nadat ek die bogaande geskryf het besef ek skielik dat hierdie geensins 'n unieke skrywe is nie. Ek het basies presies dieselfde geskryf verlede jaar September. 

pyp-aanlyn maak dat ek min slaap

Die nuwe pyp-aanlyn webbladsy hou my uit die slaap uit. Saterdagaand het ek eers om-en-by drie uur die oggend in die bed gekom, waarskynlik later. Sondag was ek die meeste van die dag uit, maar die aand het ek verder aan die pyp-blog gewerk.

Vanaand (Maandagaand) het ek eers omtrent agtuur die aand by die huis aan gekom nadat ek in gebly het vir my “day job” om vooruit vir die res van die week voorteberei, anders bevind ek myself in die knyp later in die week. Sedert ek by die huis is is ek nog die heeltyd met pyp-aanlyn besig. Ek het intussen ’n Twitterlyn begin wat outomaties "tweet" sodra ’n nuwe inskrywing op pyp-aanlyn gepubliseer word. Na ’n lang ruk se gesukkel kon ek toe ook ikone vir beide die Twitterskakel, sowel as pyp se Facebookgroep stig.

Ek geniet veral die interaktiewe aard van die hele projek. Hier sit ek in Korea waar dit sneeu en werk aan die webblad; gelyktydig sit Alwyn in warm Suid-Afrika en plaas artikels. Maar die slegte ding is dat dit hou my uit die slaap uit.

Gepraat van slaap...

I’m back (in Korea) – Invasion of the Weevils!

Last night I went to bed around 1am. I got out of bed today at 3pm. That’s 14 hours of sleep. While I probably needed the sleep, it clearly indicates that my biological clock is wacked. I cannot afford to get up that late at all. Tomorrow morning we start with faculty meetings at 8:30, so I need to get up around 7am.

A friend whom I asked to water my plants while I was away informed me that I have an ant infestation. When I arrived last night my whole apartment had these little black “ants” congregated everywhere. Upon closer inspection it turns out that they were not ants but rice weevils! (Rice weevils are sometimes referred to as cereal beetles. “Serial beetles” as in serial killers is probably a better term for these little critters because they are quite persistent.) So last night after taking a shower and having dinner I started the elimination of thousands of weevils. My main method of disposal is vacuuming and flushing the contents down the toilet. But even after vacuuming my whole apartment, later they’d just appear again. It was then that I discovered the source.

A Korean friend, whose father owns a rice farm, gave me a bag of brown rice. When I opened the bag it was filled with weevils whick looked something like the disturbing video below.



While I’ve removed the original source, I’m yet to completely eradicate the weevil infestation. There are still hundreds hiding away in nooks and crannies. The worrying thing is that I read online that rice weevils may also feed on cotton or other dry organic material. I’m concerned now that they may be feeding on the innards of my coaches (probably stuffed with cotton), or maybe they’re feeding on my clothes (I’ve seen some in my bedroom), or feeding on my wallpaper (Korean wallpaper is actually made of paper, not canvas), or chomping away on my books and notes. I haven’t actually seen them doing any of this, but it would explain their persistent reappearance – they must have another food source.

Speaking of which, I need to go clear my cupboards of all the pasta...

My theme of weariness

[Source: FreakingNews.Com]

Being weary has become an unfortunate theme in my life. So regular is this motif that one would think me ill, but thankfully ill health is not the cause of my fatigue. Rather, my weariness is often the cause for becoming sick. The problem is actually very simple – I do not sleep enough. It is not that I cannot sleep; it is merely a case of my biorhythm being out of sync with most of society. I am undeniably the proverbial night owl.

A perfect routine for me would be to wake up around 9am and start work around 11am. This, of course, is not the common practice of regular society which likes to start their day at least two hours prior my own preference. And what a difference such two hours make! There was a time I used to teach businesspeople; hence, my working hours were very early in the morning (before they went to work) and in the evening (after they came back from work). One student who on one occasion attended both the early morning and late evening sessions told me that my evening classes were much better and that I looked noticeably less tired at night than I do in the morning. My X used to complain about my burst of energy at 10pm, just around the time when she was ready to sleep.

At present I start working at 8:30 or 9am and so get up around 7:30am. I usually go to bed after midnight, so I get around seven hours of sleep which is not bad; however, I function best on nine hours of sleep. These days I feel it necessary to take a siesta of about thirty or so minutes in the late afternoon. Sleeping during the day has always been a taboo for me, mostly because of my father who could not tolerate daytime lethargy and engrained in me his reproaches – Why are you sleeping? You have no guts! What bowl organs and sleeping have in common I have no idea, but to this day I feel terribly guilty if I sleep in the afternoon. Nonetheless, my body – which has little concern over childhood indoctrination –has begun to plead for more sleep and the late afternoon nap is appreciated.

Jet lag

Is it possible for me to still suffer from jet lag?

Last night when I was online two of my friends were online at the same time. So I chatted until an hour or so past my new bedtime. I thought it would be okay since I didn't have to get up early this morning. And indeed, this morning I slept in a little.

Man, am I tired now! It's effort just to keep my eyes open. I still have some work to do before I can go home, but it feels almost impossible to concentrate.