Sleeping In Class

Have you ever fallen asleep in class?

I used to do that a lot. Not in class during school, but afternoon tuition at the world-famous Pusat Tuisyen Kasturi.

It always starts with waiting for the Cityliner bus to head downtown. For some reason, I never board the bus that comes right after school. Rather, I take the almost-2pm one. Must be the lesser crowd. Or lunch. Or both.

The bus rumbles comfortably. All is cosy and hunky-dory. My textbook-padded school bag's just soooo warm. And before you know it...

BOK! BOK!

My head bashes repeatedly against the window, as a result of nodding off. Not the blue-black sort, but still enough to warrant an ouch. Strange thing is, I always can HEAR and FEEL it...but there's no pain. Every time it happens, I merely pop awake drowsily and think, "Hmm...that's supposed to be painful, right?". And resolve not to go back to sleep and make a fool of myself. For twenty seconds.

Eventually the bus takes me there, and up the dreary steps of Pusat Tuisyen Kasturi - God bless the place - I go. The creme de la creme of Secondary School Students assemble. Hot hunks, gorgeous gals, nerdy nerds, taikos, taikajehs...eat your heart out, KFC Variety Bucket!

All ritey, I say to myself. Today I'm gonna get one step closer to becoming a straight-A student and ensuring a better future for the Mok lineage.

"Okei, hari ni kita akan melilhat nota dari slaid."

Dum. Dum. Dum. Off go the lights.

Hummm...aircon's just right today. What a perfect environment to learn about Sistem Feudal: Kedaulatan Sultan-Sultan Melaka.

Ah, yes...long live Sultan Alauddin Riayat Syah.

You know it once you start dozing off. Heavy eyelids, half your usual IQ and attention span, the usual suspects. "Not again..." you wonder.

Every once a while *something* jolts you awake. For a while. It could be a glance from the teacher. An extra loud intonation in her voice. Or sometimes it comes from yourself.

Each time that momentary jolt comes, you think, "Okay, okay...did I almost fall asleep? I'm so gonna stay awake for the rest of the class.".

Yeah, right.

Statistically speaking (yes, I am very experienced in this), the first two jolts are usually false alarms. The coast turns clear soon enough, and off you go again. There's more of a struggle this time around, at least. "Break time's coming soon, break time's coming soon..." Alas, most times you end up losing without even realising it.

Then Bada-Boom! It happens. *Something* will happen to snap you completely out of sleepy-ness. Again, it could come from yourself. Or an embarassing incident involving the person sitting next to you. Or worse, the teacher takes the trouble herself.

Once the wake-me-up moment occurs, you know. It feels so real, so definitive that whatever ideas of sleeping during breaktime become laughable. You feel ashamed, almost unbelieving that you were dumb enough to sleep in class.

The other day, I fell asleep in the Class of Life. God threw a chalk at me.

"Anyone mind lending me their notes to copy?"