that creature called sleep...

friends who've been following my facebook status would know that i've been having sleeping problems lately...

it all started last week, on a wednesday night (or rather, thursday morning). i went to bed at my usual time of 1 am - 2am and as always, i like to do some reading before i switch off my bedside lamp to go to sleep. normally, i'd be so tired by then that after a page or two, my eyes will become so heavy that i can't take in anymore word even if i wanted to.

but dunno what went wrong that day... after reading for more than 1 hour, i still didn't feel the usual drowsiness wash over me. so at 3.30am, i decided that sleepy or not, i really should get some sleep. it's a working day the next day, after all... after putting down my book and switching off my lamp, i did went off into slumber. but only for 1.5 hour! opened my eyes, saw that it's still dark and turned to look at the clock. the glow-in-the-dark hands of my alarm clock said 5am. what the heck am i waking up at 5am for??? what more, i feel so 'fresh' and wide awake! for someone who needs 2 alarm clocks to wake her up in the morning, this is really a first. and tried as i may - tossed and turned, counted sheep, cleared my mind, turned up the fan, stared at the ceiling, everything! - i just can't seem to doze off again!

at 6.30am, i've had enough. so i got up, got ready and reached the office at exactly 8am, the start of the 1st shift. actually i'm on the 2nd shift, which starts at 9.30am, so needless to say everyone was quite surprised to see me in the office so early. but that whole day in the office was like hell! it's really a mental torture trying to focus my tired eyes on the screen, focus my attention to the things ppl tell me, focus my brain to process all those info. i feel like in a nazi concentration camp where i'm being subjected to forced sleep deprivation!

and tho' i try to put in as much rest as possible in the days following that sleepless night, i've been in a state of perpetual exhaustion! gosh... the sleep debt interest is indeed exorbitant!

and this week, just when i've started to recover some, it happened again! also on a wednesday! argh!!! this time, i didn't even fall asleep. i was dead tired, but seemed like my brain has gone into hyperactivity. what the heck is wrong with me?

this time round, i'm forced to take emergency leave. how can i drag my ass off to the office when i've not gotten even a wink of sleep? i think i would just collapse from the fatigue. and right after i made up my mind to skip work and sent an sms to the bossboss, i felt my brain shutting down and sleep finally came to me! hmm...

it's so infuriating... normally i'm a big sleepy head. i can sleep practically at anytime and anywhere. once, i've even fallen asleep right on the couch in a noisy pub while the rest of my colleagues were playing pool. since then, i've been nicknamed the sleeping beauty by my colleagues and banned from joining them in any more outings to the pub that involves pool games! hehe...

so it really boggles the mind why i've suddenly turned into a weekly insomniac! stress at work? the hot and humid weather? the positions of the moon and the stars? someone spiked my food and drinks with copious amount of caffeine? an enemy pulled a voodoo on me?

whatever it is, just hope it won't happen again. i'm already so heavily in sleep debt, another setback might just force me into sleep bankruptcy!(wonder what happens when someone is sleep bankrupt...)