Well, hello there. I’m sitting at the kitchen table in my mom’s new apartment at the moment, feeling a bit shit about not having made a YouTube video in a couple weeks. I’ll get to it.
It’s “fall study break” at university right now. More like fall study long-weekend, seeing as I only have Monday and Tuesday off. I do need to write a six-page paper analysing an advertisement, and of course I need to get around to studying Japanese. Of course. It’s always Japanese. It’s a good thing I still love the language, you rigorous class, you.
I thought it would be nice to come home for at least a couple days this break. My mom and brother just moved a couple weeks ago, so home is now a rather nice two-bedroom apartment with a very nice view of a lake. The only issue? There wasn’t enough room in the master bedroom to fit my bed alongside my mom’s (it’s at my dad’s house now), so I have to sleep in a sleeping bag on the floor until my mom can get her hands on an air mattress for those times when I’m home. She says she can get a free one with her bank rewards points!
I don’t really mind sleeping on the floor. It’s not as comfortable as a mattress, of course, but in the end, it’s still a place to lay my head. That’s all that matters, really.
I don’t know how many of you know the biblical story of Jacob’s ladder. Basically, Jacob is wandering and he has no place to sleep one night, so he lays down with a rock as a pillow. Some things happen next, but what always stood out to me was the pillow-rock. It always amazed me how resilient his head must have been. Wouldn’t he get bruised all over? I know I got bruises on my left hip from tightening my belt a little too much a couple days ago.
I have been known to sleep on the ground outside. Often, first semester last year, I would take a nap outside in the grass before going in to work. When the weather got bad, I took to sleeping in chairs inside. Not the most comfortable of positions, but I was always dead tired. Anything would have done, except perhaps a rock. I still can’t imagine that.
I’ve been less tired this semester, or maybe I just have less down-time in which to be tired. I have consciously been trying to get more sleep, but sometimes I just can’t help it. I’ve been drinking more coffee, too. I’m not so proud of that one, but whatever it takes, right?
I’ve been so busy that I’ve rarely had free time during the week. Except for the occasional Doctor Who episode, most everything I plan to do gets pushed to the weekend. Then, the weekend comes and I don’t get around to half of it. I do waste a lot of time on the weekends, though. I’m working on it. One of these days I’ll figure out how to use my time efficiently and get lots of stuff done. Let’s just hope it’s before the end of the semester.
Glad to hear I’m not the only one feeling stressed with school. I think I’m having a burnout or whatever that buzzword is for college kids who feel like giving up and quitting after putting up with bullshit coursework for far too long.
It’s a surreal feeling to leave home and be on your own and then return to find you have no room anymore. I guess you’ll know what I’m talking about in a couple more years – it’s like the in-between age. My mom’s house isn’t “home” anymore, but I sure as hell don’t think of my 3rd floor walk-up as “home” either.
About the rock pillow: Do you ever watch those shows where they go through old Roman houses like when they uncovered the city of Pompeii? Well, the pillows were part of the bed which was all made of stone. They would cover it with cloth. I thought the same thing when I found that out – how did people manage? It probably cut down on lice and bedbugs back then.
You definitely sound extremely busy with school! I’m glad I never went off to college/university, I would have just died from the workload, I don’t really do well under pressure.
Besides, I like sleeping way too much. XD It’ll be worth it in the end though, and that’s all that matters!
I actually find sleeping on the floor quite comfortable – I sometimes ditch my bed for the floor because apparently it’s good for your back, IDK whether that’s true or not. Eh, it’s not forever though is it? Air mattresses are really comfortable too. :B
God knows how he managed to sleep on a rock as a pillow. Surely that can’t be comfortable and just down right painful? :| I’m definitely not going to find out for myself, mind.
Too much coffee isn’t good for you, no, but it’s fine in moderation and like you said, whatever it takes!
Is there less of a stigma around not going to university in the UK? In the US, you’re basically lowlife trash if you don’t go to uni. And you’d better get at least a four-year degree, or you won’t find a job. It’s bullshit if you ask me!
I’ve also read that it’s better for your back not to sleep on a really squishy mattress. Maybe sleeping on the floor is a good thing!
OMG YOUTUBE. T_T
I started to hate Japanese over time. I don’t know if I could get really into a language, I feel like it’s a lot of hard work. I admire that you still push on! I feel like one of these days I need to immerse myself into some culture and spend time in another country and make myself learn the language. It apparently is the best way to learn but I’m scared to death of trying it.
I didn’t mind sleeping on a low mattress when I had to move my bed around. Sleeping on the floor isn’t that bad in my opinion! And I try to replace my mattress every once in a while because it curves with age. I remember a few times just falling asleep on the floor at James’s house and that was really nice, haha. A rock as a pillow, well I’d rather there be a bit of grass growing on it or something, especially if it’s a rough jagged rock. XD
Time! Time is awesome. I need to get my time nicely packed in boxes.
Maybe Jacob was so tired that he could have fallen asleep on anything, just like one of us university students! I sure as hell have fallen asleep in strange places in my time at college.
For the record, air mattresses are cheap and in my opinion, quite comfy.
“Study break” is one of the biggest oxymoron ever, like “holiday homework”. I’m on a study break now, just less than 3 weeks to my national exam. And the pillow issue intrigues me, too. In ancient times the Chinese used pillows that seemed as hard as rock, too. I never understood how they can just go to sleep like that.
In my school when we’re tired and need a power nap we just rest our heads on the tables and sleep. Not comfortable at all but I guess there’s no choice.