all about sleep (and not)

Do you have a special ability?
My talent is the ability to stay awake for hours. In my book, 24 hours without sleep is a piece of cake. I do it often, without tonic drinks, teas or coffees.

I first discovered this ability when I was 17, thanx to the upcoming SPM which I hadn't been preparing for. It was all worth it. Lucky I've never encountered a dead spirit. The scariest event was when the mice running around my feet but I had to hold my scream because everybody else was sleeping, or that spinster warden would be overly mad at us. And the most disgusting thing was when the dorm cat carried the freshly dead rat into our dorm, with blood trailing on the floor.

How do I do it?
All I need is a constant stimulation, something to be excited about or simply an obligation. Not to forget fear, fear has the same effect on me.

Excitement: Such as gossiping with my girlfriends. I could stay awake watching movies, excited to finish a book, or even playing games! It's not that I refuse to go to bed, I just feel I am not sleepy yet. (Playing games also eliminates hunger pangs, that's a different story altogether.)

Obligation: When I have to finish something because the dateline is very near. It's not that I purposely proscatinate, but what can I say, I work best under pressure.

Fear: This goes hand in hand with obligation. Kalau tertidur during critical moments macam mana? Die-lah for sure!

After I've passed the crucial times, I could tune my brain to relax and fall asleep, just like that!

This leads me to my second special ability. I could sleep in the most uncomfortable situations you could think about.
Since I sometimes don't get enough sleep, I couldn't be fussy on when or where I sleep.

- I could slept with my jeans and shoes on
- I've slept with three people on a single bed
- I've slept at the airport with hard bagpack as my pillow
- I've slept in the cold (this is quite easy because all you want to do is to curl up your body into a ball and the coldness will make you hibernate)
- I could sleep without lying on my back ie: sitting. I've never tried sleeping standing though.
- I could sleep with the TV/ radio and lights switched on
- I could sleep on uneven land or in a tent

To summarise, I will sleep if I decide to, even if I already have enough sleep for the day, which means, I could go on sleeping for 14 hours straight!

You'd find it's easy to wake me up too. Just call my name once or twice and I will be aware of it. You wouldn't find me tossing and turning on the bed asking for 5 more minutes. I could bring myself to rise, unless if I decide there is no strong enough reason to do so (eg: on my day off!)

The only side effect I often get from this bad habit of staying awake for long hours is the ugly raccoon eyes.

I don't like teas, coffees and the likes because
- they make me feel like I have an active bladder
- I'm afraid if I become dependent on them and gradually become resistance to them
- fear of throbbing headaches

I rarely suffer from migraine, but when I do, I find myself couldn't function at all, literally. All I need is a still, quiet, dark, place, a pot besides me in case I vomit, 2-3 Panadols and a few hour of sleep. If I had to move, I need to do it slowly because every motion feels like my brain is being banged to the wall of my skull. Everytime I get the attack, I would imagine the blood vessels to the specific area where the pain is, are being squeezed to the last drop (like Choki Choki), cutting off the supply and making the cells in my brain die a painful death.

Lucky I usually could see it coming and have the time to prepare myself for the worst.

Actually, I was prescribed with Ponstan by my doctor, but I am too scared to take it. (Again, fear of dependence and gradually becoming resistance to it) The name itself suggests it is a quite strong painkiller (stronger than Panadol, weaker than Morphine) which is quite scary for me. Ponstan do sound like 'pengsan'.

Now you know a little bit more about me!