Talk About Sleep

'Climb the stairs up to my room
Sleep away the afternoon'
——Barenaked Ladies, From Pinch Me

I really used to hate sleeping in the afternoon.  I felt, I’ll miss out on a lot of things if I did.  When I was a kid, I really envy my neighbors whose parents do not force them to take an afternoon nap.  Well, some of them don’t take afternoon naps because they have to run errands for their parents.  I have friends who used to sell banana-cues—I don’t know how to spell it—and other snacks at around 2 or 3 in the afternoon.  Some friends are just too lucky their parents are too lenient.

I hated the siesta because cartoons usually air at around 3 or 4 in the afternoon and some as early as 2.  Also, my friends are either playing hide-and-seek or catching bugs in the open space a few meters from our house.  My parents compelled me to rest in the afternoon.  If my parents were not around, my uncle or any other relative would force me to.  I remember, several times, how I pretended to sleep and waited for my parents to doze off.  If they did fall asleep ahead of me, I would stealthily go out and play.  If my parents woke up and found out I escaped, one thing’s for sure, I’ll be hit by a stick. 

When I was in high school, my parents no longer forced me to sleep in the afternoon.  I and my friends agreed, ‘High school students don’t take siestas.’  Our afternoons were busy; but we were no longer catching bugs or running around dirty and sweaty.  Our afternoons were spent in the internet cafes.  StarCraft, Diablo and Counter Strike kept us occupied in the afternoon.  Also, there was the occasional p***; which we had to view secretly.  If not facing a computer in the cafe, we were in the mall either for a movie or arcade games. 

Came college, I learned to love afternoon naps.  Guess you’ll never learn how to love siesta until you’re older.   As much as I love to sleep in the afternoon, I can’t.  Afternoons were no longer free.  Most of my classes were in the afternoon.

How do I spend my afternoons now?  If I am not busy with anything, I’m asleep.  Well, that is because I am jobless as of the moment.  Sometimes, I do feel like not looking for a job because I very much love taking siestas nowadays—lazy me.

I never really loved taking afternoon naps ‘til I was in college.  Now, the thing I very much dreaded when I was a kid is the thing I very much love.  How I wish my afternoons are always free for sleeping.  Then again, it really is impossible.