This week, I discovered that the time 4:46am has some sort of significance in my life, because for some insane reason, I would automatically wake up at that time after a long night's battle with staying up.
It happened almost every other day this past week - I had three papers due, on top of which, I had to do rehearsals for the Screenwriting Festival (which concluded last night), and of course, I had to go to class. There was no way I was gonna miss class during 9th Week. My college days are numbered, and I want to squeeze every single moment left - and that includes going to class. I won't be "going to class" for a while after graduation, at least not until film school. And that's not even for another year.
So in the process of finishing up all the things I needed to do, I had to stay up most nights last week and work, work, work. But something peculiar happened every single time I attempted to pull an all-nighter: I'd start falling asleep at around 12am or 1am. It didn't matter how much caffeine I'd had prior to that, my body would shut down automatically. It was weird, falling asleep that early. I was partly mad at myself because I've been pulling all-nighters recently and could usually do without sleep for a maximum of two days. But this was like a mysterious sensation creeping up inside of me - one minute I'm wide awake and on a roll, writing my little heart out; the next minute I'm face down on my desk, my fingers, heavily pressing down on whatever letter I last typed in. I would then abruptly wake up, only to find that not only does my neck hurt, but that I have also managed to deface my paper with a sentence that looks like this: llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll. I knew I was really sleepy. So I'd get my little butt off my computer chair and crawl on top of my bed. I refused to go under the covers because I didn't want myself to think it was time for bed. I attempted to nap- but lord knows I don't nap. I can't nap for the life of me - once I fall asleep, it's over. But I go on top of my comforters anyway and set my alarm for maybe 20 mins. At the end of those 20 mins., I groggily walk back to my desk and attempt to work, only to find that I'd fall right back asleep. So I crawl back on top of my comforters and nap. Then it would happen: panicked, I would jolt up from my bed at exactly (and I mean exactly) 4:46am. Every single time.
I don't know what it is with me or that specific time but somehow my body has found it a convenient wake up time when I'm not running on my regular "body clock schedule". My trusty 'ol roommate said it was because my system was going haywire - I was overworking myself and staying up too late too many times. She says my body clock is confused, so it was trying to make sense of my "new" schedule. I guess it was my body's way of saying, "I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE!". Amazing how our bodies are made.
Fighting off sleep, working hard and rushing to meet deadlines all over the place - that pretty much sums up what this past week was like for me. I'll always remember 4:46am, and maybe I'll use it as an element in my next screenplay. But despite this past week's exhausting events, I still found myself incredibly blessed. The screenplay I've been working on for a year with my screenplay partner Jenny went on to win FIRST PLACE at the Screenwriting Festival this past weekend. It was an amazing feeling, being recognized for the hard work we've done this whole year. It felt just like yesterday when we first thought up our ideas on what our story was going to be about--- and now, many months later, our "little screenplay that could" has grown so much! All in all the festival was an awesome experience, despite the disappointing turn out (none of the agents we wrote to came, but that's Hollywood for ya). Our screenwriting class still had fun, and we supported each other throughout everything. It was definitely a great end to my tiring, stressful 9th week.
Now the countdown begins. I have thirteen days left before graduation!
