For about one term (winter term of my junior year at college to be exact) I had this problem of falling asleep almost uncontrollably in class. In fact, I had fears that I might be suffering from some form of narcolepsy (nothing to do with dead bodies).

I discovered two of my favorite professors during that term, Jim Upshaw and Arnold Ismach, however, not even these gems could keep me awake.

Prof. Upshaw taught what turned out to be one of my favorite classes - Infotainment. During a guest lecture on tabloid journalism I kept falling asleep. It was awful. What was worse was that in order to listen to the lecturer the professor came and sat next to me. So, I remember listening to the lecture and writing down a question I wanted to ask at the end of the lecture. Next, I remember hearing the speaker ask for questions. I raised my hand and asked my question. To which he responded, "That is a very interesting point..." I believe that Prof. Upshaw nudged me and said, "That was very impressive." It wasn't until after I had raised my hand and started speaking that I realized I had slept through the whole thing.

In my Reporting I class with Prof. Ismach we were all sitting at desks with these crappy computers and armless, uncomfortable secretary-chairs. One would think that with no place to set one's elbows and no place to lean that it would be difficult to sleep. For one day's lecture Ismach placed himself directly in front of where I was sitting. I couldn't keep myself from those 15 second cat naps. You know the ones where your eyes just shut and then with a jerking nod you're awake again. Anyway, the topic of the lecture was a little boring and when the class ended Patty, my desk-mate, turned to me and said that she thought the lecture was going to last forever. I agreed and told her I was falling asleep. I asked her if she could tell. "Are you kidding?" she said. "I thought you were going to fall out of your chair."

And, lastly, that term, was Ron Sheriffs's class on Public Broadcasting. Prof. Sheriffs is a droner. He forced us to watch the epic, PBS feature. Martin Chuzzlewitt. It was like four hours long. After it was over he asked us our opinion. As everyone struggled to look awake and smooth out the desktop-graffiti-induced sleep lines from our faces the classroom skinhead began shouting, "That was sooooo boring. I have never been subjected to such a lifeless, monotonous piece of crap such as this. It was sooooo boring that I drew all over my arm. Look!" We all looked and he had penned drawings and poems and whatnot from fingertip to shoulder. It was in this professors office that I had one of my worst sleep episodes. I had to discuss something about my paper. Sheriffs launched into one of his wandering soliloquies about who-knows-what and as I sat there, face-to-face with my professor I could feel my eyes getting unbearable heavy. I began to think, seriously, about what he would do if I just... went... to... sleep. Right there. In his office. I don't remember what I said but I beat feet out of there as fast as I could.

Anyway, that's a sidebar. Steve, thanks for the espresso beans.