Why No Sleep Stations?

You know what UC Davis needs? A place for sleepy pregnant women to take a nap during the day. My building does have a little alcove with some pillows in it, but it is usually occupied by someone eating lunch or chatting on the phone. I could sleep on the quad since the grass isn't wet but last time I napped out there I was hit by a stray frisbee. It would be so nice if there was a room full of cubicles with beds in them for snoozing. And no creepy undergraduate boys allowed--only pregnant women.

There have been days lately where I've just gone home in the middle of the day to sleep. Doing that makes me feel like such a slacker.

In fact, two weeks ago I was rushing to get to the 2:35pm bus with only a few minutes to spare. In the hallway I ran into my professor who was talking with a prospective student. He stopped me to chat, and asked me to show this gal around our lab since she's interested in using some of the instrumentation we have. I was so tired that I didn't even care when I blurted out "I'm sorry, but I can't. I was going to go home to take a nap. I'm just sooooo tired. But I'll be here all day tomorrow if that would be okay." This girl looked at me like I was crazy (and a total slacker). How was she supposed to know that I'm not a slacker but just an exhausted pregnant lady whose fetus is sucking all the lifeforce out of her?

When I finally got away from them and to the bus station I had missed the friggin' bus. I nearly cried, honestly. So I had to trudge back into lab until the next bus came an hour later (it was too cold and wet to wait outside).

When I got back into lab my labmate, Rebecca, said that she'd just given that same girl a tour of our lab. But she confessed that she'd just had like 4 cups of coffee and was all hyped-up on caffeiene and was talking a mile a minute to this girl. Rebecca said she was very aware that this prospective student wasn't really understanding what the instrumentation was all about because Rebecca wasn't being clear due to her hyperactive state. Haha! I can't imagine what this poor prospective student was thinking about our lab. She was probably thinking "okay, this is NOT a lab I want to work in. The students are either slackers or are completely crazy."

Luckily I was able to help someone with an instrument upstairs during my extra hour so at least I was a little more productive.

But today I'm fighting the urge to go home and sleep with every ounce of energy I still have. Must. Sleep. Soon.