I fell asleep late and woke up early, resulting in about 2 hours of actual shuteye last night. Too many things going on.But I was delirious all day. I really don't understand how other people do it.
I did manage to drive, interact with people, order a coffee and benefit from its rush for a few hours, and I briefly managed to think. Yes, I wrote a few coherent sentences. But I felt like my head was stuck in a vat of Elmer's glue. Things moved slower, they stuck together, and everything was bathed in a gooey, translucent, white haze of delirious exhaustion.
By early that evening, sleep was pressing upon my brows with the strength and insistence of the scent of a heavy cheese that melted on the seat cushions of your car after being forgotten there one balmy Tuesday last summer, after a potluck picnic where too many people brought cheese and not enough people brought bread so you decided to leave the extra pieces in the car, on a napkin, for a couple of hours. Little did you know it the temperature inside a car can top 120 degrees.
Yes I was so tired, I even wrote a long string of horrible metaphors and repeated myself, that's how tired I was.
I had made plans with a friend of La Divina who's in town for a few weeks from Milano. The idea was to grab a drink together. But around 7, I thought I'd check if we could meet earlier."Can we meet earlier?" I asked, more or less, in choppy Italian.
She didn't answer my message, so I picked her up at 8. And I felt animated and energized! Amazing how some people can have that effect on others.
Gained: No schedule shift, but made a nice new acquaintance.
Really, how do medical residents do it? (Hmmm... a future asking is creeping up! Oh my God! I vow I shall one day ask for this, and find a way to secure legal clearance: Ask a student if I can tag along for an entire hospital shift. What would that be like?!)
