Project: LOOP

Well, being a second semester senior is tough.  Five classes: insane amounts of reading, insane amounts of projects that are geared towards seniors’ “advanced skill set,” having a severe case of the dreaded senioritis, all lead to one thing… many sleepless nights.  Unfortunately, I commute to the city, something like an hour and a half train ride on the Metra, and since some classes have been bumped up to inconvenient times, I tend to get up somewhere around 4:30-5:30am depending on which train I need to take.  It also doesn’t help that by nature I’m a night person, and during the weekends I somehow seem to screw up my sleep schedule so that I have no chance of getting more than 4 hours of sleep for Monday.  All of this aside, sleeping on the train is a godsend.  About four years ago, when I first started the dreaded commute, I was a novice.  Bright-eyed, I would think to myself, “Oh Boy! I have all of this free time on the train!  I can read all of those books that I always wanted.”  Fast forward to now, and I think “Maybe I can get an extra hour of sleep.” You may be able to imagine (or not, but if you knew me better, you would know how anal retentive I am and how I tend to have systems), I have developed a sophisticated system for sleeping on the train.  I am on the taller side of life, something like 6′1″ and so the chairs on the Metra trains aren’t exactly my knees’ best friends.  However, there is a ledge under the windows.  I have found that by putting my foot on this ledge, jammed up against the seat in front of me, and having my other leg stick out towards the side of the chair, so that my knee becomes exposed to passing commutes, I am almost able to recline.  (Please note that as I mention all of these details, I refer to being on the upper most level in the single seats.  The method works on the lower seats, as long as you get the window seat, but it’s not as comfortable…  plus you have some stranger sitting next to you while you sleep, not cool.)  With my head back, in an almost unnatural position, I drift off to another land.   

Now you may be asking, “What of your bag? Do you just leave it for all to steal from?”  No.  I keep it under my legs, usually having it rest against my foot by the window.  (Again, please note that I am a light sleeper in such situations, so if someone tries to take my bag, I will wake up noticing that it is not touching me anymore.  Also if you are a heavy sleeper, try sleeping on the train at your own risk; you very well may miss your stop, or have an angry ticket collector.)  “Since you just mentioned this, how do you not miss your stop, or how do you wake up for the ticket collector,” you may be asking.  Well, to the city, I get off at the last stop- no worries of missing that one, and so when the ticket collector comes around, I have been able to attune myself to the clicking of his hole puncher.  When he enters the car and punches tickets, I simply wake up (you may not be so lucky).  The ride home is trickier.  Since tickets are collected as we leave the city, I don’t have the clicking to rely on.  Instead I take my cell phone in hand and set to vibrate.  (Please note that if you have a history of dreaming about things that you are holding and dream reasons why you should let go of them, don’t try this one.)  

These are my secrets to success if you plan on sleeping on the Metra.  Try at your own risk, and beware of small children, people on cell phones and overly loud intercoms.