Sleepless Nights

Last nite I tried a trick suggested to me by my very brilliant sister, Rachel and stuck a juice bottle into the freezer for several hours. After hanging out in the library till the very last minute, and then taking up residence on a couch in the downstairs lobby where a mosquito or two danced about but the air conditioning still kept me cool enough to think, I finally retrieved my now-frozen bottle and headed up to my perpetual sauna of a room. My roomie was fast asleep with the door wide open and the humidity poured out like a tidal wave, reassuring me that it would be yet another eternal night. Unfortunately the hallway lights are controlled by a central switch and are never ever turned off, and I can only sleep if it's completely dark, so I shut the door on what little cross-wind we could hope to catch and braced myself for the wakefulness that awaited me. Ever the worrywart, I didn't dare to fall asleep clutching the bit of Antarctica that I cradled in my arms, afraid that I would end up with frostbite or a patch of black skin on my arm. But I learned that if you hold a frozen bottle milimeters away from your face, it will actually create a sort of vacuum so that it feels like a tiny spot of airconditioning. It did help (and I'll be freezing two bottles tonight, maybe I should just pack my bed with frozen water bottles!!!) and thankfully I have only 2 and 1/2 nights left. Half a night because Saturday evening I have to be up by 2 am to get to the airport on time. Well, we can look at the bright side of matters: I'm getting adjusted back to Cali time by going to bed around midnight or later every night!