Awakening

We all have our alarm clocks, and we all know that when we're comfy in our beds, many of us sleep through them unless they blaring intrusively annoying sounds into our heads at "just five more minutes" before we're ready to wake up. But I've noticed that people who are sleeping in "active environments" always seem to know when to wake up, like in moving vehicles, for example.

Like, when you're driving someone and they fall asleep riding in the car. I mean, there's some mysterious alarm clock that rings in their heads, because they always seem to wake up when you get home. Why is that?? What makes this happen? It's almost foolproof, really. I used to think it was related to having the car stop, and maybe their bodies would sense the stop in motion, but they don't wake when you come to every stoplight. So that couldn't be it. And plus, sometimes they even wake up as you happen to be driving into the parking lot or onto your street or whatever, before you get home, and you're just approaching!

Like when I'm on a plane, I have the special ability to sleep through everything. Everything. (It must be a recessive gene that was passed down from generation to generation. One day, it may come in useful when playing dead around a grizzly or something.) I can sleep through the flight, even take-off and landing. I can get onto the plane, put my food and water where I want it, slap the seatbelt on, watch other people are settling into their seats, and I'm out within 10 minutes. Then I wake up, and we're already in the air!

But there's one thing that I just can't seem to sleep through when I'm jetset: the food. When the food comes, I somehow serendipitously awaken. Dunno why. Sometimes when the cart is at my row, sometimes when the lady is about to pour the tray all over my lap, or even to pass me over and serve my neighbour. Without fail, I could be in dreamy dreamland, and the food comes and I'm awake to eat it! Then, of course, when I'm done ... another 10 minutes and I'm out like a light again (albeit I am a rather dim bulb even when on).

I'm sure this is a genetic feature as well. Like back in the caveman days when those hairy hunchbacked half-apes would be sleeping and sleeping until a mammoth rumbled by and keeled over near their cave. Then they'd skin it, eat it, and go back to sleep until the next mammoth did that. Same deal.