Drowsy detoxing

I decided to go sans caffeine today. I usually get a Pepsi from the awesome soda fountain/machine (featuring the ever-so-rare in LA Sonic-esque crushed ice) around noon, but sometimes I forget until 3 or 4 and then I'm not sleepy until 1, which is bad for waking up at 7. Around 2:30 I visited said soda machine and purchased a "Sierra Mist" instead, thinking the coldness would be a good substitute for the healing magic of caffeine. Well, the cold drink trick was fine and dandy for searching Craigslist for summer jobs, but the departmental colloquium series was another story. An anthropologist gave a talk about similarities between cultures about how shame is expressed. Last week, I commented to a friend how even though the presenter was a smart and savvy dude, his power point lacked finesse in a bad way as he used a white screen with black letters. This week the dude used an overhead!! How many people even remember those? Clearly, you know how this story ends. I pinched the inside of my elbows and bit my tongue in vain for the last half hour of the talk. At some point I remember thinking that the second the talk ended, I would run to my office and curl up on the couch for a quick nap. Bad call-- never think about naps you want to take when you're trying to fend off a nap! During the talk I tested my drowsiness by making a little note on the back of the paper in front of me. It confirmed my total nodding off when I tried to decipher it later. The worst about struggling to stay awake may be that while it's happening you always think no one can tell and that by keeping your head off the table and not drooling, you're really doing a great job. That's not true. They can tell.