Humor 3

It’s 5:45 a.m. and my alarm goes off so I roll out of bed and groggily throw on my gym clothes. Unsuspecting, I jump at the sound of angry mumbles and grunts coming from the other corner of the room. I hastily run out of the room before I burst into hysterics in the otherwise silent room.

I know that people do weird things in their sleep but this particular morning is quite hilarious for anyone who knows my roommate. She’s the definition of an introvert. She’s pretty quiet unless we are in the midst of conversation, which only occurs in the middle of the day. I’m a morning person (as you may have guessed by the time of this event) and she is a night owl (we are talking about up until 3:00 a.m. type of night owl.)

A little over an hour and a half later I come back from my workout and creep back into my room unsuspecting once again and innocently getting ready for class after my shower. Out of nowhere my roommate begins to not only murmur strange things in her sleep but also furiously toss and turn. She would probably hate for me to mention this part but she also proceeded to throw her San Francisco Giants pillow pet across the room. Are you laughing yet? No? Don’t worry. There’s more. The pillow pet hit her lamp on her desk knocking it over. I wish I had this on video y’all. This woke her up, finally.  She was dazed and confused to say the least. She couldn’t resist but burst into pure unbridled laughter in disbelief about the crazy act. What a great start to the day.

It turns out that she, unfortunately, doesn’t do these types of acts on a regular basis but attributes these events to NyQuil she had taken to help combat her 2 week cold. I can vouch for her on this account because I have also experienced terrifying and bizarre dreams when I have been sick and taken NyQuil. Nevertheless, this morning was a definite bonding moment for my roommate and I.

I whole-heartedly agree with the idea that laughter is an effective means for relating to others, especially in awkward moments like these. This is something that she and I still talk about, laugh about, and tell our friends about. Personally, I still wonder what she is secretly so angry about or what strange dreams the magic that is Nyquil unleashed from her subconscious. (That’s a bit Freudian I suppose.)

At the risk of beating a dead horse I think talking about the role of cognitive shift in this situation is fitting because, as always, it is applicable. When you are half-awake in a stupor looking for your left sock and right shoe to drag your tired self to the gym about the last thing I would ever expect would have been any sign of life from my resting roommate. Literally I would expect a hurricane (yes, I know that’s highly improbable in Fort Worth so please roll with the exaggeration) to hit my dorm room before I would expect for her to say anything at this time of the day. Boom, there’s the cognitive shift. I especially didn’t expect for this to happen more than once, and in the same day.

Although it was fun to think my roommate has these type of outbursts on a regular basis, our common bond in our bizarre NyQuil outcomes has become a bonding point for the two of us. It also enhances the humor factor for this situation because instead of thinking about it in a superiority theory manner I keep wondering what I am like in this state of mind/sleep. Although it’s fun to laugh at her, I don’t well superior at all but more bonded with her and curious. There are many humorous theories and forces at play in that morning’s events but as I look back on it all I really can do is kick myself for not having the state of mind to grab my phone and capture some of this glorious occurrence on tape.