The legendary head bob

Lately I have become accustomed to the notorious head-bob. You know when you are really sleepy, yet you’re fighting it, your head starts to bob like a bobble-head, well that is what is happing to me. I have been suffering from insomnia the last couple nights and because of my work ethic I have tried to be in my office by 8:00 am. Out of the last three days I have been here at 8:00 am one day and 9:30 am the other two days. This isn’t too bad since I haven’t been sleeping at night. To make matters worse, I am reading scientific articles. In general I enjoy reading these papers but they aren’t the most exciting reads. They’re clear and concise which reduces any descriptive detail, making them more of a dry read. I learn so much when I read them, but I just cannot get into them. Lately, when I have been reading them, I have almost fallen asleep. Actually I did once. Thankfully my desk is at the back of my office and is separated from the rest of the room by a large shelf. This was handy because nobody could see me sprawled out on my desk sleeping! I usually catch myself doing the head bob before I jerk myself up and re-read the boring paragraph that almost put me to sleep.

In the past I have performed the bobble-head maneuver on many occasions. One in particular sticks out. I was fishing with my dad one morning on Georgian Bay. I believe it may have been during on of Owen Sounds annual Salmon Spectacular Derbies that we participate in. It was ca. 4:00 am (I cannot remember the exact time) and my dad was driving the boat and I was watching our fishing lines. He noticed that I was a little tired and asked if I wanted to go into the cubby (a little room at the front of the boat) and take a nap. I quickly said no and told him that I would watch the polls so that if a fish bit I would be able to get to the poll fast. He continued to tell me that he can drive and watch the lines because we weren’t going fast and there wasn’t a boat in front of us. But I still said refused his kind appeal because one of the best things about fishing is when you first see the fish take the bait and the tip of your poll bounces to the weight of the fish. You have to jump up, grab the poll, keep the tip up to make sure the hook is set and then reel in like mad (well as long as the fish isn’t taking your line). I guess my dad had been watching my head bob for some time which is why he asked me if I wanted a nap. He was laughing at me because he said that he could see how I was powerfully trying to concentrate on the line yet fighting sleep. I guess my head would suddenly drop and then I would hastily swing it up and look at the line again, trying to adjust my eyes. I did this for about 15 minutes before he said something. I think I remember almost falling over onto the deck as I was consequently tired. With that, I decide to take a nap! Then sometime into my nap, whether it was 5 or 20 minutes, my dad hollered at me to come out and drive the boat since he had a fish on his line. I jumped up fast (hitting my head on something) and took the wheel and maneuvered the boat so that dad could bring in the fish. Oh and what a great fish it was. I think it was a little over 20 pounds! Yum and it tasted even better.