I'm NOT a morning person. I like sleeping in and staying up late. I love late night TV and cheesy reruns in the middle on the night. I like working until I'm tired and getting up when I'm ready to. If I had my way, I would do something that required an alarm clock maybe once or twice a week. Unfortunately, bills must be paid and the car requires gas. And, frankly, I do like my job. My students are pretty nice, and we're having a good quarter so far. I could just do without the 1-hour commute and the 7:30 am start time.

For the past month I've been trying to change my sleeping habits. I have been setting my alarm for an early hour and making plans to go to bed early. I have even gotten to the point where I stop working at either 10 or 11 every night. But I still haven't been able to manage falling asleep early, unless I'm so completely exhausted that I can't help it. And I still can't wake up early, except on the days that I have to go to work. On the nights before I have to go to work, I am so anxious about waking up on time that I can't sleep and end up getting only about 4 hours of sleep before I crawl out of bed. So when I come back home in the afternoon, I have to take a nap, which, of course, puts my timing off for my sleep time at night.

But I haven't given up. Every night I think, "Tomorrow is the day that I turn into a morning person." I'll let you know how it goes.