things kevin hates

I’m quite fond of sleeping. I don’t understand those work hard/party hard types who push sleep aside and run on some combination of caffeine, cigarettes, and drugs (legal or otherwise). Sleep is amazing, and I often find myself looking for ways to get more sleep.

Back in the day, I was pretty good at being a morning person. I’d wakeup and watch cartoons and SportsCenter and playing video games. Those were the days. But sometime between the beginning and end of my college years, that changed completely. Yes, I can still drag myself out of bed in the morning, but it’s a labor. There is, however, a massive change in our society which could remedy the laments of the non-morning people. That change? The siesta.

Some European countries will have a break of two or three hours in the afternoon. This idea sounds absolutely fantastic. My least favorite time of the work day is the late afternoon—anywhere from 3 to 5 o’clock. My eyelids are heavy, my stomach hurts, my head hurts; it’s miserable. But if I could be taking a nap then? Problem solved. Sure, the entire culture would have to agree to work an hour or two later, and we might decide to work even later so that we can go to bed later and not start working until later in the day. But I think that’d work out okay.

Now, this is obviously something that will take a coordinated effort. I propose that we New Orleanians are perfectly situated to start this trend. We’ve already shown a complete and utter disregard for the work schedules of the rest of America. Sure, some of us have jobs where we have to make phone calls or e-mails to people working normal hours, but if we just call it a long lunch break, that should be no problem, right? And a great many people work for locally-run businesses of various types, so they wouldn’t be beholden to outsiders in making their schedules.

I think the universities would be a good place to start. No more classes from 1 to 3 or 2 to 4 in the afternoon. Offices would close. We could build rooms for naptime. And speaking of naptime, I find it rather ironic that I had quit taking naps by the time I was in kindergarten. That made naptime pointless for me. But when I started taking the occasional nap again (in high school/college), there was no naptime. Once people saw what a good idea the siesta is, it would take off throughout New Orleans. Especially if we couple it with a tradition of eating a nice big lunch (including a few cocktails or glasses of wine, of course). Because nothing says New Orleans like food, booze, and laziness.

Besides, this idea would be good for our health, too, as this Washington Post article points out. It’s really a win-win situation all the way around.