From out of Nowhere

It's funny how memories can just sort of rush back to you for no good reason. I'm finishing up my lunch and reading a blog whose author laments that she's been up for 24 hours and still isn't feeling tired.

This automatically triggered the memory of a phone call from my sister. I was in college at the time and had spent the last 33 hours awake (an uptime record that stands to this day) and working on a binary adder (or maybe a multiplier) for my ECES 301 Digital Lab course. I had gotten to a milestone on the project at one point and decided it was a good time to go back to my dorm and crash. Fully dressed. Face down. On my bed, fortunately, which was still more or less made-looking.

As I lay there, finally preparing to take a much-deserved nap, my sister calls. The conversation that followed was as much a Peanuts talk as I've ever had. I didn't even have the energy to answer the phone: my roommate handed it to me.

Me, exceedingly groggy: "Hello?"

Her: squawk squawk squawk squawk squawk.

Me: "No."

Her: squawk squawk squawk.

Me: "No."

Her: squawk squawk squawk squawk?

Me: "Yes."

Her: squawk. click

To this day I have no recollection what the call was about or what was specifically said. All I know is that I'll never forget how inappropriately timed it was.