must... stay... awake...

It's graduation time again, and I've dodged every bullet not been invited to one yet this year that my schedule could accomodate. It's not so much the concept of graduation that is the problem; it's the ceremonies themselves.

Inevitably, I find myself fighting sleep from the moment the first speaker hits the stage through the recitation of the graduates' names. I try to think about other things to dodge drowsiness. I pinch myself. I make my eyes go wide open. But without fail, I will catch sight of someone else yawning and BOOM! I'm yawning, too. Repeatedly.

And then people look offended that I don't find their child's graduation the most fascinating event ever. And I feel awful and sorry but mostly sleepy. Really, really sleepy.

oscitancy
noun
1. The act of yawning.
2. The state of being drowsy or inattentive; dullness.
[From oscitant, yawning, from Latin ōscitāns, ōscitant-, present participle of ōscitāre, to yawn : ōs, mouth + citāre, to move.]
"oscitancy." The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. Answers.com 15 May. 2006. http://www.answers.com/topic/oscitancy