Who did that song? The Bangles? Some girl group 20-some years ago.

(OK, I looked it up, and it’s by some one-hit wonder band named “The Vapors.”)

Anyway, I just fell asleep in the work room at the Beijing Science and Technology University gym.

That’s very Japanese. Or very Japanese journalist, from my experience covering world events. Or even major-league baseball.

I don’t know if it’s a japanese cultural thing, taking catnaps whenever the opportunity presents. Perhaps Japanese journalists are so overworked and get so little sleep that the moment they aren’t grinding … they just pass out.

Any bus ride, any spare moment, the Japanese guys are out. Cold. I’m looking at one right now, about 10 feet from me, face on the table. The rest of us are in Beijing. He’s in Dream Land. Has been for a half-hour.

Anyway, that was me, about an hour ago. We’re in the middle of a three-hour break in the taekwondo competition, and I had only four hours sleeps last night, plus I’ve got a cold. I’m wiped. It’s the schedule. There’s no such thing as a regular sked here. Up till 3 a.m. one night, out at 8 a.m. the next morning, etc.

I put my head on my arms … and was thinking I wasn’t nearly comfortable to sleep … until my phone rang after, maybe, 10 minutes of sleep. Probably just as well, because both my arms were going dead.

I’ve always read that catnaps can be surprisingly restorative. It didn’t work for me. Maybe I should try again.