I’ll Just Post It Here

Not necessarily about today. It could be. It could not be.

This Is It

This is for those of you who don’t know.

The Uberman is a sleep schedule designed to maximise efficiency and the number of hours in the day. Instead of sleeping for eight to ten hours of the twenty-four hour day in one large block (‘monophasic’ sleep), the Uberman breaks your sleep up into six twenty- to thirty-minute naps spaced every four hours (‘polyphasic’ sleep).

The sleep deprivation of the initial four to seven days forces your body to adapt. Soon, immediately after you begin to nap, your body goes directly into REM sleep – the most restful of all the sleep cycles. Within about two weeks (results vary, but two weeks would be the maximum), your body has fully adjusted, and as empirical evidence shows, you actually become more rested and more aware than you were before, sleeping monophasically.

There are other cool effects, too. Because REM is not only the most restful state but also the one in which dreams occur, Uberman practitioners report having more dreams, remembering them better, and a having higher percentage of lucid dreams. Another fun effect is that after switching back to monophasic sleep, it appears that your body retains its ability to sleep polyphasically- that is, REM sleep comes a lot easier even on the monophasic cycle, and napping to quickly regain energy is a breeze. Other lasting effects are the ones on dreams. (Because I rarely remember my dreams, this is one I’m particularly looking forward to.)

As for negative effects, the biggest one for me would be the impact on my social life. Since you’re only awake for about three and a half-hour blocks, you have to plan on doing things in that amount of time and that amount of time only. If you skip naps, you will crash harder than if you skip sleep on the monophasic schedule- much harder. Going along with this, you also have to adjust your schedule to fit around sleeping, which makes this impractical for school… Although, if everything works out perfectly, I could theoretically nap at lunchtime and have a nap on either end of school.

The hardest part of this is going to be the adjustment period. I feel that I have enough self-will to make it through (okay, along with an alarm clock on a different floor and a great watch, too), but the task will still be herculean. I’ll be documenting the process… Pretty loosely, especially as time goes on (considering my record), but I might blog more than normal. This will most likely be because I have nothing to do with my time.

Anyway, thanks for reading this if you did, and thanks for supporting me if you will.

Angels & Airwaves

Friday morning was rushed & forgetful. No pillow. No paper. No time. Car ride.

And do you ever lay awake at night?
And do you ever tell yourself, ‘Don’t try.’?

Friday itself was comforting, but out of place, somehow. I didn’t have anything. I wasn’t brave enough to do anything. There was no frisbee.

Don’t try to let yourself down… Don’t try to let yourself down.

Friday night was just like I’d remembered it… The depression set in well enough. I was lucky to have Jim. ‘You still awake?’ No answer. Glad?

And do you ever see yourself in love?
And do you ever take a chance, my love?

Saturday morning wasn’t too tired. Breakfast. No writing. Like always.

Because you know that I will… Because you know that I will.

Saturday itself was normality and repetition. Gaining confidence. Skip. Lurch-skip, out-skip. I didn’t know where love was.

So hear this, please; and watch as your heart speeds up endlessly… And look for the stars as the sun goes down- each breath that you take has a thunderous sound…

Saturday night was bottomless black despair. Po-jazz made me glorious… Then po-jazz made me want to break things. Tree. No sleep. Journal. No sleep. Jim. No sleep. Downstairs. No sleep. Sneak. No sleep. Upstairs. No sleep. Journal. No sleep. Need you… No sleep. Then- Run.

Everything, everything’s magic.

Sunday morning was love, and all was right.

Just sit back and hold on, but hold on tight… Prepare for the best and the fastest ride. Reach out your hand and I’ll make you mine-

Sunday itself was an end to many things. Breakfast. No meeting. Bagpipes. Little arranging. Need us…

Everything, everything’s magic.

‘Til We See The Sudden Light

I discount how much I love popular dance music at times… It’s a strange contrast, when I can say definitively that my favourite artist is Carbon Leaf, and I greatly enjoy Ani and T&S and TCE… Not to mention Wagner and Vivaldi. …You know, my music taste really is just eclectic – Owl City and Paramore start showing up, and I love OK Go and Nightwish, but then Smash Mouth and AC/DC are vying for dominance, and then there was that Reel Big Fish craze, and at times all I really want to listen to is Spanish pop…

Back to the point. One thing you do not usually find in my library is popular [modern] dance. Plenty of dance, yes, but this is from decades past, where generally dancing was the theme of the lyrics, not getting drunk and having sex. (Admittedly on a dance floor, but still.) This is explicable. I don’t like it. I don’t enjoy listening to it. A lot of times, it really makes me sick. Autotuning is great for making fun of the news, but there is a line, and mainstream dance music (in America, anyway) has crossed it. And possibly doubled back to urinate in the spot where it used to be before it spontaneously combusted from so much abuse.

There’s something about dancing, though, that makes it okay. I’ve been to a handful of raves, and a lot of dances, and you know what they play there. It’s all this stuff. And I don’t know exactly why… But I can enjoy it.

Yesterday. I was getting ready to go to Joseph, and decided I wanted to listen to something in the shower. So I turned my speakers all the way up and played this.

Listen to that. (Not too much; your ears might bleed.) That’s horrible. So maybe this whole idea is a lot less explicable than I thought, because I was dancing all the same. I liked it.

Maybe this is just part of a wish that the world would be all about music and dance and art in general.

Just To Enlighten

Pin The Tail

I come in peace, proclaiming that I will not really be blogging much for about a month. NaNoWriMo is upon us, and I shall have little enough time as it is.

I bring a hilarious picture to pacify you.

Have a good month!

A Look 10/23/09

A Look 10/17/09

If someone starts calling me an artist, death will happen.

A Look 10/12/09

Fit of creativity late at night.