January 30, 2009
Polyphasic Sleep Log
Just gonna spark your curiosity here. I will be uploading a vlog Monday night/Tuesday morning to update you on the upcoming 4 days. Stay tuned.
January 29, 2009
Polyphasic Sleep Log - Day 10
Just another one of those starter days. That's what yesterday turned out to be. Because of my oversleeping the night before, yesterday I happened to be starting over for like the 3rd time. I stuck on my schedule though and fortunately, I'm still getting great sleep during my naps. I actually had my second dream since starting. It was during my first nap of the day and I woke up feeling outstanding and amazingly refreshed. It was awesome. In my second nap of the day, I woke up early, something I haven't done yet, which was pretty cool, and was quite hyper afterward. So the naps are going good. I ate quite a lot last night and was exhausted so I took quite a few naps last night, I think 2 extra, but its better than oversleeping for 8 hours right? So today is my 2nd day after oversleeping, just like Tuesday was, but I feel a lot better than I did on Tuesday because I took those extra naps. So hopefully I'll get into the grooves of things here quickly. I really want to be on this thing for good by next Monday. I'm dedicated and determined, so stay tuned!
January 28, 2009
Polyphasic Sleep Log - Days 8-9
First here is the vlog that I made yesterday morning. I finally was able to get it uploaded. I think it's a lot better than the other ones. Not so boring.
And here is my post from this morning:
Okay this is really getting on my nerves.
Yesterday (Day 9) was one of the hardest days so far. Because I decided to sleep normally over the weekend, basically I was restarting on Monday, so Tuesday became the second hump day. It was miserable. I could barely keep my eyes open, but I made it through the day and after hitting the gym at around 9pm, I felt really good. Apparently not good enough, though. I overslept yet again. I don't know what it is, but its really making me made. I get to where I think I'm about to make a big step in getting accustomed to the cycle and then I oversleep. How am I supposed to get used to it if I can't get past just a few days without oversleeping! The only positive right now is the fact that I'm getting deep sleep on every nap, but I still don't think they are the best naps I'll be able to get. And without getting past just a few days, I won't know that.
So it's back to square one I suppose. I'll take my naps at 4 hour intervals today, get back on schedule, and then have to go through another hump day tomorrow or the next day (I assume. I only overslept one day so maybe hump day won't be as bad). I really will not accept failure and I can definitely see improvement so I'm going to stick with it until I get it right. Whether it takes me a month to figure it out or not.
So stay tuned, I'm not going anywhere.
And here is my post from this morning:
Okay this is really getting on my nerves.
Yesterday (Day 9) was one of the hardest days so far. Because I decided to sleep normally over the weekend, basically I was restarting on Monday, so Tuesday became the second hump day. It was miserable. I could barely keep my eyes open, but I made it through the day and after hitting the gym at around 9pm, I felt really good. Apparently not good enough, though. I overslept yet again. I don't know what it is, but its really making me made. I get to where I think I'm about to make a big step in getting accustomed to the cycle and then I oversleep. How am I supposed to get used to it if I can't get past just a few days without oversleeping! The only positive right now is the fact that I'm getting deep sleep on every nap, but I still don't think they are the best naps I'll be able to get. And without getting past just a few days, I won't know that.
So it's back to square one I suppose. I'll take my naps at 4 hour intervals today, get back on schedule, and then have to go through another hump day tomorrow or the next day (I assume. I only overslept one day so maybe hump day won't be as bad). I really will not accept failure and I can definitely see improvement so I'm going to stick with it until I get it right. Whether it takes me a month to figure it out or not.
So stay tuned, I'm not going anywhere.
January 26, 2009
Polyphasic Sleep Log - Days 5-7
Sooooo, where to start.
First of all, about my first vlog. WOW. I mean did you guys watch that?? Why did you guys not tell me completely out of my mind I looked!?! I just rewatched it yesterday and could not believe how out of it I liked. Boy I'm glad I didn't upload the unedited video. It was a whole 2 minutes longer, and that was just pauses and me saying "uhhhhh." Yeah, I know. Ridiculous. But watching the second video, I think I made some big improvements, don't you?
Secondly, I kind of like making the videos, but the majority of people have told me they like the posts better, and I guess I can't blame them. I'd rather read a log of this than watch a video of a lunatic blabbering like an idiot. You don't have to be nice, I know that's what it looked like :P So, I will try to keep the videos to a minimum, but when I do make them, I'll do my best to keep it on the exciting side. Add some dancing or something, I don't know. A little spark to keep it interesting.
And finally, the update on the past 3 days. I've come to realize 3 really important things this weekend, both expected and surprising. First, I'm starting to see the difficulties in maintaining this if you have an extremely busy and social (and by social I mean daily, late night partying). If you drink daily, consider this sleeping cycle impossible, at least in the first week. It's not going to work unless you have multiple friends who will drag you out of bed and beat you if you try and go back to sleep. Rush is starting for the Greek life here at the University of Texas and as I'm sure many of you know, big parties are starting to be thrown. I have come to find that this and the polyphasic sleep cycle do not go together in the slightest. If you find yourself even slightly intoxicated, it's going to be quite difficult to wake up. This, unfortunately, is what has happened to be the past two nights. I'm not even a big drinker either. I drink maybe once every couple weeks, 2 or 3 if there are a lot of parties going on that I care to go to, and even when I go to them, I'm not getting drunk. I just don't find it my kind of thing, but even getting slightly tipsy will make it near impossible to wake up. Trust me.
So, what exactly has happened? I slept about 8 hours the past two nights, but in order to keep my body used to the naps and make it easier to get back on schedule, I maintained a strict schedule during the daytime, taking a nap every 4 hours after waking up for a total of 3 naps before going out for the night with friends. What is suprising me is that my body is still adapting and taking the napping well, even with my sleeping at night. What astonishes me, though, is that I dont feel any more awake during the day having had 8 hours of sleep as with three more 30 minute naps. In fact, I think I may feel more tired during the day after having a night of sleep. Is that crazy? Or am I crazy. I'm pretty sure my mental capabilites are just fine at this point in time, so I'm gonna have to go with the first one. This may be the first indications of the increased level of alertness brought with the polyphasic sleep cycle. I'm eager to see this develop.
The third thing that surprises me is how easy I can jump back and forth, and after only one week, no less! The past 3 nights I have taken a full night of rest, maintained my naps, and right now I'm heading back on schedule and feel perfectly fine. I have no doubts that I'll be able to get through the night and get back on my polyphasic schedule. Surprising indeed. Just think of the possibilities. Keep a polyphasic sleep schedule and when social or work obligations just can't cooperate, jump to monophasic, take a few naps, rinse, dry, and put away! I question whether I'm able to do this because it's still only a week from when I was fully on a monophasic schedule, but after I fully adapt, I'll be sure to test it out.
That pretty much covers how my schedule went, but I've got some more to say. My most exciting news is I had my first dream during a nap today! By that I mean I had my first dream during a nap, not my first dream ever, and it happened to be during a nap. Excuse the bad wording :) It was quite clear and I woke up with full recollection of it. Probably because my alarm interrupted it, but still. That tells me 1) I'm for sure hitting REM, but 2) I'm not getting a full cycle in. At least not all the time. Nevertheless, it was an exciting moment for me, more so because I haven't had a dream that I remembered having in quite some time. Months actually. Saddening, I know.
Anyways, that pretty much covers anything. I'm excited for this week. You guys have no idea how much this sleep schedule has changed me for the better. First, the obvious of having more time. So often do we want more time, wish we could buy more of it. I feel like I've cheated. I've gotten it for free! I really can't express how awesome it is to finally have all the time I need and then some. Instead of trying to figure out how I'm going to get everything done in so little time, I now have to try and figure out what I'm going to get done in so much time. It's absolutely spectacular. Second, despite having time coming out of my ears, its actually made me a better planner. Even though I could just find random things to get done at different times, I've found that I'm starting to plan things out, down to the minute, to make the most of all the extra time I have. This is certainly not something I planned to do nor expected to happen, but I'm glad it has. I feel like I'm actually using my time wisely, something on my New Year's Resolutions list. It's a great feeling, but I've definitely got to make sure I continue it. It helps me a lot and I don't want to lose that. I've really found a gold mine here with this polyphasic sleeping and I'm sure I haven't even scraped the tip of the iceberg on what I can do, accomplish, and experience with the whole thing. Stay tuned.
First of all, about my first vlog. WOW. I mean did you guys watch that?? Why did you guys not tell me completely out of my mind I looked!?! I just rewatched it yesterday and could not believe how out of it I liked. Boy I'm glad I didn't upload the unedited video. It was a whole 2 minutes longer, and that was just pauses and me saying "uhhhhh." Yeah, I know. Ridiculous. But watching the second video, I think I made some big improvements, don't you?
Secondly, I kind of like making the videos, but the majority of people have told me they like the posts better, and I guess I can't blame them. I'd rather read a log of this than watch a video of a lunatic blabbering like an idiot. You don't have to be nice, I know that's what it looked like :P So, I will try to keep the videos to a minimum, but when I do make them, I'll do my best to keep it on the exciting side. Add some dancing or something, I don't know. A little spark to keep it interesting.
And finally, the update on the past 3 days. I've come to realize 3 really important things this weekend, both expected and surprising. First, I'm starting to see the difficulties in maintaining this if you have an extremely busy and social (and by social I mean daily, late night partying). If you drink daily, consider this sleeping cycle impossible, at least in the first week. It's not going to work unless you have multiple friends who will drag you out of bed and beat you if you try and go back to sleep. Rush is starting for the Greek life here at the University of Texas and as I'm sure many of you know, big parties are starting to be thrown. I have come to find that this and the polyphasic sleep cycle do not go together in the slightest. If you find yourself even slightly intoxicated, it's going to be quite difficult to wake up. This, unfortunately, is what has happened to be the past two nights. I'm not even a big drinker either. I drink maybe once every couple weeks, 2 or 3 if there are a lot of parties going on that I care to go to, and even when I go to them, I'm not getting drunk. I just don't find it my kind of thing, but even getting slightly tipsy will make it near impossible to wake up. Trust me.
So, what exactly has happened? I slept about 8 hours the past two nights, but in order to keep my body used to the naps and make it easier to get back on schedule, I maintained a strict schedule during the daytime, taking a nap every 4 hours after waking up for a total of 3 naps before going out for the night with friends. What is suprising me is that my body is still adapting and taking the napping well, even with my sleeping at night. What astonishes me, though, is that I dont feel any more awake during the day having had 8 hours of sleep as with three more 30 minute naps. In fact, I think I may feel more tired during the day after having a night of sleep. Is that crazy? Or am I crazy. I'm pretty sure my mental capabilites are just fine at this point in time, so I'm gonna have to go with the first one. This may be the first indications of the increased level of alertness brought with the polyphasic sleep cycle. I'm eager to see this develop.
The third thing that surprises me is how easy I can jump back and forth, and after only one week, no less! The past 3 nights I have taken a full night of rest, maintained my naps, and right now I'm heading back on schedule and feel perfectly fine. I have no doubts that I'll be able to get through the night and get back on my polyphasic schedule. Surprising indeed. Just think of the possibilities. Keep a polyphasic sleep schedule and when social or work obligations just can't cooperate, jump to monophasic, take a few naps, rinse, dry, and put away! I question whether I'm able to do this because it's still only a week from when I was fully on a monophasic schedule, but after I fully adapt, I'll be sure to test it out.
That pretty much covers how my schedule went, but I've got some more to say. My most exciting news is I had my first dream during a nap today! By that I mean I had my first dream during a nap, not my first dream ever, and it happened to be during a nap. Excuse the bad wording :) It was quite clear and I woke up with full recollection of it. Probably because my alarm interrupted it, but still. That tells me 1) I'm for sure hitting REM, but 2) I'm not getting a full cycle in. At least not all the time. Nevertheless, it was an exciting moment for me, more so because I haven't had a dream that I remembered having in quite some time. Months actually. Saddening, I know.
Anyways, that pretty much covers anything. I'm excited for this week. You guys have no idea how much this sleep schedule has changed me for the better. First, the obvious of having more time. So often do we want more time, wish we could buy more of it. I feel like I've cheated. I've gotten it for free! I really can't express how awesome it is to finally have all the time I need and then some. Instead of trying to figure out how I'm going to get everything done in so little time, I now have to try and figure out what I'm going to get done in so much time. It's absolutely spectacular. Second, despite having time coming out of my ears, its actually made me a better planner. Even though I could just find random things to get done at different times, I've found that I'm starting to plan things out, down to the minute, to make the most of all the extra time I have. This is certainly not something I planned to do nor expected to happen, but I'm glad it has. I feel like I'm actually using my time wisely, something on my New Year's Resolutions list. It's a great feeling, but I've definitely got to make sure I continue it. It helps me a lot and I don't want to lose that. I've really found a gold mine here with this polyphasic sleeping and I'm sure I haven't even scraped the tip of the iceberg on what I can do, accomplish, and experience with the whole thing. Stay tuned.
January 23, 2009
Polyphasic Sleep Questions
I got some good questions from a friend this morning so I decided it'd be a good idea to answer them here. Feel free to post your own questions in the comments or email me at bklauck@gmail.com
What's the point of it? Does it let you be more productive? Cause in a work environment outside of college it seems kinda ineffective
It definitely lets you be more productive. At this point in time, I'm taking six 30 minute naps a day. That's just 3 hours of rest a day. I say rest because the first couple days thats really all you're getting. Your body isn't getting into REM at this point so you're not really getting any sleep. Once your body learns to fall into REM right away, rather than after 90 minutes which is the normal amount of time, you get deep sleep all 30 minutes, making it feel like you're getting 1-2 hours of really good sleep. And you're doing this every 4 hours. Once your body adapts, it starts needing less. You can even get down to about 15-20 minutes per nap, totally only 90-120 minutes of sleep a day! For anyone that hasn't tried it, and I mean tried it to the point that youre actually getting REM during your naps, which I started getting the majority of the time yesterday (I got my first nap with REM on the 3rd day) its hard to imagine that you could actually function on that small of an amount of sleep, but trust me, its possible. Yesterday I got my 3 hours of sleep and I felt quite alright. And this is on the 4th day! I'm still recovering from sleep deprivation that you can't even imagine! By the time I took my nap at 2:30 last night that I overslept on, I had gone just shy of 90 hours since the last time I had taken a full night of sleep. The sleep deprivation was really adding up, but it forced my body to learn how to enter REM quickly, making my most recent naps help me recover from the sleep deprivation. To answer your questions, with 5 extra hours a day of available working time, I have an abundance of opportunity to work on things. But it really seems even more than that. 30 minutes out of your day every few hours for a nap is nothing. How many times a day do you find you've wasted 30 minutes doing absolutely nothing or doing something that was completely pointless? I know I found myself doing that all the time and for longer periods of time. Because these naps are only 30 naps, it literally feels like I'm up all day long, that there is never a time I can't work on something. And because I'm sleeping every 4 hours, I'll be just as awake at 3am that I am at 6pm. I don't have to worry about a long day of classes (which I have made this year; my Tuesday/Thursday classes run from 930-5 with a break in the middle of the day), because I have all night to study or have fun. Its amazing. Not only that, but I'm never too tired to work out and I have even more time to work out. I'm working out twice a day, every day now!
I chose to try this sleep cycle strictly out of curiosity. Not only did I want to see if I could do it and how I could fit it in my schedule, but how it would change the way I live and if it would benefit me. After 4 days, I'm really starting to see how it can. I have tons of time to be more productive, to get the things done that I need to get done while still having tons of time for the things that I want to get done. I agree with you on the fact that outside of college, it doesn't seem very effective, but if your schedule allows for it, there's nothing better. Once I get accustomed to it (which I will, I'm not giving up), I plan to continue with it til the summer and then try to adapt to the Dymaxion schedule, which is 4 naps a day (every 6 hours). This should make it a lot more applicable to more types of schedules. That's a long ways off though. I'm completely happy with how it is turning out so far. I hope that answers your questions.
What's the point of it? Does it let you be more productive? Cause in a work environment outside of college it seems kinda ineffective
It definitely lets you be more productive. At this point in time, I'm taking six 30 minute naps a day. That's just 3 hours of rest a day. I say rest because the first couple days thats really all you're getting. Your body isn't getting into REM at this point so you're not really getting any sleep. Once your body learns to fall into REM right away, rather than after 90 minutes which is the normal amount of time, you get deep sleep all 30 minutes, making it feel like you're getting 1-2 hours of really good sleep. And you're doing this every 4 hours. Once your body adapts, it starts needing less. You can even get down to about 15-20 minutes per nap, totally only 90-120 minutes of sleep a day! For anyone that hasn't tried it, and I mean tried it to the point that youre actually getting REM during your naps, which I started getting the majority of the time yesterday (I got my first nap with REM on the 3rd day) its hard to imagine that you could actually function on that small of an amount of sleep, but trust me, its possible. Yesterday I got my 3 hours of sleep and I felt quite alright. And this is on the 4th day! I'm still recovering from sleep deprivation that you can't even imagine! By the time I took my nap at 2:30 last night that I overslept on, I had gone just shy of 90 hours since the last time I had taken a full night of sleep. The sleep deprivation was really adding up, but it forced my body to learn how to enter REM quickly, making my most recent naps help me recover from the sleep deprivation. To answer your questions, with 5 extra hours a day of available working time, I have an abundance of opportunity to work on things. But it really seems even more than that. 30 minutes out of your day every few hours for a nap is nothing. How many times a day do you find you've wasted 30 minutes doing absolutely nothing or doing something that was completely pointless? I know I found myself doing that all the time and for longer periods of time. Because these naps are only 30 naps, it literally feels like I'm up all day long, that there is never a time I can't work on something. And because I'm sleeping every 4 hours, I'll be just as awake at 3am that I am at 6pm. I don't have to worry about a long day of classes (which I have made this year; my Tuesday/Thursday classes run from 930-5 with a break in the middle of the day), because I have all night to study or have fun. Its amazing. Not only that, but I'm never too tired to work out and I have even more time to work out. I'm working out twice a day, every day now!
I chose to try this sleep cycle strictly out of curiosity. Not only did I want to see if I could do it and how I could fit it in my schedule, but how it would change the way I live and if it would benefit me. After 4 days, I'm really starting to see how it can. I have tons of time to be more productive, to get the things done that I need to get done while still having tons of time for the things that I want to get done. I agree with you on the fact that outside of college, it doesn't seem very effective, but if your schedule allows for it, there's nothing better. Once I get accustomed to it (which I will, I'm not giving up), I plan to continue with it til the summer and then try to adapt to the Dymaxion schedule, which is 4 naps a day (every 6 hours). This should make it a lot more applicable to more types of schedules. That's a long ways off though. I'm completely happy with how it is turning out so far. I hope that answers your questions.
Polyphasic Sleep Log - Day 4
I don't know what happened :(
I started a nap last night at 2:30 and didn't wake up until now. 6 hours later. I have no idea how that happened. I don't remember turning off my alarm or anything. It really disappoints me because yesterday was my best day by far. I really felt like I was over the hump. I took a nap yesterday morning at 5am after making the vlog and then went to the gym. My nap after that, which I took at 8:15 I believe, was amazing. Fell asleep quickly and slept deeply, waking up at 8:45 thinking it was a couple hours later and feeling really refreshed. Pretty darn positive I was in REM. My next nap at around 1 or so was pretty good too. Very deep, but I woke up a bit groggy. My evening nap was alright and then I guess it got messed up. I think it has to do with that I went out to dinner last night and ate quite a bit. I bet my body just didn't want to wake up when it had all that food to digest (I've stopped the vegetarian experiment for now. I just don't have the knowledge or the access to food to get all the nutrients I need. I'm going to save this experiment for another time). I guess I really need to make sure I eat smaller meals and never eat before a nap. I think another thing would be exercising right after a nap, rather than right before one. Today is Friday and I have just one class today so I'm going to crack down and get on schedule. I think if I do that I'll get back to where I was pretty quickly. I don't think I've lost the ability to have the quality naps I need and now I've recovered from the sleep deprivation, so we'll see. I think I should get back to where I was by tomorrow morning and then I should be set. I'm pretty mad at myself because I was doing so well and had finally felt like I was on my way to success. I guess I just lost focus. Anyways, I'll post a vlog or blog tonight and let you guys know how it goes.
I started a nap last night at 2:30 and didn't wake up until now. 6 hours later. I have no idea how that happened. I don't remember turning off my alarm or anything. It really disappoints me because yesterday was my best day by far. I really felt like I was over the hump. I took a nap yesterday morning at 5am after making the vlog and then went to the gym. My nap after that, which I took at 8:15 I believe, was amazing. Fell asleep quickly and slept deeply, waking up at 8:45 thinking it was a couple hours later and feeling really refreshed. Pretty darn positive I was in REM. My next nap at around 1 or so was pretty good too. Very deep, but I woke up a bit groggy. My evening nap was alright and then I guess it got messed up. I think it has to do with that I went out to dinner last night and ate quite a bit. I bet my body just didn't want to wake up when it had all that food to digest (I've stopped the vegetarian experiment for now. I just don't have the knowledge or the access to food to get all the nutrients I need. I'm going to save this experiment for another time). I guess I really need to make sure I eat smaller meals and never eat before a nap. I think another thing would be exercising right after a nap, rather than right before one. Today is Friday and I have just one class today so I'm going to crack down and get on schedule. I think if I do that I'll get back to where I was pretty quickly. I don't think I've lost the ability to have the quality naps I need and now I've recovered from the sleep deprivation, so we'll see. I think I should get back to where I was by tomorrow morning and then I should be set. I'm pretty mad at myself because I was doing so well and had finally felt like I was on my way to success. I guess I just lost focus. Anyways, I'll post a vlog or blog tonight and let you guys know how it goes.
January 22, 2009
Polyphasic Sleep Log - Day 2 Vlog
Here is the vlog I said I'd post yesterday. This should have gone up at 8am on the Jan 21.
January 20, 2009
Polyphasic Sleep Log - Day 2
The classes are set and the sleep transformation is underway. There is no going back.
I was able to work my magic with last minute class registration this morning and get quite a good schedule. I’ve got Macroeconomics and History of Modern Science on MWF while TTh are graced by American Government, Intro to Problem Solving and Programming, and Cognition/Human Learning/Motivation. I also managed to get it arranged nicely so that I have the perfect opportunities for workouts and my naps under the Uberman schedule. Persistance and patience paid off. I actually have a good schedule. I am trying to get something else switched with the History of Modern Science class though. We’ll see about that tomorrow. But anyways, I know what you all want to hear about.
Despite the fact that I get lapses of intense tiredness, my adaptation thus far to Uberman’s 6 nap sleep schedule has been progressing wonderfully. I took my third nap since starting at 2:05 this morning. It was a bit hard again falling asleep, but I’m pretty sure I did. It still felt that I was only half asleep, though, as if my mind shut down to a certain extent and my body just didn't do anything. I really didn’t have any trouble staying up, which I thought was odd, being in the middle of the night when I’d normally be sleeping, but I guess the “naps” were actually helping. I really focused on staying busy and it helped a lot. Things that I should have gotten done days ago I was now getting accomplished, simply because I HAD to have something to do other than watching TV or playing video games. I would have fallen asleep if that's all I did. Heck I even did laundry at 4:30 in the morning. I’m quite curious as to what the security guard thought as I came out of the elevator with my bag of laundry at that time. After about 3 hours the urge to go to sleep started to set in, but it wasn’t overwhelming. I stretched my waking ours until 6:45, took my 30 minute nap, and woke up just fine at 7:15.
I had a lot to do this morning, with registering and all, so it wasn’t too hard. I guess now would be a good time to reveal something that might surprise you. I’ve been really into a lot of self improvement tasks lately. I guess coming into 2009 I just felt like I really wanted to make some leaps and bounds in the way I was living. I already lived pretty well, but my life of basketball has taught me that there is always room for improvement. I’m not just talking about health improvement, but complete mental improvement. Gaining confidence, focus, and self-discipline as well as more skills that I’ve been wanting to add to my arsenal lately are all on this year’s menu. But anyways, after reading Steve Pavlina’s blog, I started to get interested in the lifestyle of being a vegetarian. Steve mentioned often how being a vegan seemed to help him adapt to the sleep schedule, as the lighter eating habits were more friendly with less sleeping. I started looking a little more into it, as I’ve never actually even given it a thought, and started realizing all the benefits of this lifestyle. Studies say that not only odes it reduce the risk of a countless number of diseases, disorders, and medical conditions, including high cholesterol and heart problems, which both run in my family, but can actually increase one’s lifespan anywhere from 4 to an astounding 10 years. I was shocked, to say the least. Anyone that knows me knows that I love to eat and boy to I love my meat (excuse the rhyme). I’ve always thought anyone who was a vegetarian or vegan was completely insane. How could you not want to eat meat?? I thought it was all about saving the animals. While I’m all for preventing cruelty to animals, I don't think that there is anything wrong with using them for animals. However, when I read the health benefits, I was immediately intrigued. I’m always looking for ways to make my immune system stronger and my health better overall, but I never realized these eating habits could do so much and because of this, I have decided to at least try it out for 30 days. I may continue after that, I may not. Not having chicken, steak, or BBQ again is completely beyond my imagination, but bettering my health is not, so we’ll see how that turns out. I could never go vegan; I love milk too much. We go way back, but I’m willing to give the vegetarian lifestyle a try. But back to my sleep log.
Breakfast was tough. I don't always have meat for breakfast, but just seeing it and not being able to eat it was harder than I could have imagined. I got through it though. Had me a nice big plate of fruit, bread, and a muffin with my oh so delicious milk.
My next nap came at 10:45. Nothing special there, but I think right here is a good place to clarify a difference in approach for Steve Pavlina. Whereas Steve was concerned with exerting much physical output, I haven’t even given it a thought, nor do I intend do. I think it is helping me a lot. As I mentioned before, I’m sticking pretty close to my workout schedule and its not an easy one, I’ll say that. I don’t think taking this out of my schedule just because I’m changing my sleeping would help, and in fact, I think it would make it tougher. I think the workouts keep my blood flowing throughout the day and prevent my cells from becoming to sedentary. I’m not doctor, but that's how I feel. I haven’t noticed any decrease in output ability either, which makes me quite happy.
So anyways, after my nap I made a trip to the gym for a good workout, shot back to my room for a shower and another nap at 1:15. I experienced something interesting with this nap though, something I haven’t experienced before. It may be that my mind is showing its first vague signs of adaptation, or it may just be a side effect of not enough sleep and higher blood pressure from working out, but when I tried to fall asleep, not only did a fall asleep within about 3-5 minutes, but I had the sensation of being pulled into sleep. Something I’ve noticed during these naps is that with my focus on getting myself to fall asleep, I’m able to relatively til what happens as my mind drifts slowing off into dreamland. During this nap, however, this drifting occurred within a few seconds, as if after laying there for a few minutes, my mind decided to quickly suck me into sleep. It felt quite interesting and I made the effort to let go and let it happen so that I didn't interfere with it, and I think it worked, because I fell asleep within a minute after this. It was all quite astonishing and it’ll be interesting to experience everything else that will be happening in the next few naps, days, and weeks.
After this nap, I had class from 2-5, had little to no trouble staying awake, and then took another nap at about 5:40. Just like my other naps so far, I didn't have any trouble waking up from this one, but I’m starting to be more tired after waking up and the stretches between naps are beginning to be tougher as well. We’ll see how that develops.
That pretty much covers how my day and polynapping have gone in the past 20 or so hours. Stay tuned as I will be posting a vlog (video log for those that don’t know the lingo) later tonight (you’ll probably want to just check in the morning) with a little bit about what I’ve been doing and how I’m reacting.
Just as a side note though. During my spare time last night, I got back onto practicing with the Dvorak keyboard layout. Its coming along nicely. Very nice way to pass the time.
Currently Listening To
Gorilla Zoe feat. Lil Wayne – Lost
Ne-Yo – Mad
I was able to work my magic with last minute class registration this morning and get quite a good schedule. I’ve got Macroeconomics and History of Modern Science on MWF while TTh are graced by American Government, Intro to Problem Solving and Programming, and Cognition/Human Learning/Motivation. I also managed to get it arranged nicely so that I have the perfect opportunities for workouts and my naps under the Uberman schedule. Persistance and patience paid off. I actually have a good schedule. I am trying to get something else switched with the History of Modern Science class though. We’ll see about that tomorrow. But anyways, I know what you all want to hear about.
Despite the fact that I get lapses of intense tiredness, my adaptation thus far to Uberman’s 6 nap sleep schedule has been progressing wonderfully. I took my third nap since starting at 2:05 this morning. It was a bit hard again falling asleep, but I’m pretty sure I did. It still felt that I was only half asleep, though, as if my mind shut down to a certain extent and my body just didn't do anything. I really didn’t have any trouble staying up, which I thought was odd, being in the middle of the night when I’d normally be sleeping, but I guess the “naps” were actually helping. I really focused on staying busy and it helped a lot. Things that I should have gotten done days ago I was now getting accomplished, simply because I HAD to have something to do other than watching TV or playing video games. I would have fallen asleep if that's all I did. Heck I even did laundry at 4:30 in the morning. I’m quite curious as to what the security guard thought as I came out of the elevator with my bag of laundry at that time. After about 3 hours the urge to go to sleep started to set in, but it wasn’t overwhelming. I stretched my waking ours until 6:45, took my 30 minute nap, and woke up just fine at 7:15.
I had a lot to do this morning, with registering and all, so it wasn’t too hard. I guess now would be a good time to reveal something that might surprise you. I’ve been really into a lot of self improvement tasks lately. I guess coming into 2009 I just felt like I really wanted to make some leaps and bounds in the way I was living. I already lived pretty well, but my life of basketball has taught me that there is always room for improvement. I’m not just talking about health improvement, but complete mental improvement. Gaining confidence, focus, and self-discipline as well as more skills that I’ve been wanting to add to my arsenal lately are all on this year’s menu. But anyways, after reading Steve Pavlina’s blog, I started to get interested in the lifestyle of being a vegetarian. Steve mentioned often how being a vegan seemed to help him adapt to the sleep schedule, as the lighter eating habits were more friendly with less sleeping. I started looking a little more into it, as I’ve never actually even given it a thought, and started realizing all the benefits of this lifestyle. Studies say that not only odes it reduce the risk of a countless number of diseases, disorders, and medical conditions, including high cholesterol and heart problems, which both run in my family, but can actually increase one’s lifespan anywhere from 4 to an astounding 10 years. I was shocked, to say the least. Anyone that knows me knows that I love to eat and boy to I love my meat (excuse the rhyme). I’ve always thought anyone who was a vegetarian or vegan was completely insane. How could you not want to eat meat?? I thought it was all about saving the animals. While I’m all for preventing cruelty to animals, I don't think that there is anything wrong with using them for animals. However, when I read the health benefits, I was immediately intrigued. I’m always looking for ways to make my immune system stronger and my health better overall, but I never realized these eating habits could do so much and because of this, I have decided to at least try it out for 30 days. I may continue after that, I may not. Not having chicken, steak, or BBQ again is completely beyond my imagination, but bettering my health is not, so we’ll see how that turns out. I could never go vegan; I love milk too much. We go way back, but I’m willing to give the vegetarian lifestyle a try. But back to my sleep log.
Breakfast was tough. I don't always have meat for breakfast, but just seeing it and not being able to eat it was harder than I could have imagined. I got through it though. Had me a nice big plate of fruit, bread, and a muffin with my oh so delicious milk.
My next nap came at 10:45. Nothing special there, but I think right here is a good place to clarify a difference in approach for Steve Pavlina. Whereas Steve was concerned with exerting much physical output, I haven’t even given it a thought, nor do I intend do. I think it is helping me a lot. As I mentioned before, I’m sticking pretty close to my workout schedule and its not an easy one, I’ll say that. I don’t think taking this out of my schedule just because I’m changing my sleeping would help, and in fact, I think it would make it tougher. I think the workouts keep my blood flowing throughout the day and prevent my cells from becoming to sedentary. I’m not doctor, but that's how I feel. I haven’t noticed any decrease in output ability either, which makes me quite happy.
So anyways, after my nap I made a trip to the gym for a good workout, shot back to my room for a shower and another nap at 1:15. I experienced something interesting with this nap though, something I haven’t experienced before. It may be that my mind is showing its first vague signs of adaptation, or it may just be a side effect of not enough sleep and higher blood pressure from working out, but when I tried to fall asleep, not only did a fall asleep within about 3-5 minutes, but I had the sensation of being pulled into sleep. Something I’ve noticed during these naps is that with my focus on getting myself to fall asleep, I’m able to relatively til what happens as my mind drifts slowing off into dreamland. During this nap, however, this drifting occurred within a few seconds, as if after laying there for a few minutes, my mind decided to quickly suck me into sleep. It felt quite interesting and I made the effort to let go and let it happen so that I didn't interfere with it, and I think it worked, because I fell asleep within a minute after this. It was all quite astonishing and it’ll be interesting to experience everything else that will be happening in the next few naps, days, and weeks.
After this nap, I had class from 2-5, had little to no trouble staying awake, and then took another nap at about 5:40. Just like my other naps so far, I didn't have any trouble waking up from this one, but I’m starting to be more tired after waking up and the stretches between naps are beginning to be tougher as well. We’ll see how that develops.
That pretty much covers how my day and polynapping have gone in the past 20 or so hours. Stay tuned as I will be posting a vlog (video log for those that don’t know the lingo) later tonight (you’ll probably want to just check in the morning) with a little bit about what I’ve been doing and how I’m reacting.
Just as a side note though. During my spare time last night, I got back onto practicing with the Dvorak keyboard layout. Its coming along nicely. Very nice way to pass the time.
Currently Listening To
Gorilla Zoe feat. Lil Wayne – Lost
Ne-Yo – Mad
Polyphasic Sleep Log - Day 1
I sit here at 1 am in a completely different (and more complicated) situation than I would have imagined. However, other than the fact that I'm mad at myself for not posting the past 2 nights (I consider a few hours ago to be a night also), I'm doing quite alright.
In my last post I told you guys to stay tuned for a post about my New Year's Resolution of switching to a polyphasic sleep schedule. For those of you wondering what the heck this is, polyphasic (poly = many, phasic = phases) breaking up and condensing the normal 8 hour sleep. A few different methods have been made over the years, the Everyman's sleep cycle, consisting of a 3 hour "core nap" and three 20-30 minute naps throughout the day for a total of about 4 hours, the Uberman's sleep cycle, which consists of 6 20-30 naps throughout the day, spaced 4 hours, for a total of 2-3 hours of sleep, and the intense Dymaxion sleep cycle, which consists of four 30-45 minute naps every 6 hours for a total of 2-3 hours also.
Many have tried these polyphasic sleep schedules over the years, many to fail miserable. The most famous of those that have succeeded and inventor of the Dymaxion sleep schedule, Buckminster Fuller, stayed on schedule for 2 years, stopping only because of social inhibitions, and who can blame him. After just one day, I found myself having to schedule my day around naps. I guess that's not too unordinary though. Who among us plans our day and just chooses a random time during the day to get our 8 hours? Okay maybe that didn't make as strong of a point to college students as to those in high school or out of college, but you get what I'm saying.
There are multiple well known cases of bloggers undertaking this change, and with great success. Steve Pavlina undertook the Uberman sleep cycle for 5 and a half months, stopping for social reasons as well as it simply being too unreasonable for him to carry on in a world of monophasic sleepers. It is also said that Leonardo da Vinci experimented with polyphasic sleeping. There definitely hasn't been a lack of attempt in the area.
I can't remember where I first saw the subject brought up. I'm pretty sure it was from Tynan's blog just a few weeks ago, as it was something he tried out last year, but I could be mistaken. I always seem to be drawn quite quickly to strange and sometimes daunting tasks such as this so it's not much of a surprise to me that I have chosen to try.
I would have started during this winter break, but I didn't know anything about the subject until I read it just a couple weeks ago, a bad time to start as I was leaving for vacation to Colorado in a few days. I made the plan to start as soon as I got back to school, this past Friday. Caught up in stuff going on though, I didnt start until this past Saturday.
I made the decision to attempt the Everyman's sleep schedule as it wasn't to far off from how I've grown to sleep at college over the past 6 months. I would still be sleeping a good chunk at night, but just a smaller chunk accompanied by naps during the day. I figured it would give me a taste of the polyphasic life without sacrificing my oh so pleasant nights or daytime flexibility of schedule. So without further ado, here is how the past 2 days have gone.
Saturday night I stayed up until 4:20 am for no good reason and proceeded to take my first shortened "core nap" of 3 hours. Setting my alarm for 7 am, I fully expected to have world's of trouble waking up as I often do. To my surprise, though, it was quite the contrary. My first alarm (my phone) went off, I got out of bed, and walked to turn off my other 2 alarms that went off seconds later. Nap number one was complete, and shorter than it was supposed to be.
The rest of my day was rather normal, aside from the fact that I scheduled my naps first and then my day. I've never been that great at falling asleep quickly, so I downloaded a sleep track I had read about for use with "polynapping" from this website. It has a nice white noise for the beginning of the track and was actually quite useful for my naps. My first nap, taken at 12:30, lasted about 23 minutes, the second, taken at 6:40, lasted 25 minutes, and the third, taken only 4 hours later at 10:50, lasted 24 minutes. Falling asleep, which I included in these times, took a bout 5-10 minutes each. This was rather interesting as how easy it was falling asleep was quite different each time. I would have thought it would be easier to fall asleep on each subsequent nap, but it wasn't. The first was the easiest, while the last one had me feeling that I'd never fall asleep. However, to my surprise I fell asleep each time.
I'm not quite sure how to describe the naps, as I've never really forced myself to take a short nap. I really focused on clearing my mind and I can't stress enough how much this helped. I tried creating a sort of dream in my head to coax myself into drifting off into dreamland and it worked quite nicely. I can't say I fell asleep fully, but I didn't expect to. REM doesn't happen til about 90 minutes after you fall asleep, so the naps right now are more of just short rests than actual sleeping.
After the 3rd nap, I went out to hang out with friend and at 3:30 made my way back to my dorm for my 4 am bedtime. This is where things have changed drastically.
I set my 3 alarms like usual, but my body just did not want to cooperate with them as they had the night before. I am quite pathetic at waking up and this was certainly example. I turned off to alarms and reset the alarm on my phone all without quite fully waking up. Sure I was awake, but my mind was not functioning yet. I think this habit may be a side effect of my sleep troubles as a child (I may post about this another time, but it's rather unimportant right now) but whatever the case, it happened. I ended up waking at 10:30, getting 6.5 hours of sleep rather than the desired 3. Saying that I felt like a failure is an understatement.
Through today I argued back and forth with myself on whether to get back on schedule or to wait til another holiday weekend or at least until the upcoming weekend. Throughout the day, I read the whole log of Steve Pavlina's successful undertaking of the Uberman's schedule. It was after reading those logs that my goals changed. No longer did I just want to dip my toes in the waters of polyphasic sleep by trying Everyman's, but I wanted to take the full on plunge. I wanted to experience all the unique effects of a full on polyphasic sleep schedule that Steve had reported. Everyman's would probably not show all of these and I am not one to stop short. After finishing every log, I made the decision to take on the Uberman schedule, not sometime in the future, but right now. I know, I'm insane. Classes start tomorrow (today?) and as far as I can tell, I'm supposed to be a zombie for the next week. Yet I still feel I will succeed. My curiousity and motivation has been increasing exponentially each minute and I can't see myself giving up. The only obstacle in my path is that my class schedule is up in the air right now. I have to go through add/drop the next couple of days to get the classes I need and if there's no time for a nap every 4 hours, I'm going to have to rethink my plans. At this point in time, though, I have every intention of carrying it out.
I took my first 30 minute nap today at 5:30, this time without the sleep track. I felt I could focus enough to get myself to fall asleep and I didn't want to depend on the the track in the future. If I wasn't going to continue using it, why would I use it now? It worked just fine. I fell asleep after about 7 minutes and woke up from my short rest when my roommate knocked on my door after 27 minutes, just short of the 30 minute alarm. I changed and went to the gym, longer than usual, and got back to my room at 10:30. Later than I probably should have.
I expected to fall asleep within minutes, but that didn't happen. I'm still not quite sure if I completely fell asleep during that time, but I'm guessing I did, as I don't remember the complete passing of time from after about 10 minutes. It's 1:56 right now and I plan to take my next nap as soon as I finish this post.
While its probably not smart of me to start this now, I can't help it. As they say, curiosity killed the cat, and right now, its nipping at my tail. I just couldn't delay trying this, so I'm going to suffer through a few days of classes and then I have the weekend to hopefully get over the inital hump. Next week I may actually be getting some real sleep. Whether that be on a polyphasic or monophasic schedule is unknown until I solve my class problem. Stay tuned.
In my last post I told you guys to stay tuned for a post about my New Year's Resolution of switching to a polyphasic sleep schedule. For those of you wondering what the heck this is, polyphasic (poly = many, phasic = phases) breaking up and condensing the normal 8 hour sleep. A few different methods have been made over the years, the Everyman's sleep cycle, consisting of a 3 hour "core nap" and three 20-30 minute naps throughout the day for a total of about 4 hours, the Uberman's sleep cycle, which consists of 6 20-30 naps throughout the day, spaced 4 hours, for a total of 2-3 hours of sleep, and the intense Dymaxion sleep cycle, which consists of four 30-45 minute naps every 6 hours for a total of 2-3 hours also.
Many have tried these polyphasic sleep schedules over the years, many to fail miserable. The most famous of those that have succeeded and inventor of the Dymaxion sleep schedule, Buckminster Fuller, stayed on schedule for 2 years, stopping only because of social inhibitions, and who can blame him. After just one day, I found myself having to schedule my day around naps. I guess that's not too unordinary though. Who among us plans our day and just chooses a random time during the day to get our 8 hours? Okay maybe that didn't make as strong of a point to college students as to those in high school or out of college, but you get what I'm saying.
There are multiple well known cases of bloggers undertaking this change, and with great success. Steve Pavlina undertook the Uberman sleep cycle for 5 and a half months, stopping for social reasons as well as it simply being too unreasonable for him to carry on in a world of monophasic sleepers. It is also said that Leonardo da Vinci experimented with polyphasic sleeping. There definitely hasn't been a lack of attempt in the area.
I can't remember where I first saw the subject brought up. I'm pretty sure it was from Tynan's blog just a few weeks ago, as it was something he tried out last year, but I could be mistaken. I always seem to be drawn quite quickly to strange and sometimes daunting tasks such as this so it's not much of a surprise to me that I have chosen to try.
I would have started during this winter break, but I didn't know anything about the subject until I read it just a couple weeks ago, a bad time to start as I was leaving for vacation to Colorado in a few days. I made the plan to start as soon as I got back to school, this past Friday. Caught up in stuff going on though, I didnt start until this past Saturday.
I made the decision to attempt the Everyman's sleep schedule as it wasn't to far off from how I've grown to sleep at college over the past 6 months. I would still be sleeping a good chunk at night, but just a smaller chunk accompanied by naps during the day. I figured it would give me a taste of the polyphasic life without sacrificing my oh so pleasant nights or daytime flexibility of schedule. So without further ado, here is how the past 2 days have gone.
Saturday night I stayed up until 4:20 am for no good reason and proceeded to take my first shortened "core nap" of 3 hours. Setting my alarm for 7 am, I fully expected to have world's of trouble waking up as I often do. To my surprise, though, it was quite the contrary. My first alarm (my phone) went off, I got out of bed, and walked to turn off my other 2 alarms that went off seconds later. Nap number one was complete, and shorter than it was supposed to be.
The rest of my day was rather normal, aside from the fact that I scheduled my naps first and then my day. I've never been that great at falling asleep quickly, so I downloaded a sleep track I had read about for use with "polynapping" from this website. It has a nice white noise for the beginning of the track and was actually quite useful for my naps. My first nap, taken at 12:30, lasted about 23 minutes, the second, taken at 6:40, lasted 25 minutes, and the third, taken only 4 hours later at 10:50, lasted 24 minutes. Falling asleep, which I included in these times, took a bout 5-10 minutes each. This was rather interesting as how easy it was falling asleep was quite different each time. I would have thought it would be easier to fall asleep on each subsequent nap, but it wasn't. The first was the easiest, while the last one had me feeling that I'd never fall asleep. However, to my surprise I fell asleep each time.
I'm not quite sure how to describe the naps, as I've never really forced myself to take a short nap. I really focused on clearing my mind and I can't stress enough how much this helped. I tried creating a sort of dream in my head to coax myself into drifting off into dreamland and it worked quite nicely. I can't say I fell asleep fully, but I didn't expect to. REM doesn't happen til about 90 minutes after you fall asleep, so the naps right now are more of just short rests than actual sleeping.
After the 3rd nap, I went out to hang out with friend and at 3:30 made my way back to my dorm for my 4 am bedtime. This is where things have changed drastically.
I set my 3 alarms like usual, but my body just did not want to cooperate with them as they had the night before. I am quite pathetic at waking up and this was certainly example. I turned off to alarms and reset the alarm on my phone all without quite fully waking up. Sure I was awake, but my mind was not functioning yet. I think this habit may be a side effect of my sleep troubles as a child (I may post about this another time, but it's rather unimportant right now) but whatever the case, it happened. I ended up waking at 10:30, getting 6.5 hours of sleep rather than the desired 3. Saying that I felt like a failure is an understatement.
Through today I argued back and forth with myself on whether to get back on schedule or to wait til another holiday weekend or at least until the upcoming weekend. Throughout the day, I read the whole log of Steve Pavlina's successful undertaking of the Uberman's schedule. It was after reading those logs that my goals changed. No longer did I just want to dip my toes in the waters of polyphasic sleep by trying Everyman's, but I wanted to take the full on plunge. I wanted to experience all the unique effects of a full on polyphasic sleep schedule that Steve had reported. Everyman's would probably not show all of these and I am not one to stop short. After finishing every log, I made the decision to take on the Uberman schedule, not sometime in the future, but right now. I know, I'm insane. Classes start tomorrow (today?) and as far as I can tell, I'm supposed to be a zombie for the next week. Yet I still feel I will succeed. My curiousity and motivation has been increasing exponentially each minute and I can't see myself giving up. The only obstacle in my path is that my class schedule is up in the air right now. I have to go through add/drop the next couple of days to get the classes I need and if there's no time for a nap every 4 hours, I'm going to have to rethink my plans. At this point in time, though, I have every intention of carrying it out.
I took my first 30 minute nap today at 5:30, this time without the sleep track. I felt I could focus enough to get myself to fall asleep and I didn't want to depend on the the track in the future. If I wasn't going to continue using it, why would I use it now? It worked just fine. I fell asleep after about 7 minutes and woke up from my short rest when my roommate knocked on my door after 27 minutes, just short of the 30 minute alarm. I changed and went to the gym, longer than usual, and got back to my room at 10:30. Later than I probably should have.
I expected to fall asleep within minutes, but that didn't happen. I'm still not quite sure if I completely fell asleep during that time, but I'm guessing I did, as I don't remember the complete passing of time from after about 10 minutes. It's 1:56 right now and I plan to take my next nap as soon as I finish this post.
While its probably not smart of me to start this now, I can't help it. As they say, curiosity killed the cat, and right now, its nipping at my tail. I just couldn't delay trying this, so I'm going to suffer through a few days of classes and then I have the weekend to hopefully get over the inital hump. Next week I may actually be getting some real sleep. Whether that be on a polyphasic or monophasic schedule is unknown until I solve my class problem. Stay tuned.
January 18, 2009
2009 New Year's Resolutions
Well good afternoon everyone.
I'm not exactly sure when I'll be doing my daily blog posts. I think I'm going to stick to late evenings, but this first week or two may be a little off. I just wanted to make sure I made this post now because I plan another for this evening, and frankly, I don't want to scare you guys away with outrageously long blog posts. Unless, that's what you want (let me know!).
So, anyways, the main reason I wanted to get this blog started at the beginning of the new year would be to lay down my first ever New Year's Resolutions and make sure you guys whip me when I don't follow them (yes, when, because I know I'm going to end up slacking off).
Without further ado, here they are:
2009 New Years Resolutions
1. Learn all the countries and their capitals
a. This is the first of many resolutions I have picked up from Tynan. He’s a real inspiration with what he has done and the practices he has changed in his life. There’s much to learn from him. This resolution simply draws me though. As you can see on the right in my about me section, I enjoy random skills and, well, being able to throw down any country or its capital is just my kind of thing.
2. Get more built
a. This resolution I’ve already started on. I made the mistake last semester of letting myself get out of the great shape I had gotten myself into during the summer thanks to a good friend Blake Naumann. As soon as I got back to San Antonio for the Christmas break, I hit the gym every day in hopes of getting back on track. I can already see and feel the progress and I plan to continue this. In fact, after this post I’m off to Gregory Gym. You should definitely join me if you got to UT.
3. Get an internship for the summer
a. A few of these things are more of goals than resolutions, and this is one of them. Getting an internship is gonna be tough, being only a Freshman, but I know its going to benefit me greatly.
4. Get a better job than Target
a. Target sucks. The people are cool, but I hate the job and the pay is less than satisfying. I know I only do this on breaks, but I really don't want to have to go back to it.
5. Get a job in Austin
a. I think I can handle having a job this semester, and a little extra cash will do me wonders. I still have a car I’m paying for (even though its at home and only driven occasionally) and summer earnings can only last so long.
6. Cut down on electronics expenses
a. I buy way to many electronics. Much less than some friends I know, but I really don't need it all. I think I’ve got everything I’ve really been wanting lately, so this shouldn't be too hard. If I brag about something I just got in any of my posts, yell at me! I shouldn’t have gotten it!
7. Beat Guitar Hero on expert
a. I can’t say enough how jealous I am of everyone that can speed through these songs to 5 star ratings on expert. It’s pathetic, but I am greatly impressed. I beat the game on easy this summer and medium yesterday, so I guess I’m on my way
8. Be able to run for an hour straight with no problem
a. I don't really have too much trouble running, and with some good music I know I could run an hour right now, but I really want to run a marathon this summer and so I think being able to run an hour without trouble is going to help me greatly.
9. Learn 250 decimal places of pi
a. Another one of my random skill interests. I learned 100 decimal places in about .5 to 1 hour last year, I just haven’t sat down to try this. Who knows, if this is too easy for me, I may go fro 500 this year.
10. Learn Dvorak typing
a. I’ll make more posts on this specifically, but basically it's a more efficient keyboard layout that I’ve read about and that Tynan learned last year.
11. Learn Fridrich method to solving the Rubik’s cube
a. I’ve learned about 5 of the algorithms for this method bringing me to 11 (I think?) but that's not gonna cut it. I need to memorize over 100 more. Hopefully I’ll be able to cut that 44 second record time down to under 30.
12. Continue learning Japanese on my own
a. I took a year in high school and took it last semester, learning a lot. I just don't have the time in schedule to continue it right now. I know I have the spare time though so hopefully you guys will crack down on me and make me study.
13. Read more for fun
a. I have a lot of books that I’ve been wanting to read and last semester sucked just reading textbooks. I NEED this.
14. Reach 6000 in savings
a. This is all dependant on getting new jobs. Wish me luck
15. Get all A’s in spring and fall.
a. I got 3 A’s and 2 B’s this past semester. I’m deeply disappointed in myself. I know I can do better.
16. Visit 5 more states
a. I’ve been to 38, including one new one this year (I’ll post on this later), so I need 4 more.
17. Go on the road trip I have planned
a. Hopefully you’ll be hearing more about this as the semester closes. If you do, you will be hearing a LOT about it.
18. Don't waste time.
a. I waste way too much time. I think making a constantly updated list of things I have to do will help with this.
19. Learn the soroban
a. Another weird skill. First I have to get one.
20. Learn at least one of the Sims songs on piano
a. Gosh, how I want to do this so much. Mainly learn piano again, but I’ve been dying to learn at least one of the songs from the original Sims games
21. Start writing verses and record 3 rap songs
a. I used to write parodies, but I’ve really been wanting to do this since I watched some of An0maly’s videos
22. Become a great c-walker
a. I started this last semester and in the few days I practiced I improved greatly. Here’s to adding another skill to my dance arsenal ☺
23. Become better at photoshop
a. Countless times I wish I new more. All of what I’ve learned is just from experimenting, but I REALLY want to make this an impressive skill of mine.
24. Attempt switch to the Everyman’s Polyphasic Sleep Cycle
a. Stay tuned!!!
So there it is. If you got through the whole thing, congratulations. I’m sorry it was so long. Now you know why I didn't want to pile it on with tonight’s post. Let me know if you want to do any of it with me. I’ve already got a couple of people doing Dvorak with me, but the more the merrier! Anyways, til tonight, have a good one!
I'm not exactly sure when I'll be doing my daily blog posts. I think I'm going to stick to late evenings, but this first week or two may be a little off. I just wanted to make sure I made this post now because I plan another for this evening, and frankly, I don't want to scare you guys away with outrageously long blog posts. Unless, that's what you want (let me know!).
So, anyways, the main reason I wanted to get this blog started at the beginning of the new year would be to lay down my first ever New Year's Resolutions and make sure you guys whip me when I don't follow them (yes, when, because I know I'm going to end up slacking off).
Without further ado, here they are:
2009 New Years Resolutions
1. Learn all the countries and their capitals
a. This is the first of many resolutions I have picked up from Tynan. He’s a real inspiration with what he has done and the practices he has changed in his life. There’s much to learn from him. This resolution simply draws me though. As you can see on the right in my about me section, I enjoy random skills and, well, being able to throw down any country or its capital is just my kind of thing.
2. Get more built
a. This resolution I’ve already started on. I made the mistake last semester of letting myself get out of the great shape I had gotten myself into during the summer thanks to a good friend Blake Naumann. As soon as I got back to San Antonio for the Christmas break, I hit the gym every day in hopes of getting back on track. I can already see and feel the progress and I plan to continue this. In fact, after this post I’m off to Gregory Gym. You should definitely join me if you got to UT.
3. Get an internship for the summer
a. A few of these things are more of goals than resolutions, and this is one of them. Getting an internship is gonna be tough, being only a Freshman, but I know its going to benefit me greatly.
4. Get a better job than Target
a. Target sucks. The people are cool, but I hate the job and the pay is less than satisfying. I know I only do this on breaks, but I really don't want to have to go back to it.
5. Get a job in Austin
a. I think I can handle having a job this semester, and a little extra cash will do me wonders. I still have a car I’m paying for (even though its at home and only driven occasionally) and summer earnings can only last so long.
6. Cut down on electronics expenses
a. I buy way to many electronics. Much less than some friends I know, but I really don't need it all. I think I’ve got everything I’ve really been wanting lately, so this shouldn't be too hard. If I brag about something I just got in any of my posts, yell at me! I shouldn’t have gotten it!
7. Beat Guitar Hero on expert
a. I can’t say enough how jealous I am of everyone that can speed through these songs to 5 star ratings on expert. It’s pathetic, but I am greatly impressed. I beat the game on easy this summer and medium yesterday, so I guess I’m on my way
8. Be able to run for an hour straight with no problem
a. I don't really have too much trouble running, and with some good music I know I could run an hour right now, but I really want to run a marathon this summer and so I think being able to run an hour without trouble is going to help me greatly.
9. Learn 250 decimal places of pi
a. Another one of my random skill interests. I learned 100 decimal places in about .5 to 1 hour last year, I just haven’t sat down to try this. Who knows, if this is too easy for me, I may go fro 500 this year.
10. Learn Dvorak typing
a. I’ll make more posts on this specifically, but basically it's a more efficient keyboard layout that I’ve read about and that Tynan learned last year.
11. Learn Fridrich method to solving the Rubik’s cube
a. I’ve learned about 5 of the algorithms for this method bringing me to 11 (I think?) but that's not gonna cut it. I need to memorize over 100 more. Hopefully I’ll be able to cut that 44 second record time down to under 30.
12. Continue learning Japanese on my own
a. I took a year in high school and took it last semester, learning a lot. I just don't have the time in schedule to continue it right now. I know I have the spare time though so hopefully you guys will crack down on me and make me study.
13. Read more for fun
a. I have a lot of books that I’ve been wanting to read and last semester sucked just reading textbooks. I NEED this.
14. Reach 6000 in savings
a. This is all dependant on getting new jobs. Wish me luck
15. Get all A’s in spring and fall.
a. I got 3 A’s and 2 B’s this past semester. I’m deeply disappointed in myself. I know I can do better.
16. Visit 5 more states
a. I’ve been to 38, including one new one this year (I’ll post on this later), so I need 4 more.
17. Go on the road trip I have planned
a. Hopefully you’ll be hearing more about this as the semester closes. If you do, you will be hearing a LOT about it.
18. Don't waste time.
a. I waste way too much time. I think making a constantly updated list of things I have to do will help with this.
19. Learn the soroban
a. Another weird skill. First I have to get one.
20. Learn at least one of the Sims songs on piano
a. Gosh, how I want to do this so much. Mainly learn piano again, but I’ve been dying to learn at least one of the songs from the original Sims games
21. Start writing verses and record 3 rap songs
a. I used to write parodies, but I’ve really been wanting to do this since I watched some of An0maly’s videos
22. Become a great c-walker
a. I started this last semester and in the few days I practiced I improved greatly. Here’s to adding another skill to my dance arsenal ☺
23. Become better at photoshop
a. Countless times I wish I new more. All of what I’ve learned is just from experimenting, but I REALLY want to make this an impressive skill of mine.
24. Attempt switch to the Everyman’s Polyphasic Sleep Cycle
a. Stay tuned!!!
So there it is. If you got through the whole thing, congratulations. I’m sorry it was so long. Now you know why I didn't want to pile it on with tonight’s post. Let me know if you want to do any of it with me. I’ve already got a couple of people doing Dvorak with me, but the more the merrier! Anyways, til tonight, have a good one!
A Temporary Beginning
Well it's about time I got around to finally getting this set up, but I guess it's only due for partial celebration. I've been meaning to setup a blog for a long time now and I felt the new year was a good time to do it. I started out with Microsoft Office Live Small Business, as it let me make my own domain, but I wasn't happy with their options for design and I couldn't figure out how to use WordPress with it and thats what my ultimate goal was. I then decided to transfer the domain to GoDaddy and just put down the money for my own site, but I guess it's not that easy. After a domain registration, the domain must remain in that registrar for 60 days before being able to be transferred, so right now its just a waiting game. I really didn't want to wait another 50 days, so in the meantime, I've set up my blog here at Blogger so I dont go insane not being able to run a blog like I've been wanting to for oh so long. So, here it is. Hopefully I'll be updating you guys daily so go ahead and click the "Subscribe here" button over on the right to have my posts go directly to your RSS reader of choice (or just click here) and you'll get all my updates, all my extremely interesting daily happennings, findings, gadget reviews, and whatever other interesting tidbits I decide to lay on the table here at The BK Lounge until the real BK-Lounge.com is up and running sometime in March. It'll be a while but trust me, if I can make it, you can make it too. And it ain't too bad here at Blogger now is it? Right?
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