Happy New Year Student

The title makes sense. Deal with it.

I stopped keeping a daily journal of my sleep but instead just kind of went with the flow. Still, I have some things to report and a few things that can keep people going for the long haul on a sleep pattern like this.

Firstly, if you're anything like me, putting your core sleep early in the morning is a bad idea. It takes me a while to get fully functional, so I have resorted to taking my core sleep from 1-4 in the morning and then my 20 minute nap right before class. When I had my first nap only in the late afternoon, I found I was counting down the hours to my next sleep. With my first nap before classes start I not only add some flexibility as to when I can take it (baseball practice sometimes starts at 8 on Saturdays) but also allow myself a few hours to get properly awake. Some people like to wake up from their core nap later, but I just couldn't do it.

Secondly, sleeping with the lights on is a great way to prevent oversleeping. For the core sleep that isn't a problem: I'm very rested anyways. But from the naps it can be challenging, and that little extra motivation from the lights makes a big difference. Also, make sure you're downstairs when you wake up: I fell down the stairs at least twice during the zombie mode days.

Finally: be honest with yourself. If it just isn't working for you, stop. The world around us is monophasic. Being polyphasic can cause some issues, especially when scheduling parties and such. Missing a 20 minute nap for me is pretty tough and takes a cycle or two to fully recover. From what I've heard, sneaking in an extra 20 minute nap every once in a while is fine if you really need it. And you're still sleeping significantly less than the average adult.

We'll see how this schedule continues here in Chicago. Yes, I'm back. It was an exciting plane ride over: the Rose Bowl was on, and the people in front of me chose to pay the $6 to watch it. That meant I got to watch for free! Naturally, I'm an Oregon fan, so I was very pleased they won. Taking my nap in the plane was pretty tough, though. I'm too tall to fit comfortably in any seat and my neck is still a bit stiff, but I got it worked out.

I'm really looking forward to this quarter. Last quarter I was a little confused, and there was some leftover senioritis (probably because it was so late in showing up) but I made it through just fine. I'm going to be on top of things this quarter from the get-go. My reasons aren't entirely pure, though. There's a chance some old high school friends could be in Chicago during their spring break, which happens to line up with my finals week. I don't want to be cramming for anything this time and so I need to get things done sooner rather than later. I'm off to a good start in that regard: all my reading for the rest of this week is done!

That's about it for now. I'm still unsure of this sleep pattern. Sometimes it feels like too much sleep, and other times I'm clearly not getting enough. I'll figure it out eventually.