Now that my Moore College friends are on holidays i don’t feel so bad about posting some pics. We’re having a great time and soaking up the Mediterranean sun!

Find the rest at my photostream

For me, this was one of the highlights of the revue – a very well done parody. You might even enjoy it if you’re not from around these parts!

(h/t davemiers.com)

So far this exam period I’ve managed to avoid blogging as a medium for procrastination. But all good things come to an end!!

Some epic uses of the super mario theme song.

p.s. I do plan to blog some more original content in the next little while. Sorry it’s been a while! (in case you care

I’m really amazed by this guy’s work:

He makes art out of brown packing tape on plexiglass. I’d love to try my hand at some, but I have no idea how it works. How would you plan a work like this?

Jodie says: “why don’t you ask your friends at reubenland?” …so…any ideas?

I think it is vaguely based on stained glass techniques…

From: gotbob.deviantart – “Llamas make everything cooler”

Slightly bizzaro flash game…“Run Jesus Run”

Boxy is back at blogging…latest post is a review of a zom-com I leant him, “fido”.

I have to confess a little zombie flick obsession at the moment! I’m working through all films on this list that i can source…

At day 4 I consider that i’ve “tried” polyphasic sleep for the purposes of the entry on the list. I had a near perfect day in terms of the nap/sleep schedule (finally got the 1.5hours right) but I don’t think it’s really going to work for me! I’ve decided to tap out at this point anyway even though I feel i could have gone further. general reflections, blow by blow and conclusions below:

Reflections:

I don’t think I could say i’ve tried it long enough to decide if it’s bogus for sure… however I spent some of my extra awake hours last night reading blogs of others who have tried this and noticed that many of them “accidentally” overslept every now and then, usually about 1-2 weeks apart. My hunch is that you can get by with this level of sleep dep for a while but eventually your body vetoes and demands a continuous block.

Also I’m less certain about this “straight to REM” thing being the way your body survives…the more i read the less it seems plausible.

Blow-by-blow:

I managed to have the correct number and length of naps today but couldn’t take the 6pm one on time because of a visit to the local taphouse. enjoyable premium beer, but not so enjoyable by the time i got home (at around 8). The tiredness and urge to sleep was extreme! Grabbed a few dumplings which jodie had out for dinner then napped immediately. Felt extremely crusty 20mins later after waking up.

Again the run up to 11pm nap was tough, but the 11:30-3 period was not too bad. I can stay awake without having to do an engaging activity but I notice the tired hazy feeling. If i’m engaged I don’t notice that feeling. I don’t think I could have read calvin during this period

I got the core sleep right – woke up after 1.5 hours but had to sleep on the couch (downstairs) and place the alarm away from me. This basically was the deal breaker. I realised why I wasn’t getting up at this time for the last two nights. Very much in zombie mode so it seemed clear that if i wanted to keep it up I would not be able to sleep in bed anymore. That didn’t sound great to me…that and when i woke up from 1.5hrs on the couch my knee was painfully locked into place.

Conclusions

It was an interesting experiment, but I can’t see how it could work for my schedule and marriage…that coupled with my suspicion that many of the claims made by advocates of polyphasic are a little bit bogus or self deluding has led me to stop at day 4. I’m happy to have tried it but happier to be drinking coffee right now, not worrying about the next nap and looking forward to a long nights sleep in bed with my wife.

So here is the sleep schedule i’ve been working with:

20 min naps at 10am, 2pm, 6pm, 11pm

“Core sleep” at 3-4:30.

The 6 to 11pm stretch has been the hardest to stay awake. Have been resorting to pacing around the house aimlessly – any sort of sitting activity and my eyelids turn to lead…

It might sound strange but the most frustrating thing is that both nights i’ve been doing this i’ve overslept for my core sleep. Have laid down at 3 then missed my alarm somehow  then woken up again at 7. Jodie said that she woke with the alarm, saw me turn it off then roll back over but i have no recollection of it at all! I’m not sure how i’m going to deal with this as I seem to be turning the alarm off without waking properly.

Am only feeling moderately tired at the moment despite getting just under 11hrs in the last 48…

Currently in day 2 of adapting to polyphasic sleep.

I first heard about “polyphasic sleep” via a post at bathgates.net …it sounded fascinating so I added it to the list.

The idea is that you can replace the usual one big period of sleep with multiple shorter naps. During naps you’re getting straight to the essential REM sleep phase and not wasting time on the non-essential stuff.

I haven’t opted for uberman, instead i’m targeting one peg down – 2.8 hours of sleep per 24hrs. Apparently after I’ve adapted to this new (and kinda whacky) sleep routine I won’t feel sleep deprived, achy, have a throbbing head or any of the other side effects i’m feeling right now.

The throbbing head may have something to do with the need to drop caffeine cold turkey since there is only 4 hours between naps in the morning! argh!

I’ll keep you posted on my progress…please forgive any hints of psychosis or delerium over the next little while!!