Partial Insomniacs

Here's to Another Sleepless Night...

Correction:

It's proving difficult to try to remember to get to this site after checking my other ones (plus reading webcomics now, too), so this is the last post. I may try to start up a 1up club under the same name, but for the motime blog, this is the final goodbye.

Sayounara, and I hope everyone will soon get some good sleep, at least, more regularly.

posted by: OrangeSbr at 23:12 | link | comments |

I'm back...

Again, an all-nighter. Had to compile a whole visual argument "essay" poster together last night. I was doing nothing but browsing for pics, drawing quickies, scanning said quickies in and photoshopping it all together... after I went to go find a copy of Macromedia Fireworks to install on my laptop. It seems I misplaced my old copy (or might of accidentally given it away altogether), so...

I said that I would try to find some links for help with sleep deprivation, I think last post, but I'm still so bogged down... can't wait for the end of the semester (which is coming up, if I'm not mistaken for once). I'm also trying to get started on a nice picture to celebrate the holidays for my DeviantArt account. Check out my page if you're curious about my work.

I've decided to keep this blog over here at Motime, because I figure that it'd be more useful here as there may (or may not) be some people who actually care enough here that take the time to read these musings... plus, the system works better than over at 1up, and I find it hard to get a new club rolling over there anyways (my Guild Knights club was an exception because it was almost the only constantly updated Monster Hunter club).

Anyways, see you guys next week.

posted by: OrangeSbr at 07:24 | link | comments |

Are Telenovelas (Soap Operas) Keeping You Up?

      This past week I stayed up watching my favorite telenovela Rebelde. I figured that this was the week that I would get my Thanksgiving break so why not stay up for a school night. I was feeling excited last week for the sleep I was going to get over my Thanksgiving break. I enjoyed watching Rebelde that night. I enjoyed watching all of the drama and romance between my favorite characters in this soap opera. I do not seem to get bored of watching this soap opera. This soap opera finished in August and I still watch some episodes online. I am hoping to get the three seasons of this soap opera on DVD for Christmas. I am a huge fan of Rebelde. Wouldn’t you stay up watching one of your favorite soap operas for a night?  

            The day after Thanksgiving I got a bad cold. I felt so sick that I just felt like sleeping on Friday and Saturday. I am glad that I am getting better now. It is a good thing I did get the sleep I was hoping for in this break even if I got most of it when I was really sick.

posted by: Lita07 at 12:38 | link | comments (1) |

Partial Insomniacs Coming to a Close...

Well, it's not totally over, but in terms of the project, this is the final week (unless I missed something as usual). It's been a great run, but I guess I have to start the paper sooner or later. Man, to top it off I already have another 3 essays to write, too, and now I do another plus an essay compilation... thingy...

As soon as that's over, I'll be back, however, but I'll probably run it at a steady weekly post and not watch it too closely (since I'm already managing a DeviantArt and 1up). Not to worry, however, because when I'm here, I'll try my best to keep things afloat, though it would help if more people wanted to join up and share stories of their vampirism. Not sure how it goes to sign up, though... I guess you message me or something? I don't know...

By my next post I'll see if I can't find any more sleeping tips.

Well, I wish you all a great Thanksgiving Break!! Happy holidays, and don't eat too much turkey!!

posted by: OrangeSbr at 00:34 | link | comments (1) |

Sin Dormir !

Last weekend I stayed up late Saturday and Sunday night studying for my Bio 124 exam. Sunday night I went to sleep at 2am studying for this exam. There was so much information I had to remember and know for the exam that it took until 2am for me to feel confident about knowing the material well enough. I stayed up until 2am and I had to wake up at 6am in order to get ready for my Bio 124 class at 7:30am. The good thing is that my two days of late night studying were worth it. I got a really good grade on my exam.

The worse day for me last week was Friday. Thursday night I stayed up writing a paper for my Bio 124 lab class and studying for a quiz I had in this class. I got to bed around 2:45am and I got up at 6am. I just got a little more than three hours of sleep that day. I do not know how I managed to stay awake in my classes. On Friday I did not take a nap during the day since I had other things to do like going to the gym for instance. I finally got my rest and went to bed like at 11pm. I learned that I can manage to go through a day with only three hours of sleep. You guys could not tell that I was tired on Friday right?

posted by: Lita07 at 19:05 | link | comments (4) |

SO SICK

I don't get sick that often but when I do, I get really, really sick.  I'm not to sure what it was, but I wasn't feeling that well since the beginning of the week.  Basically my weekend consisted of me in my bed or sometimes laying on the ground next to a trashcan.  For some unexplainable reason, I would wake up throughout the middle of the night and have to puke.  My throat hurts a lot right now, but I'm hoping this short school week and the break will give me the rest needed to recover.


Good news is, I've been getting a lot of sleep because of this, and was even given time off from work because of my illness.  I've been pretty bored but as long as I get better, I guess that's all that matters.  Don't worry though, by the next two weeks, I'll be so busy with work, that I'll have something useful to post in this blog, about my struggles with staying awake and all that.

posted by: Mykel86 at 15:13 | link | comments (2) |

Site Located

Well, here I am, on campus about 3 hours before my first class today starts (Dad was sent to the hospital under certain circumstances, and he's my ride), so I'm blogging at my different sites (already blogged at my 1up site if you want to know a bit about the circumstances). I also happened to stay up watching anime again (go figure) as well as some of the cutscenes from Devil May Cry 3 (great game to check out if you haven't). I didn't get a wink of sleep (though I'll probably get some good shuteye in BIOL 103 today :P).

But I digress. I should probably explain the title. I've found a small site that listed 41 ways to help get to sleep (link in the links section), and some of them actually sound quite plausible and down to earth. No earth shattering revelation like I thought....

So that means I've probably already have tried them out and found them ineffective (I feel sad now). One method that I've come up with independently is to try to play a game. The game's rule is to try not to move. AT ALL. As soon as you find a comfortable position, resist all temptation to move, even if you have to scratch your leg or something. Fight it. Another method is to try zen meditation.

Well, I'll continue my search for great sleep methods, and if I find a good link, I'll post it up in the links section.

I could go back to one of the methods I used to use that's on the list: Listen to music to sleep. Of course, I listened to heavy metal to fall asleep back when I used to do it. I found it soothing to my soul...

Also, I think I finally found inspiration to draw again (had an artist's block for a while), so I'm probably going to get working on that now. Signing off!

posted by: OrangeSbr at 06:46 | link | comments (1) |

!!

I love Sundays.  I'll probably grow to hate them as soon as Football season is over, but as of now, it's one consistancy in my life that I look forward to every week, the other being school and...who looks forward to that?  Didn't do much this weekend, was my mom's birthday so I actually managed to catch up on some sleep since I didn't go out much, not to mention the few glasses of wine I had with the family.  I for one am not a wine lover, but I'll admit there's something really different about sitting around a dinner table drinking wine while you have "grown up time" with the people who raised you.  VERY VERY awkward at first, but at the same time it brought a sense of cultured compared to the standard keg found at a college party.

Anyways, now that the end of the semester is just around the corner, let me give anyone reading this some tips about sleeping during finals.

1.) You won't get much, so save some money for some red bull or coffee.
2.) The section of the library where there's quiet study rooms or booths do wonders. (ie. Fenwich)
3.) Although it probably won't do any good, my advice is plan your schedule ahead of time so you don't end up doing everything at the last mintue.
4.) You'll end up saving a good amount of money by staying on campus and not driving around or going out.  Spend what you have by rewarding yourself at the end.  This is a ritual my friends and I do, such as going to a nice restaurant and ordering a $30 steak.
5.) Buy a comfortable hat and nice smelling fragrance, the school bathroom will soon become your bathtub, where you shave, where you brush your teeth, and where you make yourself look somewhat presentable to the world.
6.) Forget all routines.
7.) Invite your friends to study together so when you do procrastinate, you'll bring someone else down with you.  If either of you fall victim to the craze of finals week, give them a hard shake to snap them out of it.
8.) Finally bloggers, be prepared for a lot of worthless ranting about a lack of sleep as us students try and do anything from studying.

posted by: Mykel86 at 23:22 | link | comments (1) |

Hmm,

It seems yet another all nighter is currently in progress, and it is for the same reason it's always been: multiple assignments with the nasty habit of being due in a row. This time, I have an assignment due this morning, and I also have some sort of weird case study for Comp Ethics due Saturday night, as well as a small essay due Sunday night for the same class. Ugh, electronic turn-in assignments suck.

Anyways, the blog project this club has been formed under is into its final stretch, but I've never been a guy that likes to abandon things. I'll probably continue running this oh-so drab blog as long as anyone cares about it (doesn't seem like too many now). If it fails, I may do a transfer over to 1up where I can keep better watch on it.

Oh, next post I'll try to see if I can't find some useful ways to help fall asleep during those times you end up staring at the ceiling for 6 hours (which is about every other night for me).

posted by: OrangeSbr at 03:19 | link | comments (2) |

Partial Insomniacs

I’m tired, tired of talking about how little sleep we all got.  Every post now sounds exactly the same.  It’s no fun anymore, and it seems like every single time I write in this blog, I’m writing exactly the same thing.  I decided that I’m going to write about something else, at least for this individual post.  I’m going to talk about TVs.  In reference to the theme that the blog does follow though, I stay up looking up information about HDTV’s because I don’t want to waste my money on something that’s horrible.

All I know I want an HDTV to use for watching DVDs, and also to use as a monitor for my laptop.  I’m thinking of getting a decently sized LCD, around 27”, and mounting it on the wall.  I’ve been saving a few bucks every paycheck to try and buy this as a present for myself.  Kind of hard to do when you got bills to pay; car, phone, laptop and credit card bills don’t pay themselves.  Anyways, I guess that’s all.

posted by: Mykel86 at 15:57 | link | comments (4) |

Late Nights Studying

            This past week contained nights where I only got like 4 hours of sleep. All of these late nights where mainly due to all of the studying I had to do for an exam I had on Thursday and the Anatomy and Physiology quizzes I had on Monday and Friday. On Monday I only got like 5 hours of sleep since I stayed up until 1:00am studying and got up at 6am. On Monday night I stayed up watching TV with my roommates. Tuesday and Wednesday night I stayed up studying for the exam I had on Thursday. Tuesday I got like 7 hours of sleep since I did not have a 7:30am class that day and on Wednesday I got like 6 hours of sleep. On Thursday I got like 7 hours of sleep since I did not have a 7:30am class that day. After the 7pm class on Thursday I got to my dorm and studied for my Bio 124 quiz from 10pm until 1am. I had to memorize so many things so it took me like three hours to get it all in my head. I got like 5 hours of sleep on Friday. I have noticed that I am not getting enough sleep because of the 7:30am class I have on Mondays Wednesdays and Fridays. I stay up late studying and I have to wake up really early in order to get ready for this class. I think that college students who stay up late studying and who get to sleep until 9am or 10am are lucky.  

posted by: Lita07 at 20:34 | link | comments (2) |

Troubleshooting Nights

I have just recently gotten a Sony Vaio Notebook, and I love it! To have a newer computer in my house, I no longer have to wait 10 to 15 minutes just waiting for an outdated machine to load up....

Not only did I get a laptop, I also got a wireless connection for home as well!

However, this is where the title comes in: I can never get a good connection when I want to. Just last night, I was plugging, unplugging, turning on, turning off, resetting and beating on various components of the router and modem to try and get a connection until about 4 AM. The night before I didn't even get sleep. I had tried to connect with my PSP, as well, and only this morning I got a connection for all of about 10 minutes.

... At least there is a stable connection for my laptop on campus... at least, 80% of the time... uguu...

posted by: OrangeSbr at 12:58 | link | comments (3) |

Got Sleep?

Last Thursday I can’t believe that I only got like three and a half hours of sleep! I stayed up revising a Lab Report for my Bio 124 lab class. Many of you ask me why I take 7:30am classes but I don’t have the choice of taking classes that are later. All of the Bio classes that are required for Nursing are at 7:30am. I was hoping that I would sleep more next semester but that is not the case. The Bio class I have to take next semester for my major is only offered at 7:30am. I think that the Nursing department does this on purpose to see who really wants to succeed in these classes. People who want to succeed in these classes go to every single class no matter how tired they are. I am one of those people. I do not know how I managed to have the energy to go to class Friday morning.

            I only got three and a half hours of sleep and I could only get like a ten minute nap when I got home Friday afternoon. My six year old sister did not let me sleep since she was so happy to see me. She came into my room and jumped on me in order to wake me up. I did not go to sleep on Friday until midnight. The good thing is that I woke up late Saturday morning and got like ten hours of sleep.  

posted by: Lita07 at 17:17 | link | comments (4) |

Middle of Nowhere

posted by: Mykel86 at 15:39 | link | comments (5) |

All-Nighter Marathon Continues?!

Whew. Currently, it is currently 5:45 am, and I just stayed up... for my eighth all-nighter within the past 10 days. I've been paying dearly for it, sleeping in most of my classes, oversleeping, and loss of mobility during training. But why? Well, if you've read my previous posts, you probably can make your own conclusions. I've been working on even more essays and such....

But on top of that, I've also found another site that I now frequent: DeviantArt.com (Click on the link to go to my profile). It's an art site, so I've posted and appreciated works of art within the site in the dark hours of the night, while working on my homework (I know, bad, bite me). I even changed my avatar here to a pic I posted in my account. There are some great artists out there, and it's wonderful to look at the multitudes of them. Check it out if you can, especially if you happen to be an artist or writer or anything that thrives on creative outlet.

posted by: OrangeSbr at 03:54 | link | comments |

All Nighters from Thursday to Saturday

Sundays and during the weekdays are the times I usually have all nighters studying or doing homework. This Thursday that just passed was when I began my all nighters weekend. On Thursday night I stayed up late practicing the bone features and the correct spelling of the bones for the Bone Practical I had Friday morning in my Bio 124 lab. Friday I went home for the weekend to spend time with my family. Friday night I stayed up late with my mother watching a family video she brought from El Salvador. I enjoyed watching this video because I saw cousins and aunts in the video that I have not seen in eleven years. It was also nice to see what El Salvador looks like in the present. It has changed a lot since the last time I went in 1996. On Saturday I stayed up late watching anime and a movie with my sister. I wanted to work on this blog on Saturday but my sister’s internet was not working for some odd reason, so I just spent my whole Saturday in the company of my family and friends. I have so many things that I have to do for my classes tomorrow, which means that I will have to stay up late tonight. I am just happy that I had a nice weekend with my family and friends back in DC.

posted by: Lita07 at 15:34 | link | comments |

All Nighters... in a Row?!

So all those essays have me on overtime... All-nighters aren't a new concept to me, as having done them due to sleeping all the other days I could have used to work on certain things.

So what is wrong with that, since we all have probably experience with them? Try having them 3-5 nights in a row. I was working frantically on my midterm essay for HIST 100 Monday and Tuesday night. It continued on to even force me to work on it at campus Wednesday morning. Those two all-nighters forced me to go and catch a little shuteye. I ended up waking up, looked at the clock and thought I missed 3 of my classes. I decided to go back to the lab to work.... then the alarm on my cell goes off for the first class that I had thought I missed. I ended up missing only the BIO 103 lecture to work on my essay. I need to look more closely at my watch next time

Then I had a third all-nighter. I don't know why I stayed up, but I just couldn't sleep... That one ended up being part of research time for my RPG research paper for ENG 101. I tried to notate the sources, but because the GMU database is so weird, I couldn't find them again even if I went through the exact same search procedure. It ended up becoming a fourth all-nighter, after I slept through most of Thursday, barely waking up for my lab class. Then last night, I stayed up for no reason at all. I filled that time with Anime.

At this point my brain is nonfunctional.

posted by: OrangeSbr at 12:00 | link | comments (4) |

An unplanned event

I’m exhausted.  You can stop reading this post now.  Those two words basically describe my whole post.  Anything after will just be a detailed response to why I am exhausted.  I spent all of last night sitting in the ER with a few of my friends, only to get home really early this morning and going to sleep till work.  I missed both my English class in the morning, as well as a test I had in my language class, but fortunately I can make the test up.  I’ll be honest, I wasn’t that prepared for the test anyways so this might be a blessing in disguise, but after seeing my friend’s leg split open, I’d be hesitant to declare the event any act of God.  Long story short, my friend ended up busting his leg open about 4 inches in length, and an inch in diameter.  It seems to be okay, but the doctors are a little worried about it and afraid he may be unable to have fun use of his leg for the rest of the year, and the better part of the next.  He’s going back in two weeks so they can re-evaluate him and they can give him either the thumbs up or down on whether he’s allowed to work out for awhile.

Good news is my girlfriend’s coming back this Wednesday from VCU for their fall break.  Bad news is I wonder how much this is going to affect my sleep schedule.  Either way, I have a lot of work to do, and I guess something or someone has to suffer.  Eh.

posted by: Mykel86 at 16:49 | link | comments (1) |

Mission Failure...

Essays are being assigned left and right, one after another, and I have gotten stuck in the crossfire... there were three particular ones I had to work on this weekend: a two-page essay for CS 105 that I had not known about until the Saturday night it was due, a mid-term essay for HIST 100 that must be five pages in length due Monday (though if you ask me, the class is more a literature class than a history one), and of course, the six page essay of ENG 101...

How did these pan out?

Mission one: turned in paper online only half completed. Not going to turn out well...

Mission two: Unable to do much to write. Probably going to look at losing 10% to turn it in two days late...

Mission three: Uninitiated... due next week, but it looks as if I'll be busy for a while...

I even had tried to stay up to write these accursed essays, but alas, essays seem to be the only area of literature where I can't get any freakin' words on the page...

Well, it seems this inability to write is going to get me killed... may as well disembowel myself with ritual suicide...

(Don't worry, I'd never resort to that...)

posted by: OrangeSbr at 22:13 | link | comments (2) |

Busy Weekend

This weekend has been so busy for me! I need to study more for an exam I have tomorrow and I have to stay up really late tonight. My family had two events going on this weekend. I had no time to really sit down and study. On Saturday my uncle celebrated his fifteenth anniversary being married to my aunt. I stayed at the party until midnight. Then when I got home another uncle of mine was visiting my dad. I could not be rude and not join my dad and my uncles in the living room. That night I went to sleep at 1:30am. On Sunday I woke up late, had breakfast, and got ready for my cousins birthday. I was at my cousin's house until 8:00 pm and got to my dorm around 9:00pm. Now I have to stay up late studying. Family is really important to me. Family gatherings like these are the only chances I get to see my whole family together.The good thing is that I can take a nap Monday afternoon, and I do not have classes on Tuesdays so I can sleep all I want that day.

It is times like these where I wish I did not have a 7:30am class. I can't do nothing about it. I just have to deal with it and move on with my academic life.

posted by: Lita07 at 19:25 | link | comments (3) |

Work

There’s only 42 minutes of work left, and time couldn’t be going by any slower.  Doesn’t it seem like the last hour before you can leave is the longest and hardest hour to work?  I’m sitting here exhausted beyond belief, craving a cigarette and an energy drink, both of which I quit.  Maybe that’s why I’m so tired, who knows.  It is really difficult to balance a social life with both school and work.  I feel so backed up in certain classes, and I know these next two weeks will be full of long nights trying to get my work done.  I guess I am lucky that I can work on my school work during work, but only a little at a time.  It doesn’t help that I’m the type of person that likes to immerse myself into my studies, and I hate the smallest distractions.  Now I have to decide whether I want to go home and rest, or enjoy what little of the Saturday night I have left with a few of my friends.

A good amount of my friends came back from school this weekend, and so did my girlfriend as well as my friends who visited New York the last month.  I envy them, I really do.  To be able to just take time off, knowing they don’t have work or school to go to, and go to New York to just relax in the city…what a life.  I’ll probably end up staying out, which will ultimately lead to another me heading to work tomorrow morning more tired than I am right now.  As I post this, I grab a post-it from my desk and write “eyes wide open” in hope that it’ll make me laugh tomorrow.  Look, now there’s only 35 minutes of work left.

posted by: Mykel86 at 15:26 | link | comments (3) |

Feeling Sleepy

Back in High School I would stay up until 1am doing homework or studying. TV was the reason why I stayed up so late during my high school years. I always liked watching Spanish soap operas from 7pm-10pm. Every day I would get home at 6pm since I participated in after school activities, then I would eat dinner, and afterwards I would watch Spanish soap operas. I was so addicted to watching Spanish soap operas. I would do some homework while I watched Spanish operas, but I had to read or study from 10pm until I finished at 1am. I can not concentrate when I read or study with the noise of the TV on, so I would just stay up until I got the work done.

Now that I am in college I feel like I sleep less. Back when I went to high school I woke up around 7am, but know that I have 7:30 classes I have to wake up at 6am. I go to sleep around 1am or 2am. In high school I got 6 hours of sleep, but now that I am in college I get 4 or 5 hours of sleep. Know that I am in college I stay up studying for the weekly quizzes I have in Anatomy and Physiology or for exams. I stay up studying until 1am or 2am since my afternoons doing homework and watching TV with my roommates. My roommates and I stay up watching movies or TV shows. We have also stayed up having conversations where we tell each other stories about our lives. These late night conversations have helped me know my roommates better. Sleeping four or five hours is not good for the average college student. I have been told that the average college student should get at least seven or eight hours of sleep. I do not think the majority of college students get seven to eight hours of sleep. The majority of college students probably relate to our blog of partial insomniacs.

posted by: Lita07 at 11:28 | link | comments (2) |

Don't be worried, it's clean.

It wasn’t too long ago when I was in high school and three to five hours of sleep was all I needed to be fully functionally the next day.  As I’ve been in college now for a couple of years, I’ve noticed that it isn’t the fact that I cannot go on with the same three to five hours, it’s just that I feel very sluggish.  Besides the weekends, I seldom get any less than six hours of sleep a night, and yet every weekday morning, I force myself to get up and see the light of day.  I shouldn’t be at the point in my life where I am just too “old” to have the type of energy I did when I was younger, it’s just that my days are a lot busier than they used to be.

Being in college, I wish I had exciting stories to tell, but in all honesty, those years have passed.  The main reason why I don’t get enough sleep is because I’ve surrounded myself in work.  I’m at the age where college is becoming an overwhelming chore and I want to get on with my life.  It wasn’t until this summer that I really reevaluated my life and set my priorities to steer me, maybe not in the direction I would like, but in an area passed this, passed college.  I work 5 days a week, every week, and go to school the same amount.  I try and go to the gym every night to work myself to exhaustion, but sometimes the juggling of both school and work is all it takes.

Don’t get me wrong, I turned 21 earlier this summer and enjoy the ability to go to a sports bar and watch a game and grab a beer, but when it comes to why I have sleepless nights, my social life has little to do with it.

posted by: Mykel86 at 15:06 | link | comments (3) |

Erratic sleep

Gah... I was trying to type this up, but then it somehow cut off on me, and now I have to start from scratch... Here goes:

I've always had a tendency to stay up to do things that I love, mainly play video games, watch anime or read manga. That habit of mine has been happening every week or so. It's always so hard to pull away from those hobbies of mine, telling myself "just another 30 minutes." In fact, it was a miracle that I pulled myself away from watching "Bleach" this morning to manage my 1up club and come here to write this. Here's the problem, though: I said this morning. I went to bed last night at 6pm and woke up at 5 on a Saturday night.

My habit has been cropping up more and more, especially right before the semester a month and a half or so back. It has thrown my sleep cycle into chaos.  I can no longer just struggle to fall asleep at around 12 am like I used to and only lie awake staring at the ceiling for maybe about 2 hours. Now, I normally (about every other day) stay awake for about 36 hours, then subsequently sleep for 14-15 hours soon after. It may be in part accounted to my hobbies. However, I say it is also because I can't fall asleep sooner before I lose interest in forcing myself to sleep and instead pick up my PSP to play "Monster Hunter Freedom 2" or watch some anime on my computer. I don't understand why I can't just will myself to sleep like my brother and father can do in 15 minutes. I lie awake for hours, trying to not move or do anything... then give up and go do something.

There's got to be a better way... I'd rather not resort to sleeping pills or anything. My Parents have suggested working myself to exhaustion, thinking that I don't already in my martial arts training nearly every day. It's been affecting my mood, too. I'm more prone to depression than normal, and I've been losing a lot of expression on my face when I get back home from campus. My energy is normally drained, too.

Ah, well, I'm not sure what I can do about it.

posted by: OrangeSbr at 08:00 | link | comments (1) |

Oi!

Welcome one and all! I'm sure if you are here, you guys have had many, many sleepless nights, just like me. Whether you have a medical condition, are obsessed with something or just can't fall asleep, this is the place to be... Wow, this sounds like an advertisement.

posted by: OrangeSbr at 15:01 | link | comments (1) |