Yeah, guess what Jason forgot to do last night. Heh. Oh well. I think I was lying horizontal on the couch waiting for inspiration to hit. Instead, sleep came along and beat me over the head. Seems like a common theme with me. Actually, for the last while I’ve been feeling a lot more fatigued than I should be feeling–especially at work. A lot of people suggest that I should be drinking coffee, but seriously I don’t want to start getting into caffeine-laden drinks just to keep me afloat. That might turn into some sort of dependency that I might not be in the mood to break. I like coffee, but not to that extent. I’m trying to find the cause. Lack of vitamins? Not eating enough? Eating too much? I really have no clue. All I know is that I can’t afford to be a walking zombie at work for that much longer. I’m sure the first few times were tolerated, but if this keeps up I could be in trouble.
Tag Archive: sleep
Should just call it a night
This morning, when I got to work my team lead immediately noticed that I was having heavy fits of yawning. I thought that I had gotten a decent night’s sleep, but in truth I got up feeling quite groggier than normal. Just a short while ago, I was pouring myself some tea from a teapot. I was watching the hot liquid pour from the spout to the mug in an even stream. I must have blanked out for a moment because all a sudden I stopped pouring the tea into the mug. Instead, I was pouring the hot tea onto my left hand. What in the world?
I think at this point I should just call it a night. I think these could be signs that my body is telling me that I should take better care of myself.
It’s only seventeen pages…
So, it looks like I’m going to have to work on a document overnight just ot make a deadline tomorrow morning. That’s fine, I suppose. I mean, just as long as this doesn’t become habitual, I should be OK. On the train back home, I was napping, then thinking about my document. Then all of a sudden I came to a really horrible realization: I had forgotten to email myself the document.
Graaaaaaagh!
In my panic state, I was going through various possibilities in my mind. Since I had a paper copy of the draft in my bag, I was trying to convince myself that just retyping 17 pages wouldn’t be such a bad thing. Ha! Luckily, a more rational head prevailed. I realized that I could use Remote Desktop Connection to get back onto my box at work and pick up the doc from the machine. Done deal.
So, here I am, document in hand, figuring out whether I want to stay up late finishing it, or if I want to sleep first, then wake up ridiculously early to get it done. Well…since I seem to already be horizontal on the comfy sofa…I think sleep is going to win out.
Tomorrow’s early start
Yup. Late again. I blame the fact that I have a 7:30 start on Sunday morning. We’re running 18K. You know, for the past few half marathon clinics that I’ve gone through, we’ve never tried doing the early start like this. We usually stick to the 8:30 start time. Inevitably though, we end up running right through to some point before noon, and by then the heat is unbearable. Of course, with the cooler weather we’ve been having it’s not as big of an issue. Still, I kind of appreciate the fact that we’re starting earlier. It means that we end earlier as well. It means though that I have to leave my place before 7. Baaaaaaaaah.
Insomniac
As a result of getting only four hours of sleep every day for the past few days:
I was zonked out at work (close to leaving a puddle of drool at my desk).
I was nodding off on the streetcar (almost didn’t get off at the station).
I was drifting in and out of consciousness on the subway (I was doing the whole bobbing head thing).
I was acting zombie like at the running store (I could barely make coherent sentences).
God, I need sleep.
Zonked out on a weekday
I’m not sure if I’m regulating my energy levels properly as of late. For the past few days I’ve been drinking heaps of pu-erh, and that’s been raising my caffeine levels to amounts way higher than what I’m used to. Then, yesterday for a change I switched to a decaffeinated mint tisane. By the end of my day, after my short run and writing out my blog entry I just passed out on the bed.
I was still decked out in my technical shirt and running shorts. The light was still on. I didn’t turn off the main light and switch on my lamp, so I didn’t do anything about the light since the switch was far away. On my bed my laptop was still on with my mouse plugged into the USB port, so every time I rolled over I made the screen light up and that woke me up a couple of times. I don’t think my sleep was really deep because once 7 a.m. rolled around I was feeling groggier than ever. I’m sure tonight will be much better, but hell, I don’t remember being that zonked out in a while.
I’m sure it’s happened in recent times, but really being drained of energy at the end of a work day is more reminiscent of my life prior to taking up running as a hobby. It wouldn’t have been unusual back then to just recline on the bed and wake up at 4 a.m. with the lights still on wondering what the hell just happened. Nowadays I seem to think it’s a bit rarer. Of course, this doesn’t count days when I’ve had to spend a ridiculous number of hours in office. Naturally, after those days I’d have every right to just fall asleep like a narcoleptic right then and there.
I guess, you’d that that with running to drain off even more of my energy stores I’d probably be more likely to have an empty tank, but no, actually I feel like I’m more energized. This doesn’t count my long Sunday runs, because damn, after 2-3 hours of running I can be forgiven for sleeping away the afternoon. On weekdays, when I have a run planned, I guess I put in more effort to ensure that I have enough energy to last through the run. As a result, I usually feel just fine upon returning. I guess having all of those happy chemicals running through my system has an impact, right? What happened on Tuesday then? No clue.
No matter, I guess. Best thing I can do tonight is ensure that I’m comfortable. I need to set aside the laptop, wear something appropriate, and find a good amount of darkness. Right about now that’s sounding really good.
Getting the call
I was having a very sound sleep session last night when I heard some light buzzing coming from nearby. I checked my phone and noticed that there was a missed call and a message for me. Hmm. Who could call at 2 a.m.? I had a good idea who it was, and my suspicions were confirmed when I listened to the voicemail. It was the team lead, requesting some help. When I heard it, I knew that it must be bad if he had to leave a message at such a time. Unfortunately, he didn’t leave a number that I could call him at so I fired a quick email to his blackberry. He replied quickly with a request for me to go online.
When I went online, I was told of a mini-crisis with directives coming straight from the guy that owns the client. The team lead and I had to spend time debugging something–figuring out why something was happening, and under what circumstances. Oh, man. This whole ordeal lasted for 5 hours. No kidding. At one point, my alarm clock actually went off. The familiar voices of the radio DJs were basically telling me to wake up, but how could I wake up if I hadn’t even gotten to the point of getting proper sleep? The irony killed me. Or maybe that was the fatigue.
After pushing our fix into production, it was easy enough for me to just rollover and get back to sleep. I got about 3 hours of sleep before waking up and heading back into office. I actually made it in just before noon. To tell you the truth, I haven’t been feeling awesome at all, but really, given the circumstances, why should I feel so fresh? I did get some kind words from people on the client-side as well as some people on my end. My time is apparently valuable. Who knew?
You know, it’s only after events like this that I come to realizations about my work ethic. Despite my frequent bitching and complaining and bouts of sarcasm in terms of the work, I actually do take some pride in what’s being produced. Sure, the site looks kind of pants right now, but that’s not under my control. I’m more concerned with the fact that the site works as promised, and that the client is happy. So, despite being asked to do things at an ungodly hour last night, I was actually OK with it all. More than anything, it felt like necessary. I almost feel a little bit crazy for feeling that way, but at the same time it’s something that makes perfect sense to me. That’s not to say that I can do this type of thing daily–I’d go crazy if that was the case. However, going the extra distance once in a while is entirely doable.
All that being said…it’s time I took a break. Soon.
Clang!
At a time when I should be getting a bit more rest and relaxation I actually feel like somehow my body is craving inactivity, and that fact is manifesting itself in subtle ways. On my way back to my car from work, I usually get a light nap on the train. I close my eyes and focus on the music coming from my iPod. Usually though, it really is just a light nap–I usually still have control over my head, you know? It’s not uncommon for me though to zone out for a few stops. The other day though, I really fell asleep. I think I was listening to something quiet when I fell under. Next thing you know: clang!
You know those guys that nod off in their seat and their heads bob up and down drowsily? Every now and then their heads would dip perilously close to hitting something but they back away all of a sudden. In some weird perverse way, you sort of hope that their head would make contact but it hardly ever does. Yeah, I was that guy, except…I actually did hit something. My head hit the bar next to my seat. Not only did I hit the bar, but also the hand of this cutie hanging on while reading a book. With drowsy eyes I looked up and apologized. She just nodded and smiled.
It’s all good, man. A bit of normalcy is just around the corner.
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