Sleep Deprivation

The quarter is nearing its end, and project due dates are fast approaching. Within the upcoming week, I have a sustainability project due this Thursday, a final presentation and project due this Friday morning on a welding interface, a marketing plan due and presentation to give next Tuesday, and finally, a 10 page paper due in Differentiation by Design by next Wednesday.

The work that I have remaining is pretty clear. Drafts have been completed for the project due Friday and paper due Tuesday... still waiting on some feedback but some of the revisions are already clear and decided upon. The project due Thursday involves a 20-25 minute presentation, of which the overall content is mostly generated, but the powerpoint still needs a lot of work. There are many key components of each project that still need a lot of development time and work.

While talking to my mom recently, she goes, "your definition of night and day are grossly skewed." It used to be that she was referring to my shift in sleeptime back a few hours from more commonly accepted norms. Unfortunately, this has lately meant a completely disregard for the length of night and day, to which my day has been greatly expanded and my "night" has fit in where it can and for however long it works within the rest of my schedule. This has included at the extreme to sleeping from 8am-10am and then trying to fit in a nap in between classes and meetings.

I love project based classes. It is a lot easier to pick up and develop concepts in relation to a real life example. It is much more rewarding at the end of the quarter to have a project that I can show off to friends and family instead of just being able to have passed a final exam. But, when the project based classes reach those last few weeks, you are never as far along as you need to be. There are always going to be long nights, frustrating meetings, and portions of the project that you just didn't realize you were missing. It's crunch time.

Project classes are great, but multiply it by 3. Add to it weekly readings and responses that in additional to class add a large block of time each week that cannot be used towards project progression. This is fine during the quarter, but during crunch time? It means sleep deprivation, getting sick, long days or nonexistant nights, junk food, tons of caffeine, and a very, very unhealthy way to live. The health system that Dan Kramer presented in his seminar discussion today would give me a -50. That doesn't even exist.