What Have I Been Working on?

So yes, this is what I did last night. Did it take an hour? No! 当然不!!! It took two and a half. But I've got it down on paper in Chinese and pinyin, but I think I can pretty much recall the whole thing without having to cheat, except for when I choke. Very exciting. It's coming along well, and I'm really enjoying it, although I was in a conversation the other day with a friend, and all the words he couldn't remember in Chinese came to me in Russian. I need to transfer mentally. When you start playing around like this with different languages (some semi-seriously), you begin to see the glaring advantages of studying multiple languages, and how that different outlook helps you tremendously to understand concepts that may seem foreign at first. Love this book. Anyone that has even a mild interest in linguistics or international communication should cough up the $14 and go get this. Especially if you want to acqure an unbridled lust for languages and a very efficient way to pick them up during commercial breaks. Tres intelligent.

ReacTable

List: Things I Could Do If I Slept Polyphasically

So I’ve been all psyched up about polyphasic sleeping (Oh, and don’t be mistaken: this is not an invitation to tell me how awful or dangerous or stupid an idea it is. Thanks in advance). I may try the biphasic thing first, but in either case I would be awake for a significant period at night. Biphasic I would sleep probably 5:30-7:00 am and pm. This seems to be easiest. Polyphasic would be a half hour nap at 6:30 and 12:30 am and pm, and that’s a little more difficult to deal with, but would probably be better. Again, either way, I’d be up a great deal of the night, and the idea of basically creating free time between 1 and 6 am is so appealing I can hardly stand it. Therefore:

List: Things I Could Do If I Slept Polyphasically (that is, things I could accomplish at night and take out of my daily routine, thus freeing up time during the daylight hours):

1. Study Chinese like a maniac
2. Laundry
3. Run/Work out
4. Study for meetings, etc. (English and Chinese)
5. Clean
6. Write
7. (I’d even mow the lawn if I didn’t think the neighbors would set my house afire)
8. Catch up on emails (and other necessary correspondences)
9. Wii
10. Finishing my Italian and Turkish language programs (now moving into non-necessary items, those “hey I’d do this if I had more time” type things)
11. Start sketching again (blah)
12. Read more recreational books
13. Brush up on Russian
14. Find more stuff to do with my time

So, what it boils down to is this: since I’ll probably become biphasic if anything, since it’s a little hard to ask my peers to let me sleep for a half hour in the middle of the day or right when evening service starts. So say I sleep like I said above: two 90 min naps every 12 hours. That means I’m sleeping 21 hours a week. People, that means (Depending on your current sleep habits) you’re gaining at least 21 hours a week (assuming you only sleep six hours a night; I’m closer to seven, so in my case it’d be 28 hours). Think of what you could do with an extra 28 hours a week, or an extra four hours each day.

Also, the simple idea is this (for those of you that won’t read the above link. Check out the other links at the bottom of that article. Steve Pavlina’s blog is excellent): if you use a cell phone for a three hour phone call, you’re bordering on the entire life of the battery, meaning you’ll have to charge it longer before it’s fully ready to go. OR, you can charge it every 45 mins or something, meaning it’s ready to go much quicker. Same is true with us: the longer we’re awake, the longer the brain takes to repair, reboot, defrag, organize and rest. If we sleep at more frequent intervals, we don’t need to hibernate before reaching REM sleep and getting the same healthy benefits of slumber. (Again, this is not a request for calling up the relative insanity of this idea. I know… I’m gonna do it.) Also check out Randy Gardner… wiki him or something.