Who Needs Sleep?
I haven't been sleeping.
Last night I was awake until 4:30 a.m. Fortunately Springy was awake by then, it being a reasonable hour of the morning in the UK, and he read to me from the Guardian for a while.
On Monday night I didn't sleep either. Not one bit. In fact, I was so high on slow-release Sudafed (240 mg! how is that legal?) that I sat up in front of the computer in the "chit-chat room" at the lab and analyzed time-lapse videos of migrating cells. All night. Seriously, all fucking night. I saw the sun rise over the scaffolding next door. I scurried off to the 'scope room in the morning so my advisor wouldn't walk into the office and find me in the same place I'd been when he left 14 hours before. That would have been embarassing.
Got some good numbers, though. And I found a smiley face cell. Maybe I'll show it to you.
Last week (I think) I woke up at 1:30 and was up till 5. So bored I almost tidied the apartment. I said almost. I do have limits, people.
Is this the price I pay to the cloning gods when things are going okay at the bench? Or is it combination of the semi-manic stage I'm in post "sabbatical" plus the general lack of coherent schedule as a result of not having a domestic partner who works regular hours and cooks dinner? Or perhaps I have a brain disease.
It's probably a brain disease.
You know what's sad about this, though? I'm more pleased about experiments w*****g (dare not spell it out) than annoyed about missing sleep. (It's true, I am having magic hands these days. I don't recall having sold my soul at the crossroads, but then I'm in a bit of a daze, so who knows?) I also caught myself thinking, "I bet not sleeping burns a lot of calories." Silver lining, kids, silver lining.
In other news, the Man has got me down. I can't really talk about it, but there's a proverbial crystal stream that would solve all my problems running past my feet and the Man will not let me lean down and partake of its healing waters. This is because the Man are asshats who pretend to have my interests at heart but are really looking out for themselves and making my life more difficult in the process.
No me gusta El Hombre.
Last night I was awake until 4:30 a.m. Fortunately Springy was awake by then, it being a reasonable hour of the morning in the UK, and he read to me from the Guardian for a while.
On Monday night I didn't sleep either. Not one bit. In fact, I was so high on slow-release Sudafed (240 mg! how is that legal?) that I sat up in front of the computer in the "chit-chat room" at the lab and analyzed time-lapse videos of migrating cells. All night. Seriously, all fucking night. I saw the sun rise over the scaffolding next door. I scurried off to the 'scope room in the morning so my advisor wouldn't walk into the office and find me in the same place I'd been when he left 14 hours before. That would have been embarassing.
Got some good numbers, though. And I found a smiley face cell. Maybe I'll show it to you.
Last week (I think) I woke up at 1:30 and was up till 5. So bored I almost tidied the apartment. I said almost. I do have limits, people.
Is this the price I pay to the cloning gods when things are going okay at the bench? Or is it combination of the semi-manic stage I'm in post "sabbatical" plus the general lack of coherent schedule as a result of not having a domestic partner who works regular hours and cooks dinner? Or perhaps I have a brain disease.
It's probably a brain disease.
You know what's sad about this, though? I'm more pleased about experiments w*****g (dare not spell it out) than annoyed about missing sleep. (It's true, I am having magic hands these days. I don't recall having sold my soul at the crossroads, but then I'm in a bit of a daze, so who knows?) I also caught myself thinking, "I bet not sleeping burns a lot of calories." Silver lining, kids, silver lining.
In other news, the Man has got me down. I can't really talk about it, but there's a proverbial crystal stream that would solve all my problems running past my feet and the Man will not let me lean down and partake of its healing waters. This is because the Man are asshats who pretend to have my interests at heart but are really looking out for themselves and making my life more difficult in the process.
No me gusta El Hombre.
posted by Joolya at
8:22 PM
2 Comments:
I was also on Sabbatical (from lurking on your blog) for a while, but saw your sleep problems to tell you that I am in the same boat. I keep going back to see where your project is going. I'm seven years out of thesis and it all sounds so eerily familiar...
As for the insomnia, go with it, it won't last. It can't. Just be careful to manage stress, as you're beating the hell out of yourself by not sleeping.
I've been almost without sleep since last March. I feel great on four uninterrupted hours. Hypo-manic, indeed.
One of those "once in a career discoveries" burst onto my scene last year, and I constantly wake up with ideas. I keep a pen/paper on the bedstand. It doesn't help when PubMed is a few steps away...
Also, when things are working, you can't thumb your nose at the lab pixies who make it happen. Particularly in thesis work.
Break a leg on your lab work. Can we see the smiley face cell? I love wierd IFM pics.
CL
P.S., How do you see what people's searches were that led to your site? (FWIW, I first found your site via something on Bitch Ph.D. that led me to angryblackbitch, then you.)
I want to see a smiley face cell! I once had a cell that looked like the devil. It terrified me at 2am on a sleepless night in the microscope room.
PS LOVE the term asshats. I may borrow it.
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