3 day bender
SherbetMixtape
after that and then another 3 days after that. Not only that, my
dissertation is due in on the day of my first exam, which althought
has progressed quite a bit recently, it is still not in a state where
i can get a decent mark. On top of this, i need to get a 65% average
for this semester to get a decent degree classification.
So i'm about to embark on a 3 day bender of not sleeping to get up to
speed with studies. Supplies include pro-plus caffeine pills, water,
fruit juice, chicken mince, chocolate and a host of other crap that is
in the fridge-freezer. I think i need to document my progress on the
matter otherwise i'm going to bottle it and just sleep. But since i'm
reporting to other people (you guys) about my activities, i'm more
likely to stick with the plan. Plus reporting on here will break up
the monotony as well. Any replies will be much much appreciated
knowing that someone out there in cyber space cares lol...
I need this 65% average to gain admission for a graduate entry course
- my dream. I start this adventure with the following saying embedded
in my head "Work hard. Live the Dream. Sleep when you're dead"....you
guys are the only ones who know about this 3 day bender, everyone else
around me will think i have been living normally.
Wish me luck guys and thanks for reading
SherbetMixtape
SherbetMixtape
I woke up at 1.30pm on 13th may 2007....this was exactly 72 hours
before my first exam and dissertation handing in. Let the games
begin....so as i start the bender at 4.30pm on Sunday 13th May, i have
69 hours til the first exam...
SherbetMixtape
It's 12.41am...almost got the main bulk of my dissertation finished
now, finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel (by the way,
this dissertation has been a pain....i started it a month ago and kept
going round in circles and only now have got to grips with it). I aim
to send the dissertation to my supervisor for him to look through by
9am so i can meet with him later on to iron out any problems he
identifies and then correct it the night before handing it in. How am
i feeling? I'm feeling pretty good (but then it is only 12.35am) There
are only 4 people left in this computer lab (me being one of them).
One of them, this guy called George has just gone to sleep for a while
(i have to wake him up at 2am). This is time around which i begin to
produce the proverbial goods with my work.
Next time i blog i hope to have finished the dissertation (bar the
referencing, that's a last minute job!)
Peace
Nik Fred
SherbetMixtape
kind of support now...if i told anyone i know personally about this,
they would freak. "Desperates times call for desperate measure" goes
the old cliché (and it's a cliche for a reason!). Adrenaline is
carrying me at the moment because i can feel that this achievement in
staying up for 3 days will hopefully, God willing, lead to another
achievement which is the 65% i need. Will defo keep you posted on the
goings on....ok, time to get back to work...
SherbetMixtape
Hey....my dissertation is almost complete now, i felt like a break so
thought i'd update the blog. I just went outside and stood in the rain
for a while, it felt really good. At any other time, i'd avoid the
rain....but right now as i'm the waking dead, any kind of stimulation
to wake the senses is good. I'm not really that tired in truth, and in
some ways i'm more focued than i usually am when i'm wide awake and
fresh. Right now, all i see the that 9am target to get my dissertation
draft emailed to my supervisor. Nothing else matters and there is
nothing else around to distract me. Usually my mind wanders all over
the place when there are all these sounds of normal everyday student
life during exam time. Papers rustling, chairs moving, people
whispering, people wandering etc etc....but as of this moment, non of
that is even an issue because the people who do these things are
tucked up in bed fast asleep while this boy right here is sat tapping
his keyboard humming to white stripes songs which loop inside his
head. I've found that as i did get slower as the evening morphed into
morning, talking to myself helped me get things done a lot quicker. I
found that hearing my train of thought made it easier to retain that
trian of thought (if that makes any sense?)...as before, i was just
thinking things and then forget what i thought straight away and kept
looping through that same flawed process. Also, writing things down as
soon as i thought of a decent idea to put in the dissertation helped
as well. Normally id just retain the thought in my head and come back
to it after i completed the particular section i was doing. I think at
this time, i am less methodical...but then again, this lack of method
has given me a new method of approach to things (?) i.e. i may not ge
tthings done in a particular order, but i am getting things done at a
reasonable rate non the less....i'll look back at that and probably
realise it doesnt make any sense. My productivity may be lower right
now than when i am fresh, but as my focus is better....i think overall
i am getting more work done as i keep plodding away with it rather
than taking a break every 2 minutes. Also, because i know i'm not
going to be sleeping....i'm freaking out less thinking "oh what if i
oversleep...it only gives me THIS much time to work"....anyway, blog
over for now....back to it!
SherbetMixtape
Major major major blip. I put my head down for "an hour" as i told my
friend to call me to wake me up and the worst imaginable thing
happens. My battery on my phone runs out, and the alarm i set on my
clock was for PM and not AM. So it turns out i had 5 and a half hours
sleep. I start from square one......i've got to take ours from the
sleep i was meant to have at a later time and add them onto my bender
session....a "sleep shift?" i dunno....something like that! So my
dissertation is not complete yet, i'm probsably going to end up seeing
my supervisor tomorrow now....it's cutting everything damn
close...whether my mission is a success or a failure, it's going to go
to the wire now....i've learnt a lesson though, dont sleep until
you've completed your objective. Learning as i go along
here...hopefully no more mistakes now....i'm hungry, gonna go get some
cereal....
SherbetMixtape
The origional plan was that i was going to make the suggested changes
ton ight, but that cant happen as my meeting will probably be tomorrow
afternoon now. This means tonight i have to learn for my first exam
like it's the night before. I'm hoping i can cram in the whole module
from now until my supervisor meeting tomorrow such that for the rest
of the day tomorrow, i will be able to make the ammendents and make
the dissertation look decent and read well. I'm pretty happy with the
standard of work i;ve produced, i was getting suck of doing it towards
the end but the main thing is that i have a solid draft done. I'm
guessing if i handed it in in it'sa current state, it would get
55-60%. Tomorrow is the day where i basically 'pro' it up, add ther
gloss. By 5pm my aim is to have the damn thing printed. Then wednesday
morning go to the print shop to get bound and then hand it in.
Adrenaline is carrying me. Oh, and so is caffeine. Last night was
productive in terms of progress....i'm a little dissapointed that i
fell asleep, but other than that in pretty high spirits. I'm feeling
the struggle, but i'm being driven by the thought that this could be
the biggest achievement of my life so far....
Peace, love and caffeine
Ben
pulled a 120 hour on 6 red bulls and fresh air). GO HARD! :-)
Nik Fred
Az
Ben
creative writer, and I can churn out some amazing stuff when I've been
awake for a while. Unfortunately other commitments kept me up for the
fifth and sixth day, I would have rather stopped at 4-those last two
weren't fun - hallucinations and the whole bit.
On May 16, 2:01 pm, "Nik Fred" <bearta...@gmail.com> wrote:
> just wondering....what did you do in the mean time? i get way too bored to
> stay motivated for more than 3 days
>
Insomniac
and i'm feeling EXTREME paranoia. I hallucinated that the cops were at
my door, my parents woke up... i screamed. I'm going on nicotine and
Mountain Dew. I still have 1 more day. I'm hearing things, and seeing
things. I'm working on a story to keep myself busy,playing guitar,
browsing forums, using MSN, and talking on IRC. Every noise sounds
like a person groaning, or a dog barking. Wish me luck.
Ben
before they even start - 4th day before they get worrying. I might
recommend pinning up some very friendly posters (stuff that makes you
feel comfortable/safe) around your hanging-out area to re-assure
yourself in case things get freaky.
Good luck and remember to enjoy!