Sleep(Less-ness)

I've never really considered sleep very important..To me, its just something i do when i have nothing better to do,,like in a boring class or bus/train..I only sleep when i'm very tired or i know that i might get tired the next day if i dont sleep..I dont really understand what joy people derive from sleeping their lives away..I think its just another bodily function, like going to toilet..(Now i know a few people who derive great pleasure from going to toilet, to the point of appointing presidents and a secretary for the (apparently)prestigious "hagga" and "tagga" clubs,,but lets not go there now)..So i think its just something thats gotto be done once in a while...

From the last 3-4 days, i've been spending most of the day and night in office trying to finish some work which has to go the client in a couple of days now. My has been something like this...
Wake up (around 10),get ready,office, lunch, office, dinner, office office office office ..(till abt 5-6AM) then get back and sleep. and repeat the next day since the last 3-4 days...As you can see, I'm manging a royal 3-4 hrs of sleep a day (taking out the cases when i got phone calls from home during this time on a couple of the mornings,which cut some more sleep)...Its 3AM,,and I think i need sleeeeep....But then, i wasn't always this smart so as to realise the fact..Like always,,there's a story to it...

Place -> Hyderabad
Timeline->Feb-March 2003 (Inter 1st year)
If your confused as to what inter 1st yr is,,its basically 11th class(state board) in with board exams.. I was in an IIT coaching center cum college in 11th and 12th which never really bothered much about college subjects and classes. We had a few classes which ended in november or december. This was the time just before the board exams, the preparatory hols of about 10 days. Though the stuff in coaching covered most of the topics , we had to start doing things in the way the texts books told, and not by fundoo coaching methods to get marks..

I was supposed to be damn good at Maths, but In my 10th, i got a measly 84 in maths,,much below what i expected..(But it was fate at work, which caused my total to be an awesome number..420!!)
..So keeping that in mind i wanted to get full this time and thought i'll finish the whole textbook in abt 5-6 days..For this purpose i decided to sleep as little as required.. There were a few things i used to do so as not to sleep..In ascending order of efficacy..
1. Solve problems!! There's an awesome high i get if i solve a difficult problem..Stuff like calculus and trigonometry are like puzzles if you enjoy it..
2.Loud music while studying..Linkin park or Metallica..perfect to keep you awake and drive away all your sleep..
3.Watch parts of gladiator...again!!
4.Coffee..Not the way normal ppl drink it..That takes too much time to make,,The time lost would defeat the purpose of sleeping less..So have a Coffee shot!! dont know what a coffee shot is?? Simple recipe..2-3 spoons of coffee, 2-3 spoons of sugar, abt half a glass of water. Mix and drink as it is!! It takes abt 15 seconds to make,,and i swear,,it gives a much better kick than coffee..The trade-off obviously being that it tastes HORRIBLE..But taste is too small a price for the greater goal...
4.Play UNREAL TOURNAMENT !! The only thing that'll definitely give u bigger kick than a fast death match of this would be a defribliator..(game also called 'vladivostok' by certain great people..god knows why..)

I believe the human body is a work of art and can take much more than what normal people think its limitations are. So if the idea appeals to me enough,, i stretch my limits as far as i can, which is usually much much more than thought normal.. That time,,I've was never really willing to accept the fact that little things like sleep can bog you down..I feel its more a fight of will than your body actually not being able to do things..

All set and planned to finish the maths textbooks..I began the solving..
Day1->Strategically taking short breaks in middle to keep efficiency highest, one day went off fast.
Night1->The night passed easily with the high of seeing sooooo many problems being solved..Not a sleepy wink or a yawn.
Day2->Continuing without a sign of slowing down.
Night2->Completed looooooads of syllabus..On a major high cos of speed. But then sleep made an attempt to claim what it though was rightfully its own..the night! With the high of solving not enough to keep me awake,,,Music played the substitute to ensure it not sleeping..Job well done..
Day3->Effects of weariness start showing. ..Thinking was slowing down..An irritation started to develop..But it wasnt the sort that made me want to sleep,,it was just irritation..By the evening, the effects of Music and Gladiator seemed to be fading..Maybe i need sleep,,But, i was so close, and the thought of me finishing in half the time kept me going..
Night3->Brain working sloooooooooowly...Coffee shots seemed useless too..Unreal tournament was played with that much more frequency to stay awake..With only a couple of chapters left at the end,,Sleep reared its ugly,(and heavy) head..By this time,,for me,,it was more of an ego fight than anything else,,i refused to give up despite knowing that sleeping was the right thing to do...
Day4->The day dawned..I could barely read now..The sun rose, my head seemed to be floating. I could barely even walk straight, but with a pen in my hand i tried to continue..I was getting delirious...But surprisingly,,i didn't feel sleepy..Its just that my brain had shut off..Even the most basic activities of talking seemed hampered..My mom came around and asked me something, it took me a couple of seconds to figure out what she was saying...i just replied with a "huh???"..She asked me again,,this time i understood,,but i couldnt think of an answer, and by the time i decided on what to say, i forgot the question again!! So,,i finally gave up and though i should to go try sleeping...I mumbled some gibberish and went and fell on the bed...But i couldn't sleep for a while,,it was like,,the eyes wouldn't remain shut..As if they were used to staying open..Finally,,after what seemed like an eternity,,i dropped off to sleep...
Slept through that day,,and got up at around 3Am at night..still a bit shaky,,but almost normal...

So came to end,,another bout of madness from my side..3 nights without sleep..I now know that sleep deprivation is used as a torture mechanism..But then,,like many other things,,i learnt this the hard way!! After this,,i did have lots of night outs,,for exams,,for movies,anime and Dota and sometimes just for the heck of troubling people around,,but i never stretched it past 2 days in a row...

If you've been reading carefully,,you would've wondered,,that when i'm short sleep,,why'd i spend an hour writing this blog?? I figured that another hour of staying awake after so many wouldn't really matter..And If you haven't realised by now,,,i'm a little bit weak with the obscure idea of common sense,,which would tell me to stop this and sleep!! And its a sunday tomorrow,,so im not gonna waste it sleeeeeeeeeping...I have plans to go out and meet friends and watch movies and have fun!!!sleep can wait....
:D

But an interesting thing is that the day i got placed in the company that i am,,was also after a night out!! Seems like the capability was something they were looking for!! So maybe its all for good!! And if you find any glaring mistakes or typo's,,keep in mind,,that i've only slept for abt 15 hrs in the last 4 days!!