A Personal Journey into the world of Polyphasic Sleep

My midnight nap goes swimmingly, though I am a bit groggy when I wake up. That passes though, and I settle into some late-night workin’. All goes well, and my 4 am nap is fine too. I’m slightly more tired when I wake up though, hrm. I’ve timed the morning out so that I can make it to group meeting on time – take my 8 AM nap slightly early (7:45), up at 8:10, shower, get to my car at 8:40, catch the 9:12 train from 22nd street, and get off a stop early in Menlo Park, where I left my bicycle the night before. I bike to campus, getting there at 10:15 – plenty of time til my 11 AM group meeting. I split some HeLa cells, and realize that I am quite sleepy. The cycle has come around, and today I am not as chipper as I would like. Group meeting runs past noon, and I have a hard time keeping my eyes open. As soon as we are done, I head upstairs to nap. I crash hard, falling asleep immediately. I also have trouble waking up, though I do manage to get up while the 1-minute timer alarm is ringing. I finish out the week working on the phosphorylation project until Zach is ready to go. It is pouring rain, so I gratefully accept a ride back to San Francisco, leaving my bike at the lab.

At home I grab a quick bite and take my 8 PM nap. This goes fine, and I pick up Scotty Barnard and we go to a comedy improv show at Canvas in the inner sunset. Show is fine, but we’re more concerned with catching up since it has been WAY too long since we last saw each other. Especially considering we now live 2 blocks away from each other. No, not 2 looooong blocks. After the show I drop him off and head back home. I have a slight headache from the one beer I had at the show, which I try to stave off with a couple glasses of water. My midnight nap gets pushed a bit because of the headache, but I finally get into bed at 12:30.