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Doing things on minimal sleep has been on this blog before--check here if you don't remember last time. The title of this post refers (approximately) to the number of minutes of sleep I got on Saturday night. It also happens to coincide with the number of posts on this blog so far (counting this one).

At about 6:30 on Saturday night, I got a call from a friend visiting from Ames, asking if I wanted to hang out. I said yes, and waited for the inevitable second call to get directions--the driver had said he knew where my place was (he did, but not exactly how to get here). We ended up playing games--Four on a couch and Boxers or Briefs--until about 12:30 in the morning. The guy driving had to take three people home--counting myself--so I didn't get home until 1. I decided that it would be hard to get to sleep if I didn't follow that part of my routine, so I read a little bit before trying to sleep. At 1:30, I put down the book and quickly fell asleep.

4:30--my alarm went off, telling me it's time to get ready to set up church. I showered, got dressed, got a bottle of Mountain Dew and sat down to watch Sportscenter (the only thing on TV that early) until it was time to go.

At 6, it was time for setup. We got most things setup, and there was no lyrics person, so the lights people got lyrics setup finished. When everything was done, we were thinking that one of us might have to run lyrics. When it was time for practice to start, the creative arts director--our boss--asked if we would be okay to take over lyrics for the day because the person on the schedule was sick.

I sat down at the computer, because "mom" was on the schedule to do lights. She asked if she could do lyrics, and gave a couple reasons--that's what she started with, and she hadn't done it in a long time--but since I had no preference between lights and lyrics (I'm more comfortable with lights, but I'll do whichever of the two needs to be done) she didn't have to give reasons.

The computer was having issues, so we spent most of the next hour trying to get the computer to send a signal over to the screen, so that lyrics would actually work. Finally, it worked, and the rest of practice went smoothly.

I hit the wall just as church was about to start. How I managed to stay on my feet through the worship and the service, I don't know.

After church, I was thinking that I'd watch some football, probably take a nap, and there was a very, very slim chance that I'd get some homework done. As it turned out, I watched football, played some Minecraft, and watched Transformers on TV. I went to bed at 11, after being awake for nearly 20 hours on 3 hours' sleep.

And now for a little description. Some people were telling me that it didn't look like I was operating on only 3 hours of sleep. Sleep deprivation takes a bit to do anything to me. At first, the only outward sign is that I yawn more than normal. I'll feel exhausted, but I don't really show it. By the time I start looking--and acting--like I'm tired, I'll already show some other signs. I start getting extremely paranoid after a while--I've been to the point where shadows make me jump. I'm sure it's entertaining for others, but it's really not fun when it gets to that point.

God built me to wake up easily. Just hopping in the shower is enough for me to be fully awake. The good side of this is what is mentioned above--I don't seem tired unless the lack of sleep gets to an extreme. The bad side is that it's hard for me to get back to sleep after waking up--walking across the room means it'll take about half an hour to get back to sleep, unless I've only gotten an hour or so of sleep to that point.

SIDE NOTE: I finally turned in my Veritas Membership Application yesterday--33 days after the day I filled it out, and four weeks after I had originally intended. So that's one of three potential meetings for specific groups that I won't feel out of place anymore--though that was the one I felt the least out of place. Salt leaders' and Women's retreats will still be the same--if I end up helping out with those again.