Sleeping Patterns

Wikipedia: The optimal amount of sleep is not a meaningful concept unless the timing of that sleep is seen in relation to an individual's circadian rhythms. A person's major sleep episode is relatively inefficient and inadequate when it occurs at the "wrong" time of day. The timing is correct when the following two circadian markers occur after the middle of the sleep episode but before awakening.



What the hell does this mean? This means that sleeping on time is a good thing. By sleeping at different times everyday, you fuck up your internal clock and no matter how much sleep you get, it won't help because you will still feel tired.

I've been consistently going to bed at around 11:30 PM at night and waking up around 7:30. After weeks of doing so, I've found my own rhythm. I believe the proper number of hours you should get each night is eight hours. So sleeping any earlier will probably do more harm than good.

There are four stages of sleep, in the sleeping cycle. I believe I go through two cycles every night, because I always wake up in the middle of the night after my REM sleep, and then fall right back to sleep. I don't exactly know what time my first cycle ends, but I know its around 3-4 AM. My second cycle now ends at around 7 AM in the morning. I've found myself waking up naturally at around 7 AM.

The effect of further sleep:
On the weekends I tend to sleep a bit more because there is no class. When I wake up around 9 or 10 AM in the morning, I feel much more tired than waking up at 7 AM. Why is it so? I read somewhere that waking up in any stage before REM sleep will leave you tired and exhausted. By waking up after REM sleep, you will feel most refreshed. If you do decide to sleep more, you must wake up naturally after your cycle ends with REM, otherwise you'll feel like shit.

Conclusion:
More does not mean better. If you want adequate, quality sleep, you must have a consistent pattern. Infact, I try not to break my own pattern on the weekends either. By waking up after 7 AM, I feel less energized.

13 year old boy

PART I
A while back, I stumbled across a funny story.
Original story
To summarize the first part: Baby faced boy Alfie Patten is father at 13. According to the mother, who is 15 years old, she had unprotected sex with him and he is the father.

My thoughts: Okay... that kid looks like hes 8, that chick looks old enough to be his mother, and FFS damn that thing is ugly.

PART II
Two more come out of the closet
Second part of the story, several other guys come out saying they might be the father of that kid. According to them, multiple guys were having sex with that creature. They decide to do a DNA test.

My thoughts: I laughed out loud, not only at how Alfie was stupid enough to take responsibility for a kid that wasnt his, but more dumbasses came out of the closet to assume responsibility. Good job, dumbass.

PART III
Alfie is not the father
My thoughts: That is just pathetic.

I hate jury duty

My mom gets jury duty requests every so often, even when she wasn't a citizen yet. American bureaucracy is so stupid. Now that I'm 18, they're giving me jury duty. I hope I don't get selected any time soon, because I don't want to waste the whole day away waiting in some line just to tell them I don't want to do it.

Bureaucracy is such a bitch.

CC ends operations

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29586797/

After 60 years Circuit City finally powers down. 567 retail stores are clearing out their inventories.

Christ sake... the economy is turning worse still. Now its effects are really being felt, even at home. My dad fears that he will be laid off because there is no business in his workplace.

The Painted Veil

Okay I just watched the The Painted Veil, only because Edward Norton was in it. It's a US movie filmed in China so I was like meh okay I'll give it a shot. It was pretty good. It's not your typical Hollywood movie because the ending is kinda sad.

Updating

Today I won my first standard 2v2. Woopie.

So anyway, Blizzard announced that the top 20 of the invitational ladder will receive a Starcraft 2 Beta Key. This will probably motivate more people to play seeing how 20 will be able to get a sneak peak of the most anticipated release in 2009. Then again... it might not come out until 2010, who knows. I'll definitely try to aim for top 20, even if I cant make top 6.

Season 7 draws near

Original post:

Nebu on February 26th, 2009
We're pleased to announce the Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne 2009 Tournament, the seventh edition of the Battle.net Warcraft III ladder tournaments. The upcoming tournament will use a similar format to the previous tournaments, using the three invitational ladders hosted on the Kalimdor, Northrend, and Azeroth realms. Once again, these ladders will initially be populated on an invitation-only basis and feature the world's most established and successful Warcraft III players. Each will function as a standard Battle.net solo ladder, with their own web interface displaying rankings, and their own map pools. Additionally, top performers from each invitational ladder will have a chance to win a StarCraft II beta key. We will be resetting the open ladder on March 2 for those interested in participating. For more information and details on the tournament please check out the FAQ.

God damn, they said they would start it by the end of January, its freaking March. Now they said they will reset the ladder on March 2, and its the freaking 5th. Once again, everything related to Blizzard is slow. When they say soon, they mean months. Well at least it gives me time to prepare--altho I am a bit lacking in motivation without the reset.

The Gift

What is talent? What is "The Gift" that most professional players have? According to this article on WCR, there are three basic things that make them successful.

1. Reaction time - the ability to react quickly to changes and to be able to oversee the entire battle. I am kind of lacking in that aspect with respect to being able to see everything. Is that something I can work on? To process things in my head faster?

2. To be able to out strategize or outsmart your opponent - This is self explanatory. Often times I find myself unable to decide whether or not I am in the position to win the battle. Is this a good position for me to engage? Should I stall until I have higher odds? Obviously this is linked to reaction time because without the ability to decide things in seconds, this is a hard thing to grasp.

3. To be able to learn from mistakes - this one is really hard as well. Sometimes you just lose games because of rotten luck. But other times there are clearly bad moves that one can avoid if the game is reviewed.

So what does all of this mean anyway? It just means that I need to exercise my brain more and not just jump into fights that aren't favorable to me. My impatient nature often get the best of me.