sleep cycle monopoly

sleep: the natural periodic suspension of consciousness during which the powers of the body are restored.

it's a shame, really.
i'm fairly certain that i used up all my "get out of sleep free" cards in high school and my freshman year of college. back in such glory days of high school, coming home from play practice and playing playstation for a while after (or before, or possibly in place of) homework, eating some food, maybe making some music, i'd hit the sack late enough that my 5:30 am alarm was close enough that i certainly used some of my cards. especially after sterling scholar applications and student body office, i'd imagine a good portion of them had already been used.

then came freshman year at byu. summer term wasn't so bad. i had plenty of sleep between freshman english and a tapdance course. then came fall. going without a job at the time, i decided i would take just above the average course load with 17.o credit hours. well, fast forward through the semester, tack on mission paper stuff and somehow winding up with a girlfriend as well as a mean set of finals to prepare for, more cards were in line for use. admitted, i was able to keep up to speed to a degree compliments of off-day naps and a fort that hid me from the late night parties my roommate held in our dorm room.
just the same, the cards were thoroughly used. i think this was when my deck started getting thin.

a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints didn't help much in this department. Sure, you get eight hours a night (or you're supposed to), but being on your feet for ten hours every day can effectively counter-act. i think that only a few nights used any of my cards, but none of them replenished them.

and now i'm off the mission for a year, have had one "morning job" (7:00 am shift at byu laundry) and currently have an "early morning job" (4:30 am custodial shift at the benson buidling on byu campus), and anything short of seven hours substantially effects my waking effectiveness. sure, i may have been able to use one or two of my precious get out of sleep free cards, but any recent attempts have had me drawing from an empty deck.

what to do? well, i've lowered my weekly hours, and this could help yet. however, my class load of human anatomy, stats, trig, and chemistry may counterballance just as the ten hour work days. i suppose we'll see.

in the meantime, i'll take a nap.