Wednesday 26 May 2010

Sleep x 8 = Knowledge

So after reading this, I pondered for a bit on my approach to work tasks, duties and clutter. If anything, it made me realise how much I value my own productivity. I am in awe and a bit envious of those who can work during the day, then go home and do what they want to do until the early hours of the morning. Then wake up feeling refreshed and without that red faced, messy hair look I’m pretty good at managing.

I accepted years ago that I’m not that kind of person, and that 8 hours of sleep would ensure that following day I could imbibe knowledge like a three year old drinking Coca-Cola for the first time. So even though I am aware of this, I haven’t bothered trying to alter my sleeping patterns whatsoever to help optimise myself. I do stuff until I’m tired.  

If I manage to sleep for 8 hours, I’m exceptionally efficient in a natural way where I take everything in my stride. Over time this has been really hard to achieve, I have become mindful that I need more sleep but my body doesn’t automatically wind down at 10pm. Unfortunately, my mind is buzzing around this time and if I don’t start thinking about resting, I can quite easily go to bed at 12:30 after watching a film, reading a book or listening to a radio programme. It then takes me another half an hour to sleep. So in a bid to try and find a way to sleep better and at a decent time I tried a few different approaches over the last 3 weeks and weighed up what were effective and what were not.

Cold Turkey
I made sure I was in bed for 10pm for a couple of nights, regardless of how I was feeling. The idea was that being in bed would entice sleep within the hour.

Verdict: Didn’t work at all and I became a restless and bored.

Au Natural
For these days I just let myself fall asleep when I wanted to. The first night was around 12 and the second 1am. My natural clock is set to wake up at 7am, but because I wanted to get the full 8 hours I went back to sleep until 8 and 9, respectively.  

Verdict: The 8 hours was much appreciated but the day tends to start off on a bad foot if I get in just before 10am. Also, I tend to stay late as a result and basically shift my day along a few hours.

Preparation time
Around 9:30 I’d make sure I’m not doing anything active, i.e. watching a film, being sociable or actually thinking about stuff. Then at 10:30pm I go to bed listening to the radio at a very low volume and then I’m asleep by 11pm.

Verdict: Easily the most effective but in order to get the sleep at a decent time I’m going to have to stop engaging with everything, I don’t know how I feel about that. Not that good, actually.  

Alcohol approach
Some red wine or Scotch with ice are great ways to sedate me, and after two glasses of vino I do tend to feel ‘chilled’. Sleeping is a bit easier although it can leave me with a heavy head.

Verdict: It’ll be quite expensive after a while and probably not the best way to tackle the issue.

Having tried all these methods to sleep 8 hours and within a reasonable time I can conclude that preparing to sleep at around 9:30 is the most effective by far. Yet, as mentioned earlier, it comes at a cost. I have to be disciplined and will also have to sacrifice anything that goes on after these hours, which is the best time, in my opinion. So I guess I find myself in the same position as to when I started this blog entry, I am aware of what is required to help me develop and perform tasks quicker, but I am not willing to sacrifice ‘my time’, in order to achieve this.

In other news, I was telling someone how much I loved this song. They unfortunately hadn’t heard of it but as I sat down on Tuesday night, it appeared as the title music to Luther on BBC. I’m now a major fan of the Luther production team. Good programme too. 

Tuesday 11 May 2010

13 And Out

So this election business seems to be quite interesting, of late. No more so than watching Campbell antagonise Boulton . So now that Gordon Brown has resigned, it is the end of his front line political career but also the end of ‘that agreement’. 

I don’t believe that the pact that both Brown and Blair made in 1994 would survive until May 2010. It was supposed to be a deal that would get Labour into power but it has done more than that. Through the creation of New Labour they created some sort of uber-party which won 3 of the last 4 elections. I can’t believe Tony, rubbing his chin anxiously as he inches towards the subject of who was going to stand as leader, knew what would be in store. Or Brown, as he winced in trepidation at being asked to step aside, could have comprehended that between them they would rule the country for 13 years.

Ten of those years were Blair’s with Brown holding the second most powerful role that a politician can have. They were instrumental in introducing minimum wage which has been a good thing, equally the hazy reasons for declaring war on Iraq and subsequently Afghanistan leaves a lot of people unclear, confused and ultimately disappointed about such a decision. When Blair left in 2007, he completely resigned from politics but Brown still carried on.

The three years of his tenure were odd. It seemed that he was going to try and hold off an election until the last possible moment as the Conservatives were going to smash the party like they had been floored in 1997. So, in a way, it seemed that everyone was waiting for him to do his business and then let the election take place so that Labour could get the battering. But then the recession hit, and Brown excelled, leading the charge in helping out the banks. No one liked the fact that the banks were using reckless practices and no more so than Brown. And for the first time, perhaps the public saw this side of him. He became open and honest in appraising himself, and not always in a good light. He fought well in the television debates against far superior orators and in the end ensured that Labour did not get obliterated, as was expected towards the end of last year, and in fact deprived the Tories of the majority they wanted so much.

His time was up though and as he walked outside of Number 10 to announce he was done, the first thing I thought was about ‘that agreement’, and how such pacts or arrangements can develop into something far bigger than anyone can ever expect.

So as David Cameron steps up to be one of the youngest Prime Ministers ever, I wonder if another pact will be made between two brothers on who should become the next Labour leader. 

Tuesday 4 May 2010

End Credits


So, yesterday morning I completed the 5th draft of my novel. The idea which was born in June 2007 has been refined since November 2008. Each time I complete an edit I believe that this is the finished piece of work, but after the third one I realised this was a bit silly, because after a few months I go back and read everything with a fresh eye. It’s then I am able to spot the areas I need to improve on. 

At the moment I am quite happy with it. This particular version was focussed on trying to get rid of words that are not part of the storylines. I am partial to slapping on the descriptive text like someone slapping their make-up on for a Kiss concert. It’s brushed on thickly. So I have tried to review each sentence checking to see if it flows well in pace and that the reader isn’t being detracted by melodramatic descriptions. I still haven’t managed to record it and play it back to myself, mostly because I can’t stand my own voice. I guess the Paddington's Shadow audiobook will have to wait.

So is this the final edit? I don’t think so. Coldbrain recommended that I read On Writing by Stephen King so I bought it and have wanted to read it for ages now. I’m pretty sure after reading that book I’ll have loads of ideas. Or maybe I won’t.

I have created a blog http://odetothebrute.blogspot.com/ where I have upload my novel and I am looking for any feedback, good or bad as this will help me improve it further.

As for now, I’m going to finish off my bottle of Nastro Azzurro in peace.