8 Days a Week
The recent spate of assignments around uni has lead me to some interesting observations on overtired students and their assignments:
Sense of Humour:
It has struck me that almost anything is funnier after being awake for more than 18 hours. This phenomenon has been well documented throughout the ages, but only recently has it come to my attention. One knows that the mental state of the people in the room has undeniably deteriorated when I can crack a joke about programming (that’s right my jokes are notoriously bad anyway, but one about programming, that’s just low!) and half the room is in stitches/hysterical laughing fits for at least 5 minutes. I have several theories about why this is (none of them scientifically founded of course):
- After days of looking at computer screens, anything remotely removed from this is a blessing and a surprise.
- Without enough sleep, the ears and the brain just aren’t in proper communication anymore. Thus if the brain is expecting something funny, then no matter what the ears get you end up laughing.
- When you spend many hours in computer labs with the same people you can tell when they are about to say something that they think is pretty funny, so you end up laughing in sympathy without really thinking.
- If you start laughing for any reason, you just don’t have the presence of mind to stop yourself without considerable effort.
Camaraderie:
Many end-to-end days in the computer labs with a similar gathering of like-minded and equally disorganised (otherwise why would you all be there in the first place?) people lead to tightly-knit groups forming. After all, you end up spending several hours a day with these people (many more on the weekend) and possibly eat one or two meals a day with them. I’m not yet sure whether these are the sort of ‘complete immersion friends’ which end up being obsolete as soon as you can fight your way out of the labs, or if they end up being long-lasting friendships. Regardless of this they end up being one of the things that help get you through the long hours.
Day/Night Blurring
I was reasonably sure this only happened when you spent many hours in gambling (sorry, gaming) establishments, spending all your hard-earned money on the pokies or the roulette wheel. But a recent encounter with the trickiness of time has lead me to believe otherwise. I was listening to the radio on my phone one night to keep me entertained whilst finishing off an assignment, it was mostly the sort of commercial pop/rock that I have found predominantly gets played after the radio announcers have gone home. So there I was, bopping away whilst typing and writing out equations and such. Then suddenly, out of the blue, came a radio announcer with the six o’clock traffic report. What the hell? Where did the night go? Surely they’re just stuffing around. But alack, no. On examination of the nearest window, it was clearly proven that the sun had risen. Blast.
Procrastination
We all know that this is rather a large topic, so it will just be mentioned here, and perhaps elaborated on at some later stage, while I’m procrastinating. The main thing I’ve noticed is that I feel like doing anything but sitting in front of a computer screen. That’s right, I could almost be convinced to go for a run rather than sit down for another umpteen hours.
Ok, maybe not go for a run. But maybe a walk around the block, or a nap, or a quick brunch on Lygon Street….?
October 23rd, 2006 at 12:04 am
Unfortunately, what you’ve written is incredibly true. I myself have been a victim to the ‘blurring of day and night’ many a time whilst madly tapping away at the computer trying to get some assignment done before 3am, only to realise it that the sun had risen many hours ago! Eng is causing us all grief!
What I have noticed, is that if you happen to be listening to the radio, possibly for future reference, when all the ‘do you suffer from pre-ejaculation? If so…’ adds slowly disappear, it’s time for you to head to bed!
October 23rd, 2006 at 8:15 am
Programming jokes? *cough* techno-geek *cough*. Not even I know any programming jokes!
Great post. Very true. I’m so sick of breathing re-circulated air and eating take-away food (because the idea of wasting an hour cooking is horrific!)
It’s amazing what people do to procrastinate. Found myself unable to concentrate in a lab yesterday due to a conversation about code optimization going on in French-Mauritian slang behind me. On the upside, learnt a whole lot of new vocab!
Oh and whilst we’re talking procrastination, watch the number of posts on your blog sky-rocket once we officially start swot-vac!
October 23rd, 2006 at 2:07 pm
Actually GeM, on that topic, I was recently looking at my hit counter results from the exam period last semester, and there is a most defined peak over swot-vac and the exam period. It is to be expected I suppose!
October 23rd, 2006 at 4:21 pm
yeah it peaks when people are in dire need of a good laugh… if only you could be funny.
I love day/night bluring… going into my room to do some study and coming out at what i considered to be 3am to find my father sitting at the kitchen bench reading the paper and munching on some corn flakes. also love the fast food life you get to live… who can be bothered cooking when you haven’t moved for 9 hours to take a toilet break. or when you move to another lab looking for someone you heard in the lab, or thought you heard in the lab only moments ago, to find they have been home for hours.
also love the amount of garbage in the labs over swat-vac, overflowing bins, toilets in shambles, unclean people who haven’t washed in days gathered round computer screens 3 or 4 deep… hands up who loves eng!
October 23rd, 2006 at 8:39 pm
Oh, and !MeEp, I completely agree about the premature-ejaculation ads. It’s amazing how many they can get away with playing. And it’s not like they’re hugely entertaing anyway, they just consist of a woman saying that women like good sex. “Sex sells” eh?
Eng is grief causing, it’s very true…
October 25th, 2006 at 8:30 am
Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a bad thing… I don’t know what we ever did without your blog during the exam period Will. Vital stress-relief!
October 25th, 2006 at 7:46 pm
yes, problematic sex sells!
October 27th, 2006 at 7:24 pm
http://www.physorg.com/news77890657.html
Ok, so sort of moving away from recent comments (or maybe not, whatever blows ur skirt up hey dave…..
)
Someone sent me this page other day, those mit ppl are freaks.
gotta love this though:
“So all the parts work. We’re now trying to get them all to work on the same day on the same lab bench,” Epstein said. Ultimately, of course, hot gases from the combustion chamber need to turn the turbine blades, which must then power the generator, and so on. “That turns out to be a hard thing to do,” he said.
October 28th, 2006 at 12:37 am
pete… go outside… step away from the computer… stop reading into thermodynamics and have some fun…
October 30th, 2006 at 11:08 pm
You disappoint me Will. The first day of SWOTVAC has just passed and yet no post. What am I supposed to procrastinate over? Get your act together. I suppose you’ll say you’ve been studying or something. Let’s hope there’s an improvement on this front today.
(Aside, no new post meant I had to spend many minutes checking back throughout the day to see if a post had been made, so kudos to you there.)
October 31st, 2006 at 8:04 pm
Nice to see you try and keep me on my game Michael, it was sub-standard that there wasn’t a post up on Monday, but I hope the ensuing discussion on Milo-tins and toothpaste tubes is to your satisfaction. Enjoy.