If you will permit me, I’d like to complain about getting old.

I know, I know; as one of the younger people in my social group, I’m probably going to get a fair amount of crap. So let’s narrow it down a bit.

I’d like to complain about getting tired.

Back in college (I’ll spare you the actual dates), things were different. I could go to fighter practice on a Thursday night, maybe even go to dinner with friends afterward. But upon going home, I would often have homework to finish. Science homework, either chemistry or physics. So not exactly easy on the brain at the best of times. This usually kept me up until midnight, at which point I would have to wake up at around 6am for an 8am class for which the homework was due (I was going to DU and living in Aurora at the time, so there was a bit of a commute).

Like many things, I’m not sure how I did it.

Even in grad school, I had to pull some all-nighters. They weren’t fun. I could function, but it wasn’t pretty. It would usually happen right before a midterm or final presentation; there are several presentations I don’t remember any feedback, let alone what I said.

These days, my sleep schedule is really weird. I regularly have to be at work at 5am, which means getting up at 4. Saturdays are worse, however, for several reasons. The basic problem is that I have to be at work at 4h15, which means waking up 45 minutes earlier. For some reason, that little amount of time makes a huge difference.

Making things worse is the fact that I tend to hang out with my friends on Friday nights, watching bad movies and playing the occasional game, traditionally until midnight or so.

Can you see the problem, or do you need me to lay out the math? Long story short, a 2 hour “nap” before an 8 hour shift doesn’t exactly leave one in the best frame of mind for dealing with customers.

Now, I’m not prone to naps. About the only time I take naps is when I’m sick. But today, in the episode that inspired this post, I ended up falling asleep. I was supposed to be merely taking a break on repairing my armor, but I just faded.

Kinda annoying.

Maybe it’s the compounded effect of not much sleep with not much downtime. Maybe it’s lack of resilience of not being an immortal teenager any more. Who knows; either way, I need more sleep.

And hey: if this post ended up more rambling that most, you at least know why.