Sleeplessness (Again)

It's August 1st 2010, at eleven minutes past eight PM, and I have been up for about 30 hours. And I intend to stay awake as long as possible. Whether or not I ever actually publish this post depends on how long I can go before falling asleep, but if you're reading this then presumably I've published it, unless of course you're me. But this is a problem only I really have to be concerned about.
So lets start with a description of my 'day' so far. I got woken up by my alarm (I have no idea why I decided to put my alarm on) at 1pm, having gone to bed at about half 4 the previous morning. I actually got out of bed at 2, which is when I'm starting from, as I'm not sure exactly what point I started being properly awake. About 30 minutes after getting up I agreed to go swimming, which I might not have done if I had been planning this sleeplessness thing. I did an hour of swimming, which is significant as I haven't properly swam for years, so got exhausted quite quickly, which isn't good for the no sleep thing. Once I got home it becomes something of a blur as I went on the computer and from there on everything blends into one. I ate dinner a bit after 2am. Then until dawn I spent quite a large amount of time doing random flow charts such as "determine if your a sex addict" and "determine if you would survive in a vampire world" with my sister, who stayed up until about midday. I then made bacon and have spent the rest of my time online. At 9am I started checking on this site to see my reaction speeds, which are so far quite consistent and not much out of the ordinary.

August 2nd, 00:42
At nearly 35 hours I actually feel quite good, all things considered. However my eyes do hurt and I'm aware of problems with concentration and sentence structuring. My reaction times have not noticeably changed since 9am. My plan to survive the night, which is the hardest time, is mostly just burn time online and watch things on iPlayer/4OD. I feel confident that I will make it through the night, however if this post ends up as just a large number of g's where my head rests on the keyboard you'll never know anyway, so lets assume that hasn't happened.

August 2nd, 04:51
It's getting light out now, though sunrise won't be at least another 10 minutes. I got through most of the night easily, but I think I lost my ability to concentrate in the last 10 minutes and now it's feeling more difficult. However once the sun is properly up it should get a bit easier though.

August 2nd, 07:42
I've reached something of a personal milestone, as 41 hours is approximately the length of time I stayed awake when I last tried this a couple of years ago. But it is really getting to me now and I'm finding it much harder to concentrate. However I think I should be able to keep going. My reaction speed is remarkably staying quite constant, although I wish I made a graph now so that I could really see. I have a target in my head of 48 hours, which I think I should be able to achieve if I can keep at least some focus.

August 2nd, 14:01
I've now been up for 48 hours. This is the third 2pm I've been through without falling asleep. Apart from my eyes I don't feel tired exactly, it's more like an extreme version of Monday morning feeling, where nothing in your body seems to be working quite right. I'm beginning to feel disoriented, although my reaction speed actually seems to be getting faster, apparently showing that I'm very alert. This has lead me to realise I am in fact not human at all, but rather a moon fairy with powers that you humans can't even imagine. [Note. Delusions and hallucinations are known to happen at this level of deprivation]

August 2nd, 21:34
I was staring at a photo earlier. It became 3d. And started moving slightly. Also I've passed 55.5 hours, or 3,333.3 minutes, or 199,999 seconds. That's interesting right?

August 3rd, 02:07
Going into my fourth day. A little concerned as Randy Gardner (that really is his name), who has the record for longest time without sleep without using stimulants with 11 days, on his fourth day he "had a delusion that he was Paul Lowe winning the Rose Bowl, and that a street sign was a person". So that could be bad. Also my plate of nut shells is planning to kill me.

August 3rd, 03:00
My sister notices I've fell asleep. I achieved approximately 61 hours without sleep. Had I of stuck with the computer instead of watching the simpsons maybe my time would be longer. It's hard for me to say, as I barely remember any of the events of the last hour.

Anyway, I believe bed would nice right about now.

August 4th, 07:00
I get up, having been in bed for 27 hours. 27 hours without food or drink. I remedy this, then go online. I haven't got a clue what will happen to my sleep pattern.

As I mentioned earlier, I think the reason I didn't stay awake longer was the fact I started watching something, which is too passive. The same thing happened last time I tried to stay up.

And in case you're wondering, I won't be trying again in a hurry. At least not until I forget what a bad idea it is.

Eyes

It's 20 past two in the morning and I've decided to start work on this post about eyes.

There are two main reasons for this: 1. I don't want to have to write something in 10 minutes on Sunday night to meet my weekly quota and 2. I have a feeling this post will be rather low quality, so by posting it at a ridiculous time in the morning I reduce the chance of anyone actually reading it. But obviously you are. Which makes you a little awkward. You know this post really won't be worth reading, it's just going to be the dull ramblings of a sleepless guy, with no form or structure? I mean perhaps you could skip this post. What would you lose? If you read it you'll probably just think less of my blog.

But you're still reading. I should mention it is now 10 to 3 (I get distracted quite easily) so this will be even lower quality than I originally intended. In fact it is perfectly possible that I will fall asleep on the keyboard and the remainder of the post becomes a series of m's.

Anyway, as I've already mentioned this post is about eyes. People with autism typically have difficulties with eye contact and I tend to avoid it with people I don't know very well. However I believe eye contact can be a very useful, powerful or emotional form of communication. I also find the eye to be the single most beautiful part of the body and I have been obsessed (not literally obsessed I should point out. Having to point out what's literal and not is a hallmark of having autistic readers) with them for years (is it really difficult to read sentences broken up with long bracketed messages?) and this can be seen by the fact that drawings of them adorn (how often do you get to use the word adorn?) my maths books. The unspoken connection can allow a flow of mutual emotion across a crowded room. The subtle twitch of an eyelid can unwillingly express more of a persons innermost thoughts than many hours of talking can.

Of course the innermost thought of most people I have this connection with is "Why is that weird kid staring at me?"

It is now quarter to 4 and I really should go to bed before sunrise. Once again I apologise for the post. Remember, I'm doing a post a week and we're only a quarter of the way through the year. If I don't get some ideas soon I'll resort to posting about toe-nails or something.

Sleeplessness 3

40 hours.

Made it through the second night, slightly blurred vision.

At around 41 hours I fell asleep. I was sitting up while sleeping, and have no recollection of being woken up. On the whole it's like a dream in the way you remember different parts vaguely. I will probably try it again in the summer holidays, and my sister is also considering it.
I plan to not sleep for at least 48 hours.

Sleeplessness 2

(Jordie accent) *Hour 36 in the big sleepless house*. I'm starting to feel isolated, though this is lessened by the fact I have someone else to talk to. Starting to have some minor twitches.

Sleeplessness 1

I have not slept for about 33 hours. I feel beyond tired. I feel very disconnected from my surroundings and like I'm being pulled in several directions. It's like I look at everything differently. I want to go back to my normal self, but at the same time I'm too interested in this new way of thinking. I have felt numerous experiences of deja vu and loss of trains of thought.
I will post updates regularly.