The Adventures, Mishaps and Musings of Me

So, I feel like shit that's been through a mincer and then sat on by an elephant. Apart from the whole "only sleeping two hours a day" shindig, this is by in large because I'm sick. Not sick caused by ridiculous sleep deprivation, but flu that has flying around the University and has decided to introduce itself to me. No doubt the sleep schedule is making it worse, but I'm attempting to ignore the flu symptons and carry on with the naps (I've spent a week adapting to this schedule I'm not going to give up now). To dope up on pills would wreck my napping, so instead I'm trying to cope with the flu by binging on tasty fruit and attaching cold objects to my forhead... Success is limited.

On the bright side of Dymaxion, I've finally solved my oversleeping issues. Simply, I've stopped napping on my far too comfortable bed. Instead, I just take the pillow and put it on my desk to rest my head on and nap in my chair. Little to say, my cleaning lady was confused this morning when she came in to the room to find me asleep on the desk with a pillow! But, this method of napping makes it far easier to wake up and get going. The problem with napping on the bed was that I was in such a sleep deprived state, I would wake up to the alarm, turn it off, and before I could make another movement the fact that I was laying down comfortably would send me back off to Neverland in seconds. Not anymore! Although, I still have the whole "wake up freezing cold" issue, which is horrorific. But, I have started waking up on my own without the alarm, so the adaption finally seems to be taking hold. I would really like to think.

So, entries of late have got very rambly and uniformative (more then usual I mean). The following continues that trend!

Usually, I don't dream at all when I sleep, but my God have I had the craziest, most vivid dreams the past few naps. Firstly, I had a dream COMPLETELY in Italian, which was utterly bizzare. As in, dream me spoke and thought in Italian (seemingly better then real me speaks and thinks in Italian). I was talking to the receptionist lady in my dormitory who was trying to explain to me something about payments and reciepts without using words like "reciepts" (except in the dream, of course, "ricevute") because she thought I wouldn't understand, so instead was describing the 'tricky' nouns, instead of using them. Dream me got very annoyed with her and tried to exlplain that I would understand her if she used the actual words instead of just describing them. She wouldn't listen. Dream me got cross.

How to sum up my current mental state? At around 4am I started listening to the Les Mis soundtrack. I got to track three "Valjean's Soliloquoy" and... started weeping uncontrollably at the tragic beauty of Jean Valjean, as embodied by Colm Wilkenson's forsetto.

Yeah... I'm tired.

Problem 4: The Saturday night nap sceduled in at 11:00pm. What am I supposed to say, "Sorry guys, I can't come out tonight I've gotta nap?"

I tried to keep this whole weekend free of anything that would take me from my dormitory in order to try to adapt properly, but when a friend text me on the night about a party... temptation to socialise (after spending upteen hours on my lonesome) was too much. Out to the bar! Actually, it wasn't as disastrous as it could have been, as after the bar, around 11pm, me and a few friends went back to a dorm to prepare for clubbing, of which I was able to go and kip on my friend's bed. BUT, in the 6am nap back at home this morning I overslept by three hours. CRAP. The alarm woke me up, but I just turned it off and immediately passed out into sleep again. I've got to be stricter with myself on this. Maybe set my normal alarm clock for fifteen minutes after I'm supposed to wake up, just in case of such lethargy.

Other then that feeling pretty good (but, I have had a naughty extra three hours sleep, so that's not surprising). Actually, the part of me which seems to be suffering the most from this is the eyes - keeping them open for 22 hours a day, does tend to make them ache. Though, maybe it's due partly to the fact I got shampoo in them yesterday.

Anything else strange... I tend to be absoloutly freezing whenever I wake up from a nap. Which is I suppose expected because it's November , and I'm living in a badly heated dormitory. The best way of getting around this I find is to leap up immediately (which I didn't do this morning) and start jumping madly around the dorm to warm up (and wake up).

Or, in other words, I'm a student - watch how crazy I can be.

So, this is an idea that I believe came off katoki's blog of which I've since been completely intrigued by, and now am going (or rather, am in the proccess) of trying it for myself. The basic principle is that instead of sleeping (or trying to sleep) a full 8hrs, you take a series of naps throughout the day, and are able to cut down the hours you have to waste spend asleep. There are several different systems of doing this, but I am going to try for 4x30min naps a day, aka one thirty minute nap every six hours, aka the Dymaxion sleep cycle. Now for the question you're all asking: If you are only having two hours sleep a day how are you possibly going to have enough sleep to function properly? That, my friends, is the beauty of it.

For a bit of Layman's science on the thing (that is no doubt better explained else where on the net), there are five stages of sleep that you go through in a night. Only in the fith stage of sleep (REM deep sleep) do you recouperate energy, something which lasts approximately 1hr30mins in a standard 8hr sleep. The Dymaxion sleep cycle works by having your body skip out the first four stages, and jump immediately to the fith stage, thus in the two hours a day you spend asleep, you spend 2hrs recouperating energy and thus, in theory at least, you should be more refreshed and alert then if you slept a full 8hrs. How does your body learn to do this? In adapting to the sleep cycle (i.e. staying awake all night and only sleeping in 30 minute slots) your body gets so sleep deprived it "realises" that it has to make use of the thirty minutes you are staying asleep to rejuventae otherwise you'd eventually pass out and die. Thus, 8hr sleep can supposedly be left behind in the dust.

After timetabling my naps around my classes (easier said then done), figuring out a (ha, ha) foolproof alarm system with my IPod and, finally, stocking up on Kit kats, sucky sugar sweets, tea bags, and, only to be used in emergencies, caffinated chewing gum (caffine filled, but apparently 'sugar free'), I was ready to give Dymaxion a try...

( Dymaxion Adventures Continued... )

I saw this video yesterday with my friends (both Italians and non-Italians) and we just laughed and laughed and laughed. Everything in it, every comparision, is unbelievably true (especially all things roads/queues/smoking/beauracracy)! Seriously, watch this video and you will understand how things work over here in l'Italia so much better!

Let me put it this way.  One of my best friends is Russian, and thus should have done a year of national service.  He didn't because his rich Daddy was able to give a brown envelope containing $20 000 (yes, that is dollars not rubles) to the "correct authorities".  He tells me that this is standard procedure for all kids of the Russian elite. 

So, equality?

I also have another two Russian friends who got out of national service.  One who was so nervous in the medical exam they thought he had a heart condition, and another who should be doing national service, but is hiding in Italy and hoping the Russian police don't find him (so far they haven't). 

From a purely economic point of view, it seems to me a collasal waste of government funds to train people for the army who simply are not suited for it.  Funds that could be used to deal with social problems instead.  Besides, from a bleeding heart liberal viewpoint, what right does a government have to interfere in the lives of it's citizens so much as to force them to put their life on hold and, essentially, give up a year to the government?

Tradition be hanged.

Text message received at 5:30pm:  Hey Vice Chief, I'm really sick so can't make it to the student union board meeting, could you please go on my behalf?  It's tonight at 6pm.

*checks watch, checks message, checks watch*

Self:  I'm just about to cook dinner and read that chapter on Macroeconomics I should have read three weeks ago; the last thing I want to be doing is going out in the dark, cold and wet in order to spend two hours arguing noisily in the SU in a meeting of which I don't even know what is to be discussed.

But, on the other hand...

If I don't go on exchange next year, and instead stay in Italy then I definately want to have the position of Chief Editor of the student magazine... something that should be handed to me when the Chief steps down at the end of this year...   Still, that's not an absoloute given, and it definately wouldn't be a good look out as Vice Chief to refuse to attend a meeting...  Besides, it would allow me to talk to the very, very top of the SU... getting on the good side of the SU President would definately be a plus...

Text message sent at 5:31pm:  Of course.  What room is it?

I would tentatively, tentatively say... Good god, I think that went well.  Really well, in fact.  I'll admit, I'm not particulaly great at telling how well I've done, or not done in exams, but... I think I knew what I was doing for every question (except one freak question on the parameters of linear correlation coefficents, but for one mark I'm not exactly crestfallen!).  It almost seemed... simple.  Perhaps, that's a bad sign, but I'll just have to wait and see.  I'm certain (ha,ha) that I reached the pass grade of 60%, so really it's a matter of seeing how well (or how badly) I passed.  

Regardless, the October/November exam period is over - YAY! 

Also, I've just realised what a dump my dorm apartment has become - when you no longer have exams, suddenly your living conditions go back on your priority list - thus I have a fun filled afternoon ahead of me, involving the removal of the model leaning tower of Pizza from the sink; washing all the clothes that have decided to become one with the floor, plus attempting to locate my desk somewhere under the swamp of
paper!

EDIT: Damn it!  My shirts have all shrunk in the tumble drier.

So, it's the night before a maths exam - the first of this year.  Traditionally I would be, about now, whacking my head against my paper, formula and tea cup littered desk, and writing something adolescent on LJ along the lines of "I hate Maths" (which is silly because my whole degree revolves around maths, I can hardly hate it).

But, I'm rather bored of that attitutude.  So I'm instead taking an apathetic line of  "If I fail the exam?  Ah, well, I'll just have to take the January exam instead."  A far more relaxing way of looking at things, definately.

Right, I'm off to get a good night sleep.  Buona notte!

P.S. Happy Bonfire Night Britian!

Must study math... Must study math... Must study math...

OMGYOUTUBE Alexander Marakulin singing in Italian!! SWOONING-FANGASMIC -JOY!!!

Ahem.

Must study math... Must study math... Must study math...

Man, I forgot how insane taking an exam at my Univeristy could be. 

Firstly, they announce to you what room you're going to be in the day before on your 'internet student diary', but I completely forgot to check and only remembered on waking up this morning in an instant panic... At which point the announcement had disappeared.  I only found out which room by hurridly phoning up friends who are close to me in the alphabet, otherwise I would have been completely roomless.

Of course, once you've reached the correct room, then we have the exam itself.  The two assistants that were overseeing it seemed to assume that all students are cheating little bastards, and thus were positively militant in their anti-cheating policies.  I had one of them barking at me for writing with my paper slightly to the left of me (because obviously I was trying to give the people behind me a better view.)  Certainly, it was not a de-stress situation as they glaringly marched up and down the benches.  Once you'd finished, it was very much a matter of making sure that you didn't do anything that could possibly be construed as cheating.  I managed to solve this dilemma by taking a nap on the desk!

The most ridiculous thing of all was, that for all their keeness to stop people from cheating during the exam, they didn't actually check people's identity when they came in.  So, clearly their line was anyone is allowed to take your exam, but whoever that person is, they absoloutly must not cheat!!   

All that aside though, the exam went well.  For Financial Markets, surprisingly so.

Hopefully, I can say the same for Statistics on Friday...

Why is it always the most used verbs that are the most irregular?  For instance, "to have" and "to be" decide not to follow any logical congregation in pretty much any language (feel free to point out exceptions), and yet those are likely the two most used verbs... so why must they be obscure? 

Honestly languages, why can you not be a bit more orthodox and actually follow the grammar rules?  I would get far better marks if you did.

This weekend was made of awesome.  Utter awesome.

It involved going to 'Gardaland'; one of only two theme parks in Italy, thus a few of my friends had never been on a rollercoaster before, which thus led to alot of amusing male screaming as we took on the many corksrcews, loops and upside down bits of the Blue Tornado, Magic Mountain and Death Drop.  I literally have purple bruises on my shoulders because of the horrible harnesses combined with my stupidly thin t-shirt.  Damn my lack of protective shoulder fat.

After Gardaland we stayed at a friend's parent's Villa (that happened to be parent-less for the weekend); a Villa which is complete with Sauna.  I had never before done the "sauna gauntlet", but I can now safely say that it is utter insanity.  You sit semi naked in a small box at a temparature of 65 degrees, so hot and steamy it literally burns your lungs to breath, for about fifteen minutes untill you have reduced yourself to a sweaty blob.  You then stampede out of the sauna, run outside, dive into a freezing cold swimming pool, swear alot at the cold, drag yourself out and run back inside to the sixty five degree steamy heat of the sauna. 

And repeat.

Please note, this took place with an outdoor swimming pool, at around midnight in the latter half of October.  Yes, utter insanity... that everyone must try when they get the chance!

To make the weekend even sweeter, after the sauna gauntlet, sitting snug at room temparature, I watched with two Italians and a Russian a whole series of 'Blackadder' (one of the greatest and most brilliant British sitcoms ever made).  Once they got the wordy British style humour, which took half an episode, the subtitles being turned on and a bit of pausing and explaining, they loved it!  One of my favourite things, and greatest pleasures, about being an immigrant living abroad is that you get to share the great film/music/TV gems of your nation that are completely unheard of outside its borders.  And that, by the same token, you get to share in the film/music/art of other nations that you simply would never have heard of had you stayed in the enclosed media circle of your own country.

Long live culture!

If God was omniscient, he should have known the human race was a bad idea from the start.

I've lost the electronic key to my dormitory.  Damn.

I'm spending the weekend at a friend's villa.  Yay.

It is so c-c-cold in my d-d-dormitory.  N-n-no central h-heating for another m-m-month.  I'm wearing my entire w-w-wardrobe and its n-n-not helping.  I didn't s-s-sign up for the st-st-student cryogenic freezing experiment.

T-t-think warm thoughts... Think warm thoughts... Think warm thoughts...
...

About now is when I rethink going to Russia on the exchange next year.

EDIT:  Nooooo Evil Cleaning Lady!!  Don't leave my window open letting all the freezing cold air into my room!!

In the canteen of my University they serve up, everyday, four types of pizza, four types of pasta, a million types of panini and tubs of overpriced (yet delicious) salad.  Yesterday, on walking past the menu attached to the wall, I spotted that the "Pizza del Giorno" (pizza of the day) was the never before served "Americana". 

Mio Dio, I thought to myself, are the Italian's getting off their culinary high horse and serving American style pizza??  Going over to the pizza counter quickly answered that question in the negative.  The pizza the canteen had fondly named "Americana" was Italian style, thin based pizza simply with french fries (another question, why are they called french fries?) baked on top.

...

American stereotypes of Europeans are often pretty absurd and silly.  The same is clearly true the other way around as well.  Seriously Italy, I've been to America twice, and however sugar and chemical filled their food may be, they at least have the good sense not to bake fries on top of a pizza.

Apparently, the Italians don't.

It's come to that point in October where Italy's extended summer abrubtly drops into a sudden cold autumn.  In other words, it has come to that point were I wish there was a radiator in my room. 

At least this means no more mosquitoes.

Today, I found out (randomly) that in some countries the population is under legal obligation to vote in elections, and that to not vote actually leads to prosecution (generally a fine).  I honestly didn't know that this was ever the case, but it started me musing on what would happen in the British elections if the public were actually forced to get off the sofa and vote.

Not that I think forcing people to vote by law is a good thing.  People should always have the freedom to abstain, and voting should remain voluntary on principle - if you start forcing people to vote, then it would be a slippery slope down in forcing people how to vote.

Nevertheless, if the public was forced to vote then I think this would lead to the smaller parties i.e. the liberal democrats, the green party and the British nationalist parties etc. benefitting the most.  Those of the public who don't agree with either Labour or Conservative parties would find themselves having to give an opinion instead of simply abstaining with the thought that to vote for anyone else wouldn't change anything anyway.  If those people actually voted... well, the "small" parties would certainly be less small.  Now, if more votes would actually translate themselves into seats...