Biphasic sleep log - Day 46 - 7th March

Evening 7th:
Even though the day was just so so in terms of energy levels and sleep dep, it wasn't too bad. I could stay awake without trouble in the train home and wasn't DOA when I got home.

But I had been looking forward to my nap. That's the thing with biphasic. I look forward to my nap, even the 20 minute one and I really look forward to another innings after the nap. It's awesome!

Nap was regulation today, 1800-1830, fell asleep easy, woke up by alarm on time. Got up without much difficulty (though some) and felt fine.

Time now 2236, I can feel a bit of need for sleep, but I am going to stay up till midnight and do a core of 0000-0430.

Morning 8th March:

I just love it when a plan comes together! Yeah, yeah, I know I am stealing Hannibal's line but this morning, I don't care.
Last night I went to bed at 2350, leaving exactly 10 minutes to fall asleep. And I think I drifted off to dreamland even before the 10 minutes were up. I love this part!
Then this morning, I woke up at 0417, looked at the time and rolled over to sleep more. Maybe I should have gotten up, but I have this concern about sleep dep still. Next I woke up just before 0430 and decided to wake up. When the alarm went off at 0430, I was already awake and ready for the captcha.
Still it took me 2 tries, I think I need to reduce the speed of the pattern. Also, for several days now, I have put the alarm on Ascending settting, which is harder to ignore. It's been working well.
Energy levels good though not over the top. Staying awake was not a problem. I will continue this 4.5 hour core sleep pattern for rest of the week, unless I solve the midday-nap puzzle

But you said this was vegetarian?!!

I should probably not share this story because it shows what an idiot I can be but what the hell, it's funny.

Once upon a time...actually in 2006, I was working in Germany for the prestigious FIFA World cup 2006 project. I was just a young man then and had so much enthusiasm for learning new things and acquiring new skills. Since, we (myself and a couple of colleagues) were living in a hotel we used to go out quite often, as it got us away from the humdrum routine of eating packaged, ready-to-eat Indian food in our hotel room.

This one time we went to the little mall-type place situated under the Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof (Frankfurt Main Railway Station). We saw a pizza shop and decided to try it. I had been boning up on German language (I knew none when I went there the first time), and by now I thought I could order a pizza in Deutsche. (While we call both of them German in English language, the German word for German language is Deutsche and for a German man it would be Deutscher pronounced doe-itch and doe-itch-ay).

My colleague was also Indian but she was not vegetarian. So her ordering was simple. She just pointed to a pizza she liked and ordered a slice. These pizzas were the huge, industrial-size type where you ordered a slice not a whole pizza unless you had your 3 wives and 19 children with you to help you!

When it was my turn I cleared my throat and started in with my fantastic (I thought so) German, while keeping my East Delhi accent.

Me: "Haben Sie vegetarisch pizza?" (Do you have vegetarian pizza?"
The girl at the counter: "Ja. Das ist vegetarisch." (Yes, this is vegetarian.) She pointed to one.
Me: "Ja. Eine, bitte und eine Cola Light." (Yes, one please. And a Diet Coke).

I was pleased as a dog who's just landed a flying saucer when I joined my colleague at a table with my winnings from the purely German encounter!

The pizza was exquisite!

I liked it so much that I decided to get one slice wrapped up for later. I was addicted to internet chatting during that period and usually got peckish about 1 AM or so.

I went to the girl, pointed to the same pizza and asked for another slice.

She nodded, "Ja. Fisch?"

I shook my head, "Nein. Vegetarisch."

She shook her head, "Nein, das ist fisch!"

"What??", my mind went into a tailspin and I very quickly forgot the few words of German that I knew! This girl was telling me that this pizza was not vegarian but Fish! I recalled with distress that every time I told a German friend that I was vegetarian their first question was, "So do you eat fish?". For Germans Fish is vegetarian!

I tried again, "But you said this was vegetarian?!!"

She nodded, "Ja. Ja. Vegetarisch."

I had a sinking feeling in my gut now, "But you are saying this is fish?!"

She nodded again, "Ja, ja, fisch."

I was thinking if it'd be okay if I killer her a little bit. But I couldn't because she was being so sweet and polite. It wasn't her fault she didn't know a word of Englisch! My friend's German was limited to pointing at things and holding up her fingers for quantity so no use asking her to pitch in!

Finally, with the help of a LOT (and I mean a LOT!) of hand gestures and some slow and repeated German, the girl explained to me that the pizza I had ordered was indeed Vegetarisch, but it was sold out between then and now, and she had replaced it with a pizza that contained fish.

Oh my god! I breathed a 2.3 miles long breath of relief and thanked her sincerely for explaining all that to me!

To this day, whenever I think about that incident, I can't help but smile. I am not likely to ever forget when I had vegetarian pizza German style!

Biphasic sleep log - Day 45 - 6th March

Evening 6th:
I was busy today and out of the house so I didn't have the time to take my nap as per the plan today. But good thing is that I was involved in something very creative around my nap time and I didn't feel any loss of energy or loss of creativity then or even later till 1900.

I got home about 1915 and after consideration decided to at least try and stay biphasic even tonight. So, took a nap from 1935 to 2005. Fell asleep easy and woke up when the alarm went off, but felt sleep dep throughout. It felt like being in-between a long nap and a night's sleep while living monophasically. It wasn't horrible though, just a bit off-putting from handling any projects or being creative.

While I was going about doing things during this period, it occurred to me that on polyphasic, even if you are sleeping only from 2 to 5 hours, it'd be important to rest your body and mind periodically. My back would still ache if I sit in front of the laptop 6 hours straight at home.

And, I was feeling stressed as I keep thinking about one or project or another during this time. Tonight it was also because of the deviation from schedule and the sleep dep, but I think it would hold true, or maybe more so, in case of polyphasic.

So, I would need to vary my activities and mix and match different type of activities in a single waking period and also take time out to just sit back and watch a movie or TV show for a while. Fortunately, I have a huge backlog of movies and TV shows that I need to go through and I can try and make a dent in that.

I had several options for core sleep tonight. I could consider the nap a valid one and sleep 4.5 hour core. I could consider today an exception and sleep 6  hours to make up for the missed and botched-up nap. Or I could be a fool and continue with my 3-hour core sleep attempt despite today's variation.

Morning 7th:
I went with the first option and went to bed at midnight with an alarm for 0445. At 0445, I did wake up by the alarm but instead of hitting "Off" I hit "Snooze" by accident, which resulted in 10 more minutes of sleep.

It was still hard to wake up as I was very sleepy, but 5 O'clock I somehow consider more urgent because I don't get breakfast at home or get to do anything on the laptop before leaving if I am not up by 5. So, I got up at 0455.

If I could make a fixed, permanent schedule, I'd use some auxiliary alarm support like video playlists etc. It's tedious to have to change them every day.

Energy levels today are okay, not great. Some feeling of sleep dep.

Some time this week I want to transition to triphasic by adding a midday nap and reducing core sleep to 3 hours. I have permission to use my lunch break for nap, but I still need a space. Space, the final frontier, after all.

The reason for the love for triphasic is that I have added another project to my life and with the time I waste in playing around, I still need more time to work on my projects. Plus, I still find the idea of Uberman quite romantic. And I have done stupider things in my life!

Biphasic sleep log - Day 44 - 5th March

Evening 5th:
Okay, I liked this better. Since I had an extra-long noon nap, I took the evening nap a little late.From 1905 to 1935.

It took longer to fall asleep but not too long, about 15 minutes. I woke up at 1930 and realized I had 5 more minutes. So slept longer and did wake up in 5 minutes by the alarm. I had made the captcha 6-point now and faster in speed. Even without that though it was not hard to wake up.

Feeling fine. Energy level good. No headache now.

Planning to sleep 4.5 hours tonight from 0130 to 0600. We'll see if I have the energy to stay up till 0130. 

Morning 6th: Oh, I love biphasic! Slept from 0130 till 0600 meaning that I went to bed at 0115 and fell asleep by 0130. I noticed a drop in energy only around 0100 so it seems that my body is used to that timing and gets ready for sleep as per schedule. I woke up at 0430, right on the dot of 3 hours and felt like I could get up and I would have if I didn't have a busy day ahead of me where I am expected to operate at peak performance. So I slept again and woke up at 0630 by the alarm. It took some willpower to wake up but not a lot and I solved the captcha in one try. Energy levels good. Mood great. This is what I love about biphasic, I had to start my day early and leave at 0830 but I still had an hour and a half to play before getting ready. And I had time for breakfast!

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Biphasic sleep log - Day 43 - March 4th

Evening 4th:
I wasn't feeling very sleepy even as I got home about 1715. But then as I relaxed, I started feeling sleepy, about 1745. So, just relaxed but stayed up until 1800 and then napped.

Didn't do any subconscious programming, didn't need to countdown. Fell asleep almost immediately. And woke up about 1822. Much before the alarm. Just got up then.

Almost 20:00 now. Feeling great, fresh, energetic, hungry and in the mood to play guitar after I eat.

Morning 5th:
Okay, not very happy with the inconsistency of biphasic this morning.

Started feeling sleepy about midnight last night. But I didn't want to sleep too early as that ends in oversleeping. So, I stayed up and finally went to bed about 0130, setting the alarm for 0430 (3 hours) and another one for 0700 as failsafe.

I did wake up at 0430, but turned the alarm off. Finally woke up at 0630 and had trouble getting up. Also had a headache. So, I got up, feeling okay other than the headache.

Then by noon I was feeling tired and sleepy. So decided to take a nap, thinking it'd help me acquire some energy for the rest of the day.

Nap from 12:20 to 12:50. It was planned that way. But when I did wake up at 1250, I was still tired, lower back aching, headache still there and very sleepy. So I decided to sleep more without another alarm. Slept till 1358. Again I wasn't happy about it. Was still feeling quite sleepy.

It is astonishing that I can solve the 5-point memory challenge to turn off the alarm without coming fully awake. I am astonished, but not pleased. It pisses me off. I might make the challenge harder. And I have some other ideas to fix this.

For tonight, the plan is to keep the evening nap, sleep 4.5 hours core as I have a busy day tomorrow and won't get time for noon nap, maybe not even for evening nap.

Actually, I am so sick of oversleeping on core, I feel like going for Uberman directly. But I know that won't work out right now. 

How to avoid spam with minimal effort

So, you click the link for the information and find out that you'll need to register in order to grab that file/video or other information! You groan, knowing full well now you'll be adding another source to all the people who already send you junk mail or spam as it's called.
But you want what the site has to offer so you have no other choice but to enter a valid email address. Because you know that you'll need to get an activation link from there first. You know what I am talking about, right?

People have different ways of handling this problem, including keeping one email address just for spam. I have a better solution.

I don't usually review a lot of websites but some things are so good that I feel selfish for not sharing them. I will just tell you about this website and then you can decide if you want to use it or not.

Let me clear in the beginning that the website has no affiliate programs, no rewards, no point system, so I am not getting anything by recommending and I can't really get anything because they don't make any money from it. I have to say this because after you see how strongly I recommend this site you'll wonder.

First piece of info, the website URL - www.spamgourmet.com

I won't talk about the design or anything, it's irrelevant. They provide several options to avoid spam, they are all explained on the website. The approach of the website is that you can have a simple solution and don't spend any time on maintaining it, just use it. Or you can create a slightly more complex solution where you'll have to do some periodic maintenance but you will have more control.

All of it is free and painless no matter what solution you choose. And you can switch between them any time and mix and match.

Registration is simple, just your (real) email address and password.

Here's a description of the solution I use and how it works for me. I have created a secret word, let's say it's sunny (I am not gonna share my secret, you know ;) ). And I choose a servername, a suffix for my disposable email addresses. Yes, that's what it's all about, creating email addresses that you can just throw away after use.

That's it, once I create the word, I am done on spamgourmet.

Now part 2. I come to a website where I need to register in order to get an activation link and membership. Suppose the website is www.adobe.com and I can't download PDF viewer without registration.

So, I register and create a new email address, on the fly, without any other set up. My address would be adobe.2.sunny@spamgourmet.com.

Let me analyse this for you piece by piece.
adobe - this can be any word, I use the name of the site so I can remember it later.
2 - this is how many emails they can send me. First 2 emails to this address will be forwarded to me, by Spamgourmet.com after that, they'll disappear into the black hole.
sunny - this is my secret word. I need to keep it very secret or anyone can create email address and spam me.
spamgourmet.com - You can select from one of many domain names like this, I prefer one that doesn't have the word spam in it. Just in case the sites start getting smart.

All of this is changeable, just by logging into spamgourmet.com. In normal functioning, I never have to go back to spamgourmet.com again. It'll just keep working.

But, suppose I need to log into my Adobe account again and I forgot my password. Now they'll send me a new password when I click the link "Forgot password" but it'll go to that email which doesn't come to my real email box any more.

Simple solution. I log into spamgourmet.com and find the address I used for adobe. They are all logged there, but I don't need to care about them until I need one from the past like now. For each one, I can see the address, the quota I had allowed it, and the number of emails they sent that were not forwarded.

Here I can increase the quota, let's say by 1, so their next email WILL be forwarded to me now. I could increase it by 20 if I wanted to or for all time as well.

That's all it takes. I can't praise this site enough! They have simply made my life easier.

Spamgourmet never sells my info, never sends me a single email that's not forwarded or asked for (like if I forget my spamgourmet password), they just never bother me in anyway.

I have been using this site for several years now and I have found it the most customizable and easiest to use solution. 

Riddle of the day

Pre-warning: I would not post the answer to this question here. Anyone who can't think of the answer or can't find it via Google can email me for the right answer.

Warning: The answer is more complex than the question. If trying to balance your checkbook makes you giddy, do not attempt this!

Riddle:
Here are the parameters of the riddle.
A man dies and goes to the transition place.
He sees two doors.
One door is the Valley of Pain, the other is Garden of Paradise.
Both doors are unmarked and look exactly the same.
There is a guard in front of each door. (2 guards total)
The man is allowed to ask one question of either of the guards. (Total one question only).
What question should he ask so that he can DEFINITELY get into the Garden of Paradise?

Your time starts now.

Biphasic sleep log - Day 42 - 3rd March 2011

It occurred to me that I record this log every day and it's as official-sounding and as bland as the "Captain's log, star date 13th...today we found this new planet.." you know? So, let's see if we can use our creative writing skills a bit today.

Evening 3rd:
(Action novel)
As I stood on the cold, windy platform on the slightly bright day looking along the rails for the train that would transport me home away from the boring quagmire that I call office I could not help but realize that I was not as tired as I was yesterday this time. Attributing it to my good nap yesterday and the longer 4.5 hours core sleep last night, I dismissed it from my mind and focused on the bright headlight of the train approaching me at 30 miles and hour and slowing down as it reached closer and closer...

(Horror)
I made it a point not to look my fellow passengers in the eye. Taking out the Samsung Galaxy Tab like it was my only friend in the world I set it up on the seatback table and focused on it with intent as it played gaudy, colourful images, filling the small screen with colours that were supposed to be cheerful and yet... (I was watching Band Baja Baraat)

(Romance)
Ah, the beauty of an afternoon, after a hard(?) day of work! It was a pleasure to slip into bed and feel the soft caress of the duvet against my skin as I slipped off to sleep just as the clock was showing 6 PM on a beautiful March evening.

In about 15 minutes I drifted slowly out of the hazy mist of my dreams and into the real world. Since there was still time, I let myself float on the wings of those fluffy clouds again and start another dream. In another 5 minutes I was ready to wake up as the soft chimes (beeps) of my mobile alarm filled my bedroom. I felt refreshed and happy.

Morning 4th:
(Science fiction)
The clock on the dash panel of my personal productivity enhancer device (laptop) was reading a few minutes past midnight when I decided that it was time to give my microprocessor a rest. I had decided to try a shorter, 3 hour period of rest-and-rejuvenation (sleep) today so I set my automatic, personal mobile device to sound a sonic signal at exactly 30 minutes past 3 in the morning.

The device kept up its bargain but I didn't. I had set up a 5-point-blinking-dot-path challenge for myself that I'd have to solve in order to turn the alarm off. (Feature of my app GentleAlarm). I managed to solve the challenge but still managed to slide back into slumber.

(Mills & Boon)
My emotions were mixed when the backup alarm woke me up at 0530. On the outside I seemed to be perfectly healthy and fine, except for sleep-laden eyes, but on the inside I was enraged for wasting 2 hours of the night that I could have put to good use.

I struggled to open my eyes (took a lot of willpower) and looked at the email from an ex-girlfriend. It said something about discipline and regret that I found all too relevant to my state of mind in the moment.

(Star Trek)
Captain's log, Star Date 4th March, year 2011.
Energy levels: Fully charged
Brain activity: Optimum level
Physical condition: 99.8% peak
Creativity: No tests conducted.
Course: Same schedule to be followed until further notice.
End log.

Thought of the day - 4th March 2011

 "We must all suffer from one of two pains: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. The difference is discipline weighs ounces while regret weighs tons."

-          Jim Rohn

Biphasic sleep log - Day 41 - March 2nd

Evening 2nd March:
The sleep dep was very strong in the later part of the afternoon and by the time I got home I was single-mindedly thinking only of sleep. I had left early today so I was home about 1715 and decided to get done with the nap so I'd have a single big chunk of time afterwards. Not to mention that I was sleepy the half hour would have been totally wasted.

So, nap from 1730, alarm set for 1800. Fell asleep very quickly, I think in like 5 minutes. Woke up 2-3 minutes before the alarm, feeling refreshed. I should stress here that other than biphasic habits, I also program my subconscious to wake up in 20 minutes and wake up refreshed.

Morning 3rd March:
Last night I went to bed at midnight to sleep till 0400. I like to have 2 hours before getting ready for work, so I can do some playing around as well as some guitar in the morning.

It didn't work as well as I planned. I woke up at 0400 with the alarm, but even though I was trying to wake up, I nodded off without warning. To wake up again at 0448. This time I got out of bed.

I still had time to play 15 minutes of guitar other than playing around on the laptop but I still didn't like the fact that I overslept.

I have been thinking about it and reading up on the topic again, and it seems like my best bet would be to go to 3 hours rather than 4 since I am not only getting less sleep with 4 hours, I am also going against the grain by not following the 90 minute cycles.

Then if I do 3 hour core, I might have to actually change to Everyman sleep or E3 as it's called by polyphasers. Due to some change at my work, I will be able to get a nap during my work day, which would make polyphasing possible. With my super-power (the ability to go into REM almost immediately) I will be able to make use of the nap too.

Against this is the fact that, in another month, I would no longer have this work, work-day or the work schedule. Then I might not have the facility to nap in the day. But then I can go back to my old biphasic.

Hmm, fact of the matter is, I am just very excited at the prospect of being able to reduce my sleep further and feeling even better (2 naps are better than one.)

Starting this weekend, I am enrolled on a course that occupy my whole Sunday for 4 weekends. That means I won't even be able to have biphasic sleep on those days.

Ok things are going to change but I don't know in what direction yet. Watch this space and you'll be the first to know what I decide. ;) 

Biphasic sleep log - Day 40 - 1st March

Evening 1st:
I have to admit I had sleep dep today. Not the worst I have had in my life, but still quite strong. Esp. when I got into an afternoon meeting, I had to try everything just to not nod off. I succeeded but with much effort.

So when I got home, 1740, I was ready for my nap. Still wait till exactly 1800. Then took the 20 minute nap. It was good tonight. No interruptions.

Felt good after the nap, quite refreshed, active and hungry.

Morning 2nd:
Started feeling sleepy about 2300 last night. Although I could stay up, it felt like staying up late night on monophasic not on biphasic. On biphasic, even between 1830 and 0100 I feel awake like it's normal day time, there is no effort required to stay up.

Oh, I just remembered, I had tea with my dinner around 2000. And I have read that caffeine, when it wears off, creates a fall in the energy. Could that have affected my performance. No idea but I will try to avoid tea a little more and see how things go. After all, this is all a scientific experiment.

I was doing stuff in Second Life so finally got to bed about 0113. Set the alarm for 4 hours at 0530 (15 minutes falling asleep margin), and a safe alarm at 0600.

It was easy to fall asleep, less than 15 minuets I think. I "think" I woke up once in the night from a unique, never-before kind of dream. Because of the uniqueness of the dream and the strange sensations thereafter (all LD and AP related stuff), I tried to look at the time but didn't want to move my head even to look at the project on the ceiling. So I don't know what time it was.

Woke up at 0530 by the alarm and got up with some effort. Could not get breakfast today because I had only half an hour extra before getting ready, so I thought I need to sleep early or sleep less.

I already have several projects all in top priority, (one of them is my guitar) and expect another one or two to be added from this weekend. This puts me in the same position of wanting more time from my day. I don't have the situation where I could try Uberman so I will have to either try a 3 hour core or make it triphasic with 3 hour core and another nap.

I am still yawning, but it's not unlike the feeling that I have after normal monophasic night.

Absolutely absurd!

Some Hindi songs are so obviously absurd, yet they becomes classics, just because of the love the artists pour into their performance and how they are directed and used in the movie. One such song, that somebody just reminded me of today is a Kishor Kumar classic:

Jab hum honge 60 saal ke, aur tum hogi pachpan ki,
Bolo preet nibhaogi na tab bhi apne bachpan ki?

Akbar-Birbal: The Harbinger of Bad Luck

AH's latest post, reminded me of an Akbar Birbal story.


A poor worker who used to work in Emperor Akbar's palace had the misfortune to be considered unlucky. He was one-eyed and according to a superstition it was very bad luck to see his face first thing in the morning. The legend went that you would not get food all day if you saw his face in the morning.

One day, when the Emperor woke up early and strolled out to his palace balcony. This one-eyed servant, let's call him Sirju, was doing some chores there and the Emperor happened to look at him. That made Akbar groan with disgust as he knew that his day would be ruined now.

Later that day, while coming down the steps of his court, the Emperor suddenly slipped and sprained his ankle. More than the pain, the Emperor felt anger because he blamed the servant, (what did we name him?, yes, Sirju), for his injury.

From his sickbed, Akbar ordered that Sirju be arrested and beheaded at sundown. When some courtiers tried to protest, the Emperor shot them down. Nobody was willing to risk their own lives for the well-known harbinger of bad luck.

As usually happens in these stories, Birbal was the last resort of the poor and the downtrodden for justice. Sirju's wife went to Birbal, crying and begging for mercy for her husband. Birbal promised to try and help him.

A little while before the beheading was to be conducted, Birbal went to see the Emperor and asked if he thought his harsh decision regarding Sirju was just. Despite Birbal's well-reasoned argument in favour of forgiveness and mercy, the Emperor refused to budge from his position.

He said, "Birbal, We (this is the royal WE)  are doing a service to all the citizen's of Agra by eliminating this constant bad luck that plagues them every day. If you see his face in the morning, you have to go hungry for the day..nobody should have to live in such fear."

Birbal replied calmly, "I believe you are right, Your Majesy! But consider this, this morning you saw his face and you sprained your ankle. But the poor wretch happened to gaze upon the Majesty's glourious countenance...and he's losing his life! Who would you say is more unlucky for this fellow humans?"

[Daily soap music and 3-shot close-up zoom shots as Akbar's head jerks up and he stares at Birbal in disbelif!]

Then, of course, the Emperor freed the poor man, and gave him some gold coins so that he'd not file a defamation case against him. ;)

Moral of the story? Never go to see an Emperor before he has had his morning coffee.

Biphasic sleep log - Day 39 - 28th Feb

Evening 28th:
I did feel a bit tired and sleepy towards end of the day (end of day being my nap time), but nothing too horrible.

I was home by 1740 and in bed at 1755, ready to nap. I started the nap at 1800 with an alarm for 1830 as usual. But I got interrupted by a phone call at 0607 when I just drifting off to sleep. The call lasted only a few seconds but I had to go back to sleep now. I was able to sleep easily, but since I didn't change the alarm time after the phone call, I think I slept only about 15 minutes.

But as I woke up by the alarm, I didn't feel too much of a need for willpower to get up. Evening time is my fun time, so maybe I was eager to get started, but felt fresh after washing my face.

Morning 1st March:
Since I didn't have a normal, regulation-size nap, I decided to go to sleep early and take a full 4.5 hour core sleep. I wasn't very tired or anything, but I was a bit bored and didn't feel like tackling a new project. I felt like I could sleep if I tried .

Falling asleep was great as usual. I had set an alarm for 0430, which I don't remember turning off, but when the fail-safe alarm at 0500 went off, I got up. Had to rub eyes a little and use some willpower but it wasn't too bad.

I had an early morning for which I wanted to be in good shape, and I am happy to report that I did very well in the meeting.

Sunil out!

Religious songs

I am not religious any more. I don't believe in the hocus-pocus and the myths that are fed to the unsuspected sheeple. I still believe in some kind of a superconsciousness but I don't care to name it or go to the temple to offer it bribes for my puny, worldly gains. I think that's absurd.

But I still like religious songs - well, some of them. You can't really expect me to like the jagran songs that they fashion out of Bollywood movies songs! More often than not they are based on frivolous and even vulgar film songs. It's ludicrous.

However, over the years there have been very good, fiilmy and non-filmy religious songs that I do enjoy listening to or singing along. I seriously don't believe that it's the goddess Saraswati impacting my mind, but I do like the music, the poetry and the vibe I get from singing along just because I like the song.

Here are some examples, not an exhaustive list, but I probably won't have too many to add to it. These are not in any particular order.

Ramchandra keh gaye siya - from Gopi. (Love it.)
Mere rom rom mein basne waale ram (Always liked it. Sagar also mentioned it in his comment. It's a great song but I have no idea which movie it comes from.)
Shirdi wale sai baba - Amar Akbar Anthony (I like watching the video of this too.)
Madeene wale se mera salaam kehna - Coolie (Amitabh's performance in this song..bas gajabay kar diye!)
Jingle Bells - (Yes this is a religious song. All Christmas carols)
Deck the halls - (My favourite Christmas carol)
Guni jano hey bhakt jano - (More comedy than reglious. Kishore Kumar is awesome in this.)
Darbar mein oopar wale ke - Hera Pheri (Also comedy but great song.)

As you can see, I don't care what religion they belong to as long as I enjoy the song.

Biphasic sleep log - Day 38 - 27th Feb

Evening 27th:
Sunday evening and I was up to my usual tricks, but at 1800 I had to disengage from the rest of the world and take downtime. So, it was a little late and I took the nap from 1810 to 1840. 10 minutes are usually quite sufficient to fall asleep now.

At 1842, I woke up by mobile alarm and felt like I could go for some more sleep. But at the same time I could also feel that that would be just pure indulgence as my mind was already fresh, I didn't need any strong will-power to get up and I felt rested. So I just got up and resumed my mischief that I had suspended for my nap.

I find that it's hard to just put everything on hold only for a nap, but I am managing to do it so far because I follow it religiously. Also, I AM enjoying the benefits of biphasic already so I find it easy to justify (to myself) my devotion and dedication to the formula.

Morning 28th:
I am happy to say that after 2 days of 1 hour delay in going to bed last night I went to bed on time, at 0100. I set the alarms, perhaps foolishly, for 0430 and 0500. I wanted to wake up at 0430 and see if I felt like getting up.

I did wake up by it, but didn't feel like getting up, so went on to sleep another half an hour. This part maybe more psychological - feeling that more sleep means more rest, as we know it's true.

I do feel a little bit tired but not seriously sleep dep. And we all know what Monday mornings are like. So, I am expecting to feel better by late morning.

The 4 hour thing doesn't feel like working so far, so I am considering 3 options:
1. Go back to 4.5 hours core.
2. Try 3 hours core and see if that works.
3. Continue with this and treat it as another thing to get used.

I am leaning towards option 3 as I want to reduce my sleep gradually to allow for that psychological factor.

Biphasic sleep log - Day 37 - 26th Feb

Evening 26th:
I had a busy day and realized about 1600 with a shock that I had a nap coming on soon. Owing to the fact that I had a late lunch between 1600-1700 and that I was in an important discussion with Sagar on voice, I didn't go down for my nap until 1840.

And then overslept. My alarms did disturb me, but I did something to them, I don't fully recall what, and finally woke up at 2102. This oversleeping I did regret. If I oversleep on my naps and core sleep, I don't feel like I am gaining as much time in my day. And that's important to me otherwise I feel overwhelmed with all the projects I have on my hands.

Now, I am not sure what time to start core sleep. I am thinking of starting at 0100 just to keep it consistent.

Morning 27th:
Again I got stuck in SL and finally slept about 0200 with an alarm for 0600. Woke up at 0312, back to sleep and then at 0611 by the alarm. Didn't need a lot of will-power to get up. Did feel a little tired at first but then it got better.
Mind was very fresh even from the beginning. But I think report this usually that my mind is clear even when sometimes I am tired physically. I think the reason for that is that I don't soak my brain in alcohol every weekend and don't do any kind of drugs. Hence, my mind is usually clear and operates on full capacity. My mind is NOT clear when I am sick with fever, have a headache from cafeine withdrawal or have serious sleep deprivation.
I can report already that I didn't need the noon nap which was backup plan in case I felt too tired from just 4 hours of sleep.

AH's internet connection

You should read this post by AH (I wish she'd give me her proper name, I don't really like calling a pretty girl AH like she's some kind of an android..but we digress!)

Read it only if you know Hindi as this is her bilingual poem on her loss of internet connection.
http://dilkibaatblogkesaath.blogspot.com/2011/02/fultu-bakwaas-kaha-gaya-mera-interenet.html

While my heart goes out to her in her distress (losing your internet connection can be very traumatic for a 21st century person), I am also impressed that she channelled her pain into this creative process and came out with a nice poem. Well done!

Remember when I did that post on my poem that was the result of a toothache? Of course you do. Well, this reminds me of that. According to an old quote we admire in others when see something of our own in them. Maybe that's why I like this post? But still, she did good.

Biphasic super powers

Remember I said that unlike polyphasic you don't get any super powers in Biphasic? Well, I noticed something cool today.

I was sitting in my office feeling so bored that I felt sleepy. Yeah, I need to be constantly challenged otherwise I get bored very easily. And these days I have no challenging work. It frustrates me, though it does get more blog posts done, I have to admit but....anyway, we digress!

As I was so bored that my brain was slowing down, and none of my roommates were in their seats so I could't start a conversation, I decided to lean back and close my eyes.

And then opened them with a jerk. Only a couple of seconds had passed but I realized with surprise that I was coming out of a dream. And no, this was no Rip Van Vinkle story, I had only closed my eyes only for a couple of seconds!

So, I tried again. Sure enough, I was in a dream. A different scene, but still a dream. I opened my eyes. Awake. Still empty room.

Being a scientist at heart, I decided to experiment again to see if the results were consistent. Close eyes. Dream scene. Yet another one! Open eyes. No problem.

I found that I could go into a dream as quickly as closing my eyes and I had enough volition (almost 100%) that I could open my eyes and just come out of it. The quickness of the dream images would suggest hypnogogic imagery but the images were stable, moving scenes with a theme like a normal dream. Since I opened my eyes quickly every time there was no development of a story in any of them, but the scenes all had the potential to develop into a full story and I did remember the scenes every time after I opened my eyes.

Just to clarify, it was not like sitting there with eyes closed and dreaming, it was more like nodding off for 2 seconds and entering dream state immediately. But being able to open my eyes almost entirely at will, that's what made it like a super power!

Make of it what you will, but if you try this, I suggest you remember this one important rule - "With great power, comes great responsibility!"

Biphasic sleep log - Day 36 - 25th Feb

Evening 25th:
The day was fine in terms of energy levels and I was home early at 1730. But when it came time to nap, at 1800, I could easily fall asleep. I think the nap was about 10 minutes longer today. I find it hard to do the time arithmetic before and after the nap unless I write stuff down somewhere.

Other than that mood and energy levels as usual great. I made one change today, that I had some tea. The choice was not based on temptation. I had had to reconsider my 100% abolition of caffeine from my diet for tea. Here's my reason.
1. It was brought to my attention tea also has some health benefit. I won't go into details but I don't remember all the detail.
2. I have known for a long while that tea (any warm liquid) helps to clean the throat after you have something oily. So, when I have a fried egg, it's better to have tea after it than any cold liquid including water.
3. The alternative to tea is milk which also disturbs the energy waveform but in a negative way as it makes me sleepy.

So, I decided to include tea back in my diet with the following provisos:
1. Only use it rarely, and only after oily food. No exceptions.
2. Keep it very light, just strong to not be milk any more.
3. Keep the quantity small.
4. Consumption must be several hours before next sleep time. Like today it was 5 hours before next planned sleep time.

Morning 26:
Last night I was busy doing stuff in Second Life and didn't get to bed until almost 0200. Actually, SL was freezing and crashing so much that what should have taken 10 minutes took an hour. Energy levels were really good till the end.

But I was able to fall asleep easily when I did go to bed. I had set two alarms with the intention to sleep either 4 hours or 4.5 hours. But I woke up at 0711, after 5 hours. Snooze gremlins at work again, I suspect. But mood was fresh and energy levels good, so didn't feel too bad about oversleeping. On weekends, I somehow feel justified in sleeping a little longer anyway.

I am glad I decided to keep the sleep log on. It will help track deviations and take corrective action if necessary.