Saturday, July 7, 2012

Living Like Twilight

     Last time I checked, the Sun was hot.  I dont know who decided to move so close to a star, but here we are and we might as well get comfortable with the idea.  But that doesnt mean we need to be in the worst areas of the planet.  What baffles me is that someone was walking through the desert, getting blasted by my new favorite weather pattern, "Sand", planted their flag and announced that they had found home.
     I mean, seriously, what was the original draw to live in such a barren waste land?  I digress, I wanted to talk about the the heat and the way we are dealing with it, or rather, not dealing with it.  The goal in the desert is to get maximum time of efficient work with minimum people dying out in the sun.  Sounds like a reasonable idea, so a plan must be put into place to fit this goal.  This is whats known as working a reverse cycle.
     Usually when you deploy there is no break in the action.  The base is operational and pieces are moving 24 hours a day.  If the enemy knew you went to sleep at a certain time, it would most certainly guarantee that they would be working at that time and then problems would arise.  I am, however, not in such situation so it is not necessary to keep a full operational force at all times.  Mind you, there are things happening all the time, just not to the same extent.
     In order to make sure that I could get my job done and not die (as I am wont to do) we have been working reverse cycle now for about a week.  We wake up every morning at 2 am and work until noon with a combination of training, maintenance, and classes to keep our warrior minds sharp.  The work is nothing more than we are used to doing on a regular basis so the real complication comes from a frustrating combination of: sleep, my need for sleep, the time difference home, and the schedule of the world around me.
     Its simple, really.  I need to go to bed early to make up for the changed wake up time.  The base, however is not on reverse cycle, so they have normal operating hours as if nothing is changed at all.  My friends and loved ones are 7 hours behind me, so I can only talk to them in my afternoons, and I need to do this all with my time given before said 2 am wake up.
     Ive been working pretty well so far working til noon, getting lunch then going to bed. Ive been able to sleep from 1pm til 6-7 pm (6am - noon on the East coast) then waking up for dinner, gym and anything else my little heart desires.  This way I can talk to friends, enjoy afternoon activities, and have my free time in the middle of the night.  So far so good.
     Only problem is that the world doesnt sleep at noon, Meetings come and go, days off, holidays, and special events have been known to creep up so I am required to "soldier on" and meet the need.  Thats fine but I seem to recall a study about poor sleep cycles and dementia.  Probably not important, Id say.  Time will tell how this all works our for me, but for now its really not so bad.

1 comment:

  1. They have TELEPHONE-DEVICES there?!?!?! Call me... or ELSE.

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