GenCon, sleep, hard-core gaming and drowsy driving

[Piratecat]

I thought you said that you could not make it?

Take a look at the time-stamp on his post! I wrote this two or three years ago.

Claudio, I assume you know the strategy of trying to get exit-row seating for better legroom. Luckily, you're coming northwest, so not a lot of difference between time zones, but if you want to sleep on the plane:

- get a window seat. No one will climb over you to get to the bathroom.

- noise-cancellation headphones are finally reasonably priced. A set of these can make sleep much, much easier on a plane.

- Buy a sleep mask (like Robin's superhero mask, only wiht no eye holes) at a drugstore. Blocking out light completely makes sleep MUCH easier.

 

[Klaus]

Yeah, I'll be flying Northwest, from Rio to Washington DC, with one stopover (hopefully in São Paulo, which means I'll spend seated those hours we usually spend standing in an airport).

One thing I tried when I went to NYC in 98 was use one of those neck cushions, and BOY do those suck! They hold your head in an upright position, which means gravity starts pulling your head into your shoulders, crushing the neck vertebrae.

Thanks for the tips! If they do work, I'll pay you a beer at GenCon!

 

[RangerWickett]

Do you remember Hicks from Aliens, the guy who could fall asleep anywhere? They're plummeting through the atmosphere in a dropship, and Hicks is dozing casually. That's me. When I need to (i.e., when I'm bored and have been up at least 16 hours), I can sleep just about anywhere. Sitting on Greyhound buses? Easy. Slumped face-first against the window of a plane? Sure. In a cramped van, rumbling down a 'road' in the mountainous badlands of Texas? Not too hard.

Oddly, though, when I have a bed it's harder to get to sleep. I think I feel like I deserve comfortable rest, so I'll try to get into just the right position, which might take half an hour. This is contrasted with my 15-minute breaks at work, where I can grab a magazine, sit down in a chair, set my cell phone's alarm, and be asleep in 2 minutes.

Probably a bit of hyperbole in there somewhere, but I like my sleep. I might want to get one of those sleep masks, though, or at least buy better blinds for my window. It sucks to wake up at 7am after gaming 'til 2 because the sun thinks it can just waltz into your room and smack you in the eyes.

 

[Kaodi]

Ah, Sleep...

I must admit that I have been guilty in the past of driving dangerously because of sleep deprivation, and almost all of the time it is within the " home stretch " to my house. Oddly, once or twice I've felt unable to concentrate well in the morning, even after a good amout of sleep.
Fortunately, I've only ever ditched my car once, in winter. The time was around 4 am, and I still believe that I didn't so much fall asleep as being hypnotized (the road was completely covered by a fresh, undisturbed blanket of snow for the entire home stretch, and the snow was falling gently... it didn't feel like I was tired, it felt like I could not for the life of me concentrate on the road).
Anyway, what I was actually kind of wondering, PirateCat, is what is it that allows a person to " rest in bed " sometimes when they wake up, for hours on end, without falling into a deep sleep (or maybe any sleep), when othertimes this sort of thing is impossible? I almost always feel well rested after these kind of mornings.

 

[WayneLigon]

Good job - I was just about to bump it myself!
Any questions, anyone?

That is some grade-A wonderful advice. Given how many con-goers I've seen pride themselves on staying up for 24 hours or more, it's especially relevant. It's a common problem that is overlooked a lot of times.

You might want to actually talk to someone at GenCon and a few other large cons about putting this info in the Con program literature right by the medical advice. (I've seen a couple of cons here in the Deep South put in things about adequate hydration, for instance).

 

[Dextra]

Thanks!

It used to be that we would leave home after dinner and drive through the night. Mostly because I hate driving through traffic and unfamiliar cities in traffic, but also because we couldn't get the time off work and wanted to arrive at the cons on time.

But after reading this article and also almost losing a family member to a Bambi incident (not sleep-related, but still), I take things a lot easier. I figure that if I'm not alert enough to watch the sides of the roads for deer (or moose, I <3 Canada!), I'm not alert enough to drive. So on the way to Gen Con this year, we're spreading the drive down over four days, and on the way back stopping half-way as well.

Drive to arrive alive, everyone- see you in Indy!

 

[shaylon]

Good job - I was just about to bump it myself!

Any questions, anyone?

Yeah, just one. How do you go from teaching people how to sleep to making video games in three short years? Are these fields related at all?

I mean I went from Space Cowboy to Gangster of Love in a short period of time but that was different.

-Maurice(Shaylon)

P.S. Thanks for the info, that was very informative!

 

[BOZ]

i'm pretty sleepy right now - do you think my bosses will mind if i take a nap?

 

[Piratecat]

This is an old thread, but I was reminded of it when discussing drowsy driving the other day. It's worth bumping this thread once or twice a year before the convention season (especially GenCon) starts. Hope it proves useful!

 

[pacdidj]

Thanks for the great advice P-cat! I'm a gigging musician, and I've had these "microsleeps" happen to me more times than I care to count when on the road back home from late night shows. They're really scary. It's great to know that a 10-15 minute nap can help to sort it out.