SUMMARY: Logo work, custom form design work in the morning. Catching up at studio in the afternoon. Standing desk progress for studio in evening. Experimenting with melatonin to improve sleep.

After getting home from Boston last night, I read a bit of Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers, which was more interesting than I thought it would be, then conked out in anticipation for a long sleep. Except it wasn’t; I woke up again after 30 minutes and couldn’t fall asleep again. I ended up tossing and turning, as I have for the previous two nights, until around 3AM I gave up and read a little more Outliers, getting about 78% through the book. At that point, I tried to sleep again, but as the sky lightened I decided I was still not feeling that tired. So, I started the day. Cooked breakfast. Fed the cats. Made it out to Starbucks at 630AM, where I am now.

I have wondered why I’m not more tired than I am. Perhaps I am in an unusual state of mind, using this journaling system as a way to process thoughts that ordinarily would drive my REM cycles. Or, perhaps I am so engaged in what I am doing every day this week, that I am needing less sleep. I must admit though that I am feeling a bit sleepy, which manifests itself as a kind of tension along the side of my head and in my shoulders. I am probably only good for 2-3 hours of work this morning before I have to take a break or nap. Having unsweetened ice tea instead of coffee this morning.

This morning’s plan is to draw some letters in the shape of knots, for a friend’s consulting business. I have been a bit outside my comfort zone on this one, but I took the job because I wanted to see if I could puzzle my way through it. I’ve had some interesting insights about the design process for cases like this, which I’ve written up as preliminary notes in the DesignThink sub blog, but have not yet made public.

It’s about 7AM now. Time to start. I’ve fired up Macromedia Freehand MX, an old piece of drawing software that is still superior to Adobe Illustrator in several ways.

0700 to 0800: Draw loop logos. Used Freehand, imported into Illustrator. Maybe I need a tablet. Post to client area.

0800 to 0845: Sum up current hours for two clients, create invoices, check old billing.

0845 to 0930: Checking email, looking up replacement camera for my F30d, which has a busted screen. Checking the Wave, answering Wave questions, writing Wave thoughts to Colleen about Boston trip. Deciding to do one more push for the morning, to get some client changes out of the way on a custom workflow form.

0930 to 1015: Make Two New Variations for LR, 8.5×11 size.

1015 to 1115: Head to studio, upload invoices and progress to clients.

1115 to 1245: Catch up with Sid on building a standing desk, walk to furniture store, look at tables, look at IKEA. Read email replies from clients. Packed some audio gear to use at home for summer. Ran into client, made appointment for next week.

1245 to 1315: puttered then CRASHED to sleep, finally.

1315 to 1715: Four hour nap! Wow! I really needed it. Need some food now.

1715 to 1745: Emails, update this journal entry. Stripped sheets from bed to do laundry. Fed the cats. Starting to cook dinner.

1745 to 1845: In the post dinner haze. I’m still tired, but the weakness due to lack of food has subsisted. Now I’m feeling more lazy, as I digest. It’s hard to form thoughts that lead to one another (except as I’m writing). If I were to imagine my mind as a slate, it would be made of a kind of murky dense gaseous fog, leaking into one direction. Little flashes of light illuminate it in a random pattern, but they don’t cascade together and move with directed purpose. I also feel like I’m on the verge of falling asleep (I probably am). Need to get up and walk around! I am sitting at the computer like a lump.

That kind of fuzziness I can feel in my major limbs as a lack of power, whereas sleepiness is more of a nervous system / brain sensation. It’s also been a pretty anxiety-free few days, since I’ve done my work in the morning.

1845 to 1930: Actually fell asleep downstairs, after measuring table heights. I need about 40 inches of height for a comfortable standing desk, I believe. A typical table top is 29 inches high. My upstairs desk is slightly low at 28 inches, because I removed the feet.

1945: Puttering, low energy. Am in sort of in limbo waiting for friends to call, but then again they may not. So I am going to work on MMA a bit. 15 minutes. Seconds after I typed that, they called.

2000 to 2130: Home Depot, looking for solutions to make standing desk. Then to grocery store for breakfast supplies. Bought some melatonin to see if this would help with sleep.

2130 to 2230: Followed up on client P logo in Basecamp. Sleep time!