Thanks guys, for all the great ideas on how to improve Standard Poodle Safari. I especially like the thought of a daily “running of the poodles” stampede through the streets. Dangerous! Many other excellent suggestions, as well… Keep ’em coming.
And before I get to today’s questionable subject, I’d like to alert you to a fun new site co-created by our friend Jason Headley. It’s a good idea taken to the next level. Check it out. Are you presidential? Unfortunately, I fall a few electoral votes short, at 194. I guess I still have some work to do?
Now for the main topic… I’d like to know the greatest number of hours you’ve ever stayed awake. You know, in a row.
Unfortunately, I don’t have much to report on this one. I’ve never done drugs, or been in the military, or gone through medical school… And those are the obvious scenarios for sleepless marathons, right? Speed and/or extreme vocational requirements?
The only time I went for a “long” period without sleep, was when I was a kid and wanted to see how long I could maintain. My friend Mike spent the night with me, and we decided to stay up all night, and see how far into the next day we could make it.
Yeah, and the staying up all night part was easy. We watched old movies until they went off, then started playing poker. I had two boxes of poker chips when I was a youngling, and we liked to pretend we were Vegas high-rollers, etc. No problem making it till morning….
Somewhere during the night we did experience a minor bump in the road, and began dragging a bit. But a second-wind kicked in and we were fully awake and alert when my Dad got up, and started getting ready for work.
I remember watching the farm report, at a ridiculously early hour of the day I’d rarely experienced before. The farm report! What in the shit-flecked heck? I had a feeling Mike and I were the only two people watching that show, and I bet I wasn’t too far off.
After breakfast we launched into a normal day, and I felt great. We went walking around town (roaming aimlessly, one of our favorite pastimes), and everything was completely normal. I wasn’t tired in the least. I was starting to have thoughts about making it another 24 hours. I was confident we could do it, without much trouble.
But in the afternoon my entire world collapsed. We were bowling, at Dunbar Lanes, and my brain started betraying me. I think I was hallucinating a little (the hotdog carousel was levitating), and I felt really, really weird. Not so much tired, as drugged or something.
I remember it was my turn to bowl, and I nearly blacked-out during the approach. I almost fell asleep during the physical act of bowling; I’m lucky my head didn’t plunge down the ball return.
It was quite unpleasant, and I was foundering greatly while walking home. Mike was cheering me on, trying to keep me from giving in to sleep, promising a third-wind was right around the corner.
But I was done. I felt sick, not sleepy, and walked into our house without really saying goodbye to my friend. I went upstairs to my room, collapsed on the bed, and slept until early the next morning (I think I saw the farm report again).
This full collapse happened around 4 o’clock, so I’d only been up for about 31 hours, or so. Pretty lame, huh? But that shit kicked my ass. And I can’t remember ever going so long, since.
What about you? I’m sure most of you can beat my pathetic record. Tell us about it in the comments, won’t you?
And I’ll be back tomorrow.
Have a great day, my friends!
Dammit, Chuck, you woke me up with your comment. I was just taking a little nap, with WZ on the cans.
jtb
That… ( …kinda screwed that up a bit. The drive alone would be 16 hours. Then factor in the other crap.
Bevs leaving for 10 days and for just a second or two I’d thought I’d see what I could do now. Quickly lost that thought by realizing I want to head to the platform after my 13 hour grind today.
Had beer and beer nuts for diner tonight…thankyouverymuch Sidney!…zzzzzzzzzzzzz
40 or 42 or 44 hours straight – I’m not sure. I’d have to check my ‘journal’ from 1981. It was finals week of my first quarter at Ohio State. I had help from some “black beauties”. That was the last time I ever did that.
84 hours. 6:00 am for three days until 6 PM one day. I only still, to this day, sleep approximately 3-4 hours per night, and this was the beginning of it..
Over 30 years ago. Seventeen and looking to take in every thing I could in life. Had a date with a restaurant slut That I worked with) and decided to take handfuls of Black Beuaties and Acid. Seven hits of A that night. I may have also drank more than six cases of beer in that 84 hour period. Never attempted that again, as I crashed at 6 PM and didn’t wake up until 34 hours later at 4 AM, wondering if the world was ending or something. HBO had a show on called “Countdown to Looking Glass” which pretended to be and actual newscast of a war in the Gulf in the middle east, and it seemed so real when I woke up, I believed that nuclear missles were about to be launched. Took me several hours to figure out that it was fake.
Marlene- (not her real name, but close) went home after I was crying and praying for about fifteen minutes.
Well, it had to be the senior trip to Kings Island back in ’81. I guess I got out of bed around 7:00 on Friday, went to school, played in a baseball game that afternoon, then boarded the bus to Cincinnati, where we partied at Kings Island all night, went back to the hotel, stayed up partying, then went to a Reds game the next afternoon, then back home on the bus, going to bed around 11:00. Stayed awake for about 40 hours total. I just remember yelling some beligerance at some Nuns that were in the checkout line in a Kroger in Northern KY, while we were buying more beer.
I have bouts of insomnia and during these episodes (which can last a few days to a few months) I can go up to two days without sleep. I’m late to comment here because, ironically, I had to catch up on sleep after roughly 36 hours of being awake. This time the insomnia was induced by travel and a funeral. At the service a large African American gent suddenly appeared to sing a bluesy version of “Amazing Grace”. Since it was at a Catholic Church in a largely white rural area I honestly thought he was a sleep-deprived hallucination. Turns out the decedent was a huge lover of “Negro Spirituals” (as they say), which was very much out of character. So the singer was the real deal, and pretty awesome to boot.
The longest I stayed started in April 1995. I was a firefighter and rescue specialist and worked on an urban rescue team. When that idiot blew up the Alfred Murray Federal Building our crew was one of the first in. Knowing that kids were still missing, we refused to stop. Finally, after 5 days, our Chief and the site commander made us back out. But even then we only slept a few hours and then we were back at work.
I seriously hope I never jave to do tjhat again!
I never understood kids in college who would ‘pull an all-nighter” to do work and then miss all classes the next day. I pulled exactly 1 in college…..got up on Thursday, 7:30 AM, did classes and homework, then went to type in a 26 page paper on the “Wang” Word processors down at the Worcester Area Computer Consortium Center, or “WACCC” for short……Yes, I needed to WACCC my WANG….before I went, I took a jar of Folger’s Crystals that was about 2/3rds full (like the big 10 Oz jar that is quart sized) and filled it with water, and of course, left the 6 2/3rds ounces of crystals in it. When 4 AM rolled around and I got tired, I started slamming this higly concentrated coffee beverage. Finished it by about 5:30. By 7AM, my typing hands were twitching like a magic fingers massager, and I couldn’t have ‘frozen-posed’ if you paid me a grand…then it was off to class all hopped up, and I finally ‘came down about 3PM, and my roommates and I were hosting a party that night, so I stayed up until 3:30 AM…..43 sleepless hours. I’ve done 40 once since then…..Its about my wall.
In my medical internship here in the philippines, we had our hospital duties for 32 hours twice a week for 2 years Rarely we could sleep for more than 3 hours in any of them, and there is only 2 times you will have a day off in a month. Add them up with analyzing, making diagnosis and even making reports. I guess the maximum time i had done for long hours of being awake was about 40 hours and these were several times during those 2 years. That’s med school philippines for you.
I have just completed a non stop 49 hour dj set. No sleep, pauses or rest periods. 49 straight hours from start to finish for charity. Dude, it sucks! At the 44 hour mark I lost all perception of my surroundings. I had no real grip on the shape of the club that I was in to the point that I didnt recognise it. People dancing were leaving traces infront of me & I started to feel like I was going to pass out. Gonn try a 60 hour one next year & then bow out. Trust me though, it will be one of the hardest things you will ever do.
Hell, I find even doing 24 hrs at this point is a bitch. Good luck.
56 Hours at age 14 🙂