Stay awake stupid!

[kzaas]

Alright I need help, can someone please tell me what they do to stay awake and stop trying to doze off while sequencing. Granted, I do have sleep apnea but I use a Bipap to help me sleep at night. Now before I get on the computer I seem to be wide awake, after 15-20 minutes I start dozing. If I start listening to some Classic Rock like I am doing right now it helps me stay awake, but that kind of makes it hard to hear the music that I am trying to sequence.

Also, MOTIVATION, how do you guys stay motivated to stay at the computer and sequence all the time. I love my display and the reactions of the visitors, but sometimes when I look at the computer as I am walking into the den to start sequencing, it's like "UUGGHH I am not really in the mood to do this". I think alot of that has to do with the fact that I have such a hard time staying awake while I am at the keyboard

-_- -_- -_- -_-

OOp's sorry I dozed again. What do you do????

[shakeonit]

You have to sequence at your peak awake times if possible. I do know what your saying though. Sometimes it helps to get motivation by watching videos, or remember the good things people have said and the looks on their faces.

[MtDew4me]

Sometimes I wish I had that problem. I start sequencing and before I know it the sun is rising

[kzaas]

Sometimes I wish I had that problem. I start sequencing and before I know it the sun is rising

Yeah, sometimes when I get on a roll, before I know it, my wife is asking me if I am ready for bed yet

[Crazydave]

I've lost plenty of valuable sleep due to sequencing.

been up until 2-3am on work nights

cranking the music helps keep you up... and soda.

[Ron Boyd]

I need somewhat quiet time to do sequencing. I have the luxury of being able to take my laptop to work and sequence at lunchtime. I guess my motivation is,

I am going from 32 channels last year to 112 regular channels this year and 442 RGB Channels. Mind you i'm practically brand new to this hobby, and I made a major jump for my second year.

I know it has to be done for the show to be ready come Black Friday. I've already told so many people about it and I surely don't want to disappoint anybody.

5 Hour energy works wonders in moderation too.

[scubado]

I had the same problem studying for my Comptia Network + certification. If I had a sizeable block of time I'd take 5hr energy. I was very skepitcal of trying it, but it worked well for me. Sequencing is not my favorite part of this hobby either, I sequence in small blocks of time, I spend too much time on this forum If you have your setup design complete, you could hire someone such as George to sequence a song for you with your setup to help give you many ideas on what your display can do.

[Max-Paul]

I know what you are talking about. I got to get my butt in gear and finish one song and might start a second new song for this years display. And it does not help to be working in a hot factory all day. Whipped by the time I get home. If you have a day off during the weekend and dont have any honney dues. Find what time of day you are at your peak. Like after your two morning coffees.

[edvas69]

When was the last time you had your eyes checked. Tiredness from reading and looking at computer screens can many times be attributed to your eyes having to strain because your vision has deteriated, so might be worth a check.

[tjflory]

Alright I need help, can someone please tell me what they do to stay awake and stop trying to doze off while sequencing. Granted, I do have sleep apnea but I use a Bipap to help me sleep at night. Now before I get on the computer I seem to be wide awake, after 15-20 minutes I start dozing. If I start listening to some Classic Rock like I am doing right now it helps me stay awake, but that kind of makes it hard to hear the music that I am trying to sequence.

Also, MOTIVATION, how do you guys stay motivated to stay at the computer and sequence all the time. I love my display and the reactions of the visitors, but sometimes when I look at the computer as I am walking into the den to start sequencing, it's like "UUGGHH I am not really in the mood to do this". I think alot of that has to do with the fact that I have such a hard time staying awake while I am at the keyboard

-_- -_- -_- -_-

OOp's sorry I dozed again. What do you do????

Maybe you need a break.

After my July 4 show I took a 2 week break and tried not to even think about display stuff.

It worked. I found myself re-energized and excited about getting back into it.

tj

[Santas Helper]

If I start listening to some Classic Rock like I am doing right now it helps me stay awake, but that kind of makes it hard to hear the music that I am trying to sequence.

Your sequencing the wrong music.

If classic rock keeps you awake, then sequence classic rock.

Serously though, I get so engrossed in a song when I'm sequencing, I can't help but stay awake and can't stop squencing.

It's a true addiction for me.

Of course picking songs you like helps. If I don't like the music, I mean really like it, I won't sequence it.

[ezimnow]

Glad to hear I'm not alone. I added Video to My show this year so it was fun working on those sequences but still after awhile I found myself getting a bit bored so I stepped away and found something else to do. The last thing I want to do (but have done) is start laying down some sequences that look awful and just have to start all over again.

I keep telling myself, by the end of September I want to have all the Sequencing done so I can start to work on the display itself come October. I think the idea of starting early, say March this year gave me the ability to be lazy and not stay focused on the job at hand.

It's crunch time now...Get them all done make sure I have all the elements I want included for each song and then leave it alone!

[dknahoolewa]

I too don't last long when sequencing. I just break mine up into (2) 1-2hrs sessions each day. I'd rather build props and design new things than sequence. I also have 4-5 songs at a time that i'm working on so i jump back and forth when ideas pop in my head about what i want it sertain parts of my songs.

But as mentioned above...I've told some many ppl about my show that I have to finish.

[thevikester]

Sometimes I wish I had that problem. I start sequencing and before I know it the sun is rising

I think your Avatar is why you are still awake my good man! Always worked for me in college...64 ounces and a text book, and I was good to go until class time the next day!

[Surfing4Dough]

Alright I need help, can someone please tell me what they do to stay awake and stop trying to doze off while sequencing. Granted, I do have sleep apnea but I use a Bipap to help me sleep at night. Now before I get on the computer I seem to be wide awake, after 15-20 minutes I start dozing. If I start listening to some Classic Rock like I am doing right now it helps me stay awake, but that kind of makes it hard to hear the music that I am trying to sequence.

Also, MOTIVATION, how do you guys stay motivated to stay at the computer and sequence all the time. I love my display and the reactions of the visitors, but sometimes when I look at the computer as I am walking into the den to start sequencing, it's like "UUGGHH I am not really in the mood to do this". I think alot of that has to do with the fact that I have such a hard time staying awake while I am at the keyboard

-_- -_- -_- -_-

OOp's sorry I dozed again. What do you do????

Should talk to your Doc. Doesn't sound like your sleep apnea is well controlled. Probably need equipment settings adjusted.

[k6ccc]

Alright I need help, can someone please tell me what they do to stay awake and stop trying to doze off while sequencing. Granted, I do have sleep apnea but I use a Bipap to help me sleep at night. Now before I get on the computer I seem to be wide awake, after 15-20 minutes I start dozing. If I start listening to some Classic Rock like I am doing right now it helps me stay awake, but that kind of makes it hard to hear the music that I am trying to sequence.

Also, MOTIVATION, how do you guys stay motivated to stay at the computer and sequence all the time. I love my display and the reactions of the visitors, but sometimes when I look at the computer as I am walking into the den to start sequencing, it's like "UUGGHH I am not really in the mood to do this". I think alot of that has to do with the fact that I have such a hard time staying awake while I am at the keyboard

-_- -_- -_- -_-

OOp's sorry I dozed again. What do you do????

Should talk to your Doc. Doesn't sound like your sleep apnea is well controlled. Probably need equipment settings adjusted.

As a fellow sleep apnea sufferer, I would also suggest that it's time for another sleep study. I know I need one every once in a while.

Realizing that my LOR is used for landscape lighting, the sequences are not exactly tough, but I have played around at some "real" sequencing and I find it hard to do and it takes some real motivation to keep moving along on it. For some people it's fairly easy and for some it's just a chore that needs to be done.

Good luck

[kzaas]

Thanks for the ideas guys, but unfortunatly I just had another sleep study done a couple of months ago and they said I was sleeping real good(of course that is using their machine). My doctor determined that he actually needed to reduce my pressure, which I think is helping. One thing that wakes me up alot is a leaky mask and before the pressure was reduced it leaked badly. And also I just had my eyes checked and got new glasses, it was just a very slight change though. In fact I have seperate glasses for the computer.

I do like the songs I am sequencing, actually I am working on a few right now to stop from getting bored with the same tune over and over. And yes Tom one of them is like a classic rock song(TSO's "Queen of a winters night" which I shortened to just over two minutes). I am also working on Boogie Woogie Choo Choo train with four singing faces and the third is Real men of genious(christmas version with two singing faces).

I try the Five hours and the Mountain dew(diet, the regular is too sweet for me and I get a big sugar crash from it). As someone else mentioned, one of the ways I do get motivated is going out in my garage where I have posted on the wall, all the Newspaper articles that my house has been in and also the cards and letters that people have sent me about my display. When I start looking at that stuff I start remembering the looks on the audience faces(kids and Adults alike) that really pushes me sometimes.

[markha1]

How abut "Sequencing Parties" ? As a gamer we have massive lan parties where a bunch of us get together and play computer games for days...non stop!. Could we do somthing like that where we can share the power of our computers and the knowledge and expierance ? Maybe like netmeeting or somthing. I realize that there would, by the very nature of what we do, be a lot of file shareing going on but it might be fun. It would allow us ...less informed to learn from each other and also provide massive sequencing time!

[kzaas]

How abut "Sequencing Parties" ? As a gamer we have massive lan parties where a bunch of us get together and play computer games for days...non stop!. Could we do somthing like that where we can share the power of our computers and the knowledge and expierance ? Maybe like netmeeting or somthing. I realize that there would, by the very nature of what we do, be a lot of file shareing going on but it might be fun. It would allow us ...less informed to learn from each other and also provide massive sequencing time!

Sounds interesting, how would that work?

[markha1]

Well I'm not exactly positive how it would work for the forum, however in the game world we all bring our computers to a local gathering place. We bring lots of cat 5 cables, routers, hubs, and extension cords. We all connect up to a common network and share our game folders. That way we can share patches and develop new ones co-op style. There seems to be 4 0r 5 local folke near me and I know I could use the benefit of a seasoned LORite and we could get help from each other with sequencing ideas, building props, maybe even trade props. I am not save enough to say if we could do the same thing on line or in a forum. I was just thinking it would be fun for us to get together and have FUN !!! I would be glad to facilatate what ever I can if anyone else is interested.