A Daily Look at A Week of Midnight Shifts

Starting Sunday, yours truly will be embarking on a week-long adventure into the unknowns that ensue on midnight shifts.  Actually, my shift starts promptly at 11, but I have to be there by 10:30 PM. I'll be doing Performance OJT. Which means that I'll be the DMC in charge. I'm in the hot seat. If things break, I fix them. If people call, I answer them. If POD says jump, I ask how high. I'm getting graded every night on my performance and my abilities, the questions I ask, and the questions I answer. I'm getting graded both by the certified DMC sitting with me, as well as the POD on console. Good thing it's low stress, right?

This week I have five of these shifts, which end at 7 AM. Aside from the obvious downsides, like not sleeping when normal people sleep, I'm going to be figuring out what life on the midnight shift is really all about. 

Once I'm certified (3 more weeks! But who's counting?), I'll be doing 4 days on console, then have 4 days off console. So, 4 days working, and a 4 day weekend. Not too shabby. But right now, while I'm in training and a grunt worker.. I'm doing 5 days of mids.

So I thought it might be interesting to see how I feel after each shift. I started writing this post on Sunday night, March 9. I updated it in the beginning of each shift, and recollected on the previous shift and day. 

GMT 069. 11 PM March 09 - 7 AM March 10:

Tonight's went well. I felt energized and alert. I spent my downtime reading a book that Hubs recommended to me.

After leaving work, I went home and slept until 11:30. I got up and went to the gym, came home and hung out with Puppy until Hubs came home. We ate a delightful meal together, caught each other up on our days at work, then I went back to sleep for an evening nap from 730-930 before heading back to work at 10:15.

Overall, a good day. I felt a touch sleepier than normal, but not unbearably so.

GMT 070. 11 PM March 10 - 7 AM March 11:

Tonight's shift went well again! I felt a little more groggy tonight vs. last night, but I was able to make it through the evening without any mistakes in terms of my commanding. I continued to read the book in my downtime.

After leaving work, I decided I still felt energetic enough to go to the gym, so I went in the morning, instead of waiting until the afternoon. After the gym, I showered up, went home and slept until about 1. Then I got up and played with Pups, waited for my tutoree, made dinner and ate with Hubs. Again, I took an evening nap, but decided that I needed an extra hour this time, so my nap was from 630-930.

Overall, Tuesday was decent. A little groggier than wanted, but OK.

GMT 071. 11 PM March 11 - 7 AM March 12:

Tonight's shift was hard. I almost resorted to caffeine. I managed to scrape by without any commanding errors. I stood up most of the shift to keep myself from dosing while I read my book. I think I only got through 3 or 4 pages due to the inability to really focus on the story. Focusing in general, as well as the ability to announce my common commands on the loops, became difficult. (For example, saying "DMC on FMT CRD sending KU Comm Unit Data dump on my mark, 3,2,1 Mark command" turned into a delirious language barrier between me and the rest of the room.) Driving home was hard. I had to call my mom to have her keep me awake.

I slept until about 130, after sleeping through 2 alarms. I met Sarah for lunch and was just barely on time (and if you know me, you know I'm always at least 10 minutes early. It's a bad habit, but I accept it.). We enjoyed lunch, but I was really struggling to not dose. She graciously drove us to the mall for random manicures. We had a really fun afternoon. 

I tried to take my evening pre-work nap, but I couldn't fall asleep, so I unhappily got up, took a shower and laid around lazily until it was time to make my "lunch" for work.

GMT 072. 11 PM March 12 - 7 AM March 13:

Tonight's shift nearly unbearable. Don't get me wrong. I love my job and I love watching the earth spin beneath the Space Station, but I definitely could tell the difference in my energy and alertness from missing that nap. I hadn't realized how much I needed that nap. The night dragged on. I tried to read my book and failed. I found myself rereading the same two paragraphs repeatedly, then gave up. The book is interesting and funny, but I was in no state to attempt to gain anything from it.

Also, please note that I have lost all concept of time. "Today," "tomorrow," and "yesterday" literally mean nothing to me anymore.

I called my mom again on my way home from work. She wasn't able to keep me alert enough, so I hung up with her, and rolled down my windows in the 30 degree weather. That certainly kept me awake, and also slightly angry. I slept well. I missed two alarms, including my alarm to go to the gym, and ended up waking up around 230. 230! That's so late. That's like the whole day is gone. I got Puppy out and we played until my tutoree arrived. Then she (the tutoree) got to listen to my angrily growling stomach, because, oops(!), I hadn't eaten since about 4 AM. She left and I took the quickest of naps, about 15 minutes, on the couch with Pups before Hubs got home. When he got home, we went out to eat, and the restaurant lied to me when they told me they would make sure there was no dairy used in the preparation of my food, so I spent a good portion of my pre-work nap fighting brutally with my insides. (Outback Steakhouse: rude.)

My pre-work nap lasted from about 8-930.. not nearly long enough. I didn't pack any real food to bring to work.

GMT 073. 11 PM March 13 - 7 AM March 14:

My interest in my food has depleted. For tonight's meals, I brought a half-eaten bag of Skittles, beef jerky, and fruit snacks. Oddly enough, this is also the only shift this week where I haven't been painfully hungry. Go figure. Tonight's shift has been drowsy, but busy. The person who worked the day shift earlier today (yesterday?) had an atypical data loss, that I spent over 4 hours investigating, then communicating the information to all my counterparts (in Huntsville, Houston, Europe and Japan). I have eaten an ungodly amount of Skittles. In addition to fixing day shift's problem, I have been busy with our nominal activities for the shift.

I thought today was Wednesday. Turns out to be 4 AM Friday. Oh well. I still haven't gotten out the book.

I have 3 hours left on this shift, then I plan to sleep, and not set an alarm clock. Maybe I'll make it to the gym, maybe not. Anyone's guess, truly. I think I'm done with these posts.

UPDATE: It's now 4:43 AM and I just walked into a closed door because I forgot I needed to badge through it first.

/end of post.

(Also, the book is The Gun Seller by Hugh Laurie. Hugh Laurie is Dr. House)