1+ Year of Insomnia

Whoa. Happy (late) Birthday, Insomnisquad!

What/Who's Up?

How are all you Insomniacs doing? It's pretty quiet here, what's everyone up to these nights?

I've slipped back into animation-land and have been spending many a long night there. I've got 500+ hours of work in on my next animated short, The Girl and the Ghost and it's really starting to take shape!

Come on, Squad! Let's have some updates!

Back to the Night

Well, my period of sleeping like a "normal" person seems to be coming to an end for now. Funny thing is, it appears to be happening unintentionally.
I'm getting re-acclimated to the quiet, watching some movies again (tonight was Spirited Away, loved it), and trying to gear up to be creative again.
I finished animating my last movie in December and haven't done much (aside from a little writing) since. Suddenly, I have a handful of new projects clamoring for my attention, all requiring me to step it up to the next level. Once I figure out how to approach these, it'll mean many many all-night animation sessions.
Insomnisquad, Sir Drake is back.

The City That Never Sleeps

Greetings, insomnisquad!

Wow! It has been awhile since I've posted--as well as others--guess we've all been sleeping well, or probably just working on other things that keep us up late.

Anyway, a friend just said to me, "New York is the city that never sleeps and apparently neither do you."

How appropriate then that I'm in the process of moving to the Big Apple!?!? All the excitement of my new gig with Rocketboom and moving cross-country is keeping me up. Well, those two things and this little guy from dinner...


I know better, but...I couldn't help myself! Hope you're all doing well.

With love from your Squad Commander from the insomniac's playground!

It's Been A While...

Hi Leah, and the rest of the 'Squad! It's been a while since I've made a post here. I have had nights of imsomnia, but kept forgetting to type up an entry. In any case, my lack of sleep tonight is due to the hopefully exciting week ahead, and the fact my mind won't shut up.

I've been looking for work locally after graduating from Lethbridge College for three weeks. Nerds On Site finally got back to me, and I should know if I'm hired by the end of the online interview on Tues night. Technology is my passion, so to work on it and write about it through freelance journalism is my dream.

Otherwise, if 'Nerds' doesn't hire me, a construction company has said they'll hire me, and a couple of other labour positions look promising as well. I'll still look into par-time freelancing So, it's an exciting week!

The plan was to go to the gym later this morning, but now I need to raincheck to catch up on sleep. I hate when that happens.

If you want to follow me on Twitter, it's http://twitter.com/kevinlcc

A Bit of Imagery

Like Leah, I've been absent from the 'Squad for a while. I ended up in the hospital for a couple days back in March. Ever since my hospital stay, I've been on a "normal" person's schedule.

But, as I mentioned on my blog, I had some "interesting" dreams, thanks to a combination of medicine and dehydration.
I recently decided to whip up a visual recreation of one of my more freaky moments, where I saw my hospital room's wall turn into a hellish tunnel with an old lady holding a cat.
I must have been really dehydrated.
Anyway, at least it made for a pretty cool picture. At least I think so.

Click to see bigger.

Thoughts?

We're Still Here

Though I have been sleeping like a normal myself, tonight the insomnia is back in full force! Of course, I did drink a cup of black chai tea at 10 pm...probably not helping. Please keep contributing to the site and share with your friends! I always enjoy reading what the community puts up. Makes the early morning hours a bit more interesting. Now to start the day only to sleep later...

- Leah

Penny for your thoughts...

So I'm starting a new project, and I'd like to hear your thoughts on it. I'm still working on the site, but here's the Purpose of the project. (Leah, I'd especially love to hear your thoughts on it).

Purpose:

After a long night discussion at Shakey's Pizza, Christina and Z had concluded that the best option to take a silly idea out of their heads was to act on it...

A penny: 1/100 of a dollar. It's the atom that makes up the molecule known as the U.S. dollar; and, unless you are a scientist, the atom means very little to anyone. It's often overlooked for what they represent: the means to an end. Everyone cares more about the end than the means. And so, the penny is often considered irrelevant all over the United States of America--unless you are a frugal individual, a scientist, of course.

Like a penny, our project has two sides...

On the surface of a penny, President Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president, is portrayed in profile. It's an artistic interpretation of the most popular president of the United States of America (http://tinyurl.com/3jqr3z), and in the same way our surface project is our artistic representation: Christina will collected the pennies and turn them into art pieces.

She will keep you up-to-date on her current art project on her twitter blog (@findapenny) or through the Progress page in our menu.

On the opposite side of the modern penny, the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. is featured. What many people don't realize is, if you look closely, you can see the silhouette of the Lincoln statue inside of the Lincoln Memorial.

In that respect, our project will also have a secretive, ulterior motive: it will attempt to prove to the world that, behind it's external hard representation, the internet can group people together to make something (an end) out of the smallest donations (the means). That is, if given the possibility to group together for something positive, like art, the internet population can motivate itself (due to altruistic, novel, passive, or forced reasons) to join in becoming a contributor. The internet population just needs to be given a chance. A chance to prove itself beyond the worlds fear mongering expectation.

Z will, therefore, collect information from people who have donated a single penny (or more if they wish), and compile a list that will be presented in our Acknowledgement Page and on his twitter blog (@sendapenny) to show the world that one person, one penny can contribute to something larger.

Ultimately,

The goal in collecting these pennies will be to assist in helping Christina and Mr. Z pay for their absurdly high college loans. Christina and I felt that you, the donator, should not be lied to when it comes to the ultimate purpose of this project. We, therefore, promise each donator that we will not use any of the donated money until we finish all of our art and social experiments. Thank you for your donations and time.

-J. "Z" Aguirre

Sleep has kept me away

*Gasp* I have actually been sleeping like a normal for awhile.  I didnt realize how much life you miss when you sleep.  It seems like just yesterday was Easter but heck it is already Friday.  BB King tonight yay.  Just wanted to hit this blog with a little life.  Miss seeing interesting stuff here from the S. Commander.

Hope you all are doing well

Healthy Late Night Snack - I Think...

Alright, if you're like me the longer you stay up the more you want to eat again. I was craving something sweet, but I'm trying to be good so to satisfy the hunger I ate 2 teaspoons of soy peanut butter with a drop of Hershey's chocolate syrup. It's not a Reese's cup, my friends, but its better than nothing!!!

Watchmen

Late night. 3:30am. Back from watching the Watchmen. Anybody else back from watching the film? I'm a fan of Alan Moore's book. So, I'm happy for the adaptation. However, as I've posted on my twitter (/mrz3000), the movie left me wanting: that is, the material was presented beautifully but the method of presentation--as if it was a damn music video--reduced the original source to popcorn fodder. I'm sure many would enjoy it for the sake of being a graphic story concerning superheroes, but I fear that the film wont be taken serious due to this insincere treatment. Any thoughts? I'm sure I'll watch it again, but I'm positive that my point of view will be reinforced.
-Z

Late Night with Daynah

I'm up late testing out iPhone apps. How geeky. I know I should be sleeping instead. But here are some free Apps I recommend:

Games:
1) Rolando Lite
2) Tower Bloxx
3) Super Monkey Balls Lite
4) Crazy Penguin Catapult
5) Topple
6) Spore Origins Lite

Others:
1) Kindle
2) I Heart Radio
3) Twit.am
4) eReader

I'd love to hear what iPhone apps you enjoy!

Late Night with Jimmy Fallon

I know it's not late anymore, but I was watching "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" last night before completely falling asleep. Is anyone else watching it? This is his first week hosting a talk show and it's great seeing a fellow Twitter-er accomplish big things! He was a little nervous in the first show, but he's getting there. I really like how he takes questions from Twitter and ask his amazing guests too. So geeky. :)

What are we missing from the Internet

Commander asked and so I made a long post on my website. In short though, we are missing face to face time. We are so caught up with the World Wide Web, we forget to log out sometimes and meet. This is coming from my point of view, and would love your thoughts. Are you in the same boat?

Normally a nighthawk, but 5am is pushing it!

First off, I'm Kevin, I'm 26, and I live in Alberta, Canada. So why am I up at 5am on Monday morning? It's simple, my brain refuses to stop thinking, either about what I need to do in the coming days, or what I read or saw while surfing the 'net this weekend.

It also has to do with the fact that I was up most of the night on Saturday catching up on TV shows (Fringe), watching "Punisher: War Zone" (which is excellent, by the way, though rather gory), and slept til 4pm. Yeah, I know, I don't understand that either.

I truly wish it was a long weekend right now, but it's not, so I'm waiting til 6am, going to bike over the college (two blocks away) and submit my assignment, then come home, where I will finish another assignment (InDesign, and no, I'm no expert) I totally forgot about, and then hopefully pass out.

My instructor won't be too happy with me, but there's no point going to class when I can't really focus. So long as I email him and finish the work, I should be cool though.

So, in effect, I've created a long weekend for myself, though it doesn't feel as satisfying being forced as it would have if it were planned. I'm a nighthawk, but 5am too late even for me!

Thanks, Leah, for letting me be an author on this blog! I hope you get the Great Barrier reef job! I'm rootin' for ya, and yes, I voted for you! I really enjoyed your video, too!

Motto Suggestions

Every squad needs a good motto...what should ours be? Here are some suggestions from Twitter:

Xaviermagnus@leahdemilio fighting sleep one post at a time

jakezhivov@leahdemilio #insomnisquad motto - Insomnia Squad - always up for a chat

kerric123456@leahdemilio ure moto should be...A MOTTO!

Veilen@leahdemilio #insomnisquad "Carpe Noctem" ;)

gerryc@leahdemilio "We stay awake so you don't have to." ;-) #insomnisquad

And one idea for a meet up:

Xaviermagnus@leahdemilio if the squad ever had a meet up it would have to be at denny's its one of the only things that caters to our kind

So I'm not alone in this whole... insomnia thing!

Seems this whole insomnia thing is bigger than just me lately. Usually, I'll stay up late and write, and of course, Tweet now and then, but typically, my batteries will die at about 3am. Earlier today, ok... yesterday, I had a fun time at the #techbrunch with a great group of LA Techies, but I got up way too early yesterday morning for a grand total of 4 hours sleep. This of course came back to haunt me. Thought I'd take a nap at 6 or so, but that nap lasted till just after 10pm when a friend in Utah called giving me good news she had. Who knows how long that nap would have lasted.

Leah, you found me awake, and asked me to join here, and why not? I certainly fit the profile! It's now 4am, and I'm wide awake in LA.

Next time, I'll be a bit more creative in my postings. Leah, sorry didn't see you at the LA Mixer, but Daynah and Justine were there and its always great to see them. Back to Tivo! ;)

-Jim (@techfrog) Certified Insomnisquader

Best things about insomnia

5) You get a lot of alone time

4) Judge David Young

3) I have the most insane AIM quotes from random people

2) I read a lot of stuff online now

1)Insomnisquad!!!!!

4am and I have become best friends.  It seems that even 3 weeks later I am still finding myself awake on the ex girlfriend's schedule.  (I used to have to wait up for her to get home from work).

On the brightside at least I'm not too broken hearted over this

 

Web Designing and Flickring

Yes, up late once again.. but I was working. :) Spent the last 7 hours working on a web design for a client. Now I'm trying to update my flickr stream!

Here's something from last Saturday night.. went out to dinner with some friends and then boba tea for dessert. Yum!


And oh yes, have you seen the new Skittles website?

One of Mine

No memorable dreams for me lately, so I thought I'd post something a bit older.
I had an odd dream a while back that ended with me being pushed into a deep pond. The last thing I saw before waking up resulted in me making this image.

Click to see it larger:

Night at the Vault

Um.. it's 4am, so I definitely belong here! I still want to know what's the dealio with Leah! Call me tomorrow gal. haha

I went to the New Media Vault event last Thursday night and had a great time! The venue use to be a very old bank that converted into a bar. Pretty nice and unique.


Justine and I hanging out at The Vault.

Read more about it on my blog.

Why Am I Up?

I suppose my late night hours are more a result of a wonky schedule than actual insomnia, though that does come into play sometimes. I've always been more of a night person than a day person. Early mornings during my school years were especially brutal, after graduation, my summertime hours just seemed to stick and continue to stick to this day.

It's the best time for me to be creative, thanks to the dark, the quiet, and the lack of distractions (though YouTube can be a killer). Whether it's writing or visual art, my best stuff happens when everyone's sleeping. In recent years, I've been doing a lot of animation for short films. I recently finished a film that took me over 1,300 hours of animating and most, if not all of the animation was done at night.

The schedule's hard to shake though. I'm in between projects, it's currently about 6 AM and here I am, still up. In my creative downtime, the dark hours have become my DVD hours, I'm currently zipping through my Futurama box sets (Oh, that Zoidberg...) and milking Netflix for all it's worth.

My nocturnal ways are working fairly well for me so far, I get my work done and I'm now part of the Insomnisquad! Though, admittedly, I now fear the fiery thing that rules the daytime skies.

Glad to join the insomnisquad

Party with Leah and me

I'm up late tonight too! But I'm very excited to see Leah in a few hours. ;)

If you're in the LA area, come and party with Leah and I at the Crocker Club tonight at 7pm - 11pm. LA Mixers & Tubefilter Present "The New Media Vault" event.

LA Mixers is back and this time we've joined with the wonderful team at Tubefilter and Suicide Window to co-host our best event yet, The New Media Vault. The event is sponsored by Verdouw & Associates, Screen Actors Guild & ExchangeWeb.NET

Come join us Downtown at the beautiful new Crocker Club. Not only does the regal new venue recall the glamour of long ago LA nightspots, the lounge features an honest-to-goodness bank vault amidst its ornately styled rooms.

Join many others from the worlds of TV, Film, New Media, Tech, Advertising and Venture Finance to make new acquaintances and catch up with old connections.

Also, meet online dating expert, Julie Spira, who will be signing copies of her new book, The Perils of Cyber-Dating: Confessions of a Hopeful Romantic Looking for Love Online.

We'll have a business card raffle for prizes that include a 1928 Jewelry gift bag valued at $500, drink specials, and best of all, No Cover! Just RSVP to let us know you're coming.

RSVP Now.

What to eat on day 2 of non sleep

Went out for a drive, just to get away from the computer for a few hours, clear my head and exercise my eyes (there is a way!). Didn't have a destination, I just drove. Finally stopped at a hole-in-the-wall Mexican place, that have amazing burritos. First time I have had there breakfast burrito, and wow. It is amazing. Nice and big, and full of all the fresh stuff that SHOULD be in a breakfast burrito. Hash browns, Bacon (or ham or sausage), chopped tomato's, green onions, jalapenos, cheddar cheese, even freshly made tortillas made at the place. Best part? 2.99 that could easily go for at least $6 at a fast food place I imagine, and it would be smaller.

Then of course on the way back, I smelled Krispy Kremes, and had to get some. You can't pass up a freshly baked donut.

What do you other insomniacs eat when your awake forever?

attempting to go to bed...

I have a shoot in the morning...I need some beauty rest...first attempt in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...

Thanks for joining and sharing your thoughts! I'm excited to see this squad grow!!!

In the meantime...can you help your Squad Commander out with some views and ratings on this video for the best job in the world? Click on the link below and feel free to share with others!

Best Job in the World!
http://www.islandreefjob.com/#/applicants/watch/z7jD2C2aqc0

Thanks!

Your Squad Commander,
Leah

one of my favorite quotes that I've written

This quote comes from a song I wrote.  It isn't the best thing written, it isn't my favorite overall but it is my favorite thing that I ever penned.  For those insomniacs that are up because of heartbreak:

I tried to hide my emotions, play it off as simple lust

but through it all you are the only one that I can trust

Subconsciously that tears me up inside it makes me want to scream

But I wish I could spend my life sleeping because you are the girl of my dreams

Artwork I didn't do, but like...

Do you ever feel like a giant eyeball?

My Humble Idea

With this new author power o'mine, I'm doing as Leah asked and posting one of my ideas for this site. Since it's after 5 AM, I'm tired, and a bit lazy tonight, I'll just be copying and pasting part of an email I sent her.

"Okay, so I was thinking...I seem to have my best creative thoughts/moments when I'm up really late. The quiet, the lack of sleep, it gets the creative juices flowing. Why not aim to get some participation going with project ideas that keep with the insomnia/sleep/nighttime theme?

For example- EVERYONE has bizarre dreams. Instead of just doing a "share your strange dreams" type thing, go for "SHOW us your strange dreams." That opens a ton of artistic possibilities. People could send in anything from doodles, to Photoshop art, even video reenactments of weird dream moments. It'd be cool because the results would surely be all over the place in regards to both the subject matter and the presentation.
Or it could be flipped around so someone could type up a dream and submit it, then anyone reading could send in their visual interpretation of that person's dream. Like a 'Dream of the Week.'"

Thoughts?

Why I don't sleep.

Well hello everyone!  I wouldn't say I'm an insomniac so much as I just don't sleep much.  When my head hits the pillow, I'm out like a light, but I only sleep 4-5 hours a night.  Haha!  I made a rhyme.  Anyhow, the reason that I don't sleep is because I write a lot of code.  Between my day job, my various online projects and my offline clients, I just end up spending a lot of time awake, and I'm always up at this time of night.  Nice to find some fellow peeps who are up this early in the morning/late at night. Tonight I'm pushing new code to Are My Sites Up? and working on an iPhone app that will enable music discovery in a totally different way than any I've seen before.  

As far as what I think we should be posting about? I just found out about this blog a few minutes ago, so I've got to give it some thought.  More later!

Nicknames?

Should we assign ourselves nicknames on this thing? I've been called the Squad Commander and think its hilarious - you don't have to have a nickname if you don't want to, but I think it could be fun...like Cylon #6, but more creative and relative to our squad :)

Thoughts?

Yawn

I'm only up late tonight because I have to work... But I finally finished two websites for two clients, so it's naptime now! Good nite you #nightowls! I'll be up in a few hours.. you'll see on my Twitter. lol

Why I don't sleep by Xavier Magnus

Insomnia has been something I acquired after I watched several zombie movies and read IT by Stephen King. That sick and twisted combo gave a whole new definition of "Can't sleep or the clowns will eat me"  So while my ego fights off the urge to close my eyes I am usually full of philosophical ramblings and interesting quips.  That is what I offer to the Insomnisquad.  I do my deepest thinking at 2am and now you have the unfortunate luck of getting to see it...

Xavier Magnus-XM 

twitter/xaviermagnus xaviermagnus.blogspot.com

New Banner!

Thanks to @jacobdrake for the cool, new banner! What do you all think of it?

It has been awhile...

But I am awake...and can't fall asleep. I want to make this a more interactive blog...what should we do? Share our nightmares? dreams? reasons why we can't sleep?

Please share your ideas....my insomnia is clouding my creative flow...

I've gotten one suggestion from Jacob Drake...lets put a list together and then vote!