I find it somewhat fascinating to observe the changes that happen as I grow ever and ever older. I'm still pretty young, but already my digestive processes aren't as robust as they once were, I have to use the tweezers a lot more than I used to, and my sleep patterns are seemingly ever-changing.
It's this last one that's come to the forefront recently. I used to be able to function on extremely small amounts of sleep when necessary. I remember a time just before finals in my first year at Windsor in general Engineering when for several weeks I didn't get more than 4 hours of sleep each night, between school, work and socializing. Maybe to make up for that time, since then I've needed my eight hours a night. I could, of course, get by on less, but it really didn't go very well. And now a new schedule - I only need seven hours, which is quite nice. I tested down to six hours last night, and that was a failed test. Today the result is a coffee consumption test, complete with twitching eyelids.
The body marks time in its own way. Most people see it as a degeneration, a degradation, as the body changes from the state of youth and fitness to one less vital and taut. And when you reach such ages where the body ceases to sustain life, that can't be denied. But earlier, when things still work, just not as well - it seems more like a resting period; a time following the body's frantic climb to the peak, like a throwing arc where the ball only touches the top for a moment, then starts to head back to the earth. It's useless to compare all bodies to how they are at that peak, as it is so fleeting, and isn't meant to be sustained.
If this doesn't make any sense, blame it on the coffee. Or on Grey's Anatomy, which caused me to stay up too late in the first place.
