Conventional Wisdom

Sooooooooo, yeah.  This was the one major, MAJOR flaw in my whole commuting plan over the weekend: I DRASTICALLY underestimated just how sleepy I’d be by the time I left on Saturday, and I started fading fast before I was even half-way back.  Remember, I was on the road at around 3:30 in the morning, and I didn’t finally start to head back until around 8pm.  That’s… a long time to be up, so you can see why I needed a few breaks on the way back.  The worst thing is, I’d TRIED to account for this very problem.  The PLAN had been to arrive at the convention center at around 7-ish (which I did) then kick back in the van and nap for a few hours until the con started up.  Even just a few extra hours of sleep would have kept me going through the late night drive just fine… BUUUUUUT me being me, I just HAD to spend those early hours getting pictures of the convention center before the crowds showed up, just in case I needed them for backgrounds later.  And after that, I just kept going and doin’ stuff and sticking around way later than I should have, and the next thing I knew I was nodding off in multiple Sheetz parking lots.  The lesson here: the greater Charlotte area is still within commuting distance, BUT I need to be much more disciplined about leaving early, or at least carving out a nap time at some point during the day.  And, if nothing else, at least I had the good sense to pull over as soon as my eyes started getting heavy.  Do NOT press your luck with these things, kiddies.

Also, this whole experience made me feel a LOT better about not splurging on those Ring of Honor tickets for Sunday.  If I was already this groggy on Saturday night, I would have absolutely NO business trying to stay up for a wrestling show before heading home.