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Trade Off

June 7, 2021 by Tim


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ExWuschel
ExWuschel
3 years ago

Ooh, I’ve had that conversation…

foducool
foducool
3 years ago

oof,; that’s harsh but sadly true
until you’ve gone 48H awake in a row and your brain does a forced shutdown
wonder how that would fit in that metaphor? maybe sleep comes back with a bat and murderous intents? XD

MasterofBalance
MasterofBalance
3 years ago
Reply to  foducool

Or a rope and a burlap sack

Patrick Rogers
Patrick Rogers
3 years ago

It’s probably unhealthy that I readily acknowledge that someone’s work with a rope and burlap sack would almost certainly result in a nap for me (in some form) and that sounds appealing.

Brad
Brad
3 years ago
Reply to  Patrick Rogers

I recently had a minor medical procedure, and I needed to basically do nothing for two days while I recovered. I’m not going to lie, it was glorious.

Fluxxdog
Fluxxdog
3 years ago
Reply to  foducool

I wouldn’t say murderous. Definitely stabby though.

Tony
Tony
3 years ago
Reply to  foducool

Not exactly the scenario you are describing, but I would continue the story of the comic by showing Sleep coming back with a rough-looking guy named Health, who punches Tim in the face and says: “you will respect my cousin Sleep, or I will come back and it will get ugly for all of you.” or something.

Last edited 3 years ago by Tony
nealithi
nealithi
3 years ago
Reply to  foducool

Did that before. Though closer to 72hrs. I went cold turkey on Xoloft. I didn’t realize how much my fatigue and constant pain were rooted in that pill. Slept more than a day then the three days awake then crashed again. Took a bit to get to a more normal rhythm again. I did get to play several video games though. How it would be as a metaphor? Sleep is the IT of the body. Things go great it is not needed since there are no issues. But go without that maintenance? The follow up would be Wife, Work, and… Read more »

Watcherzero
Watcherzero
3 years ago
Reply to  nealithi

Ive always been a bit of an insomniac so staying up for a couple of days straight was normal for me, back in University I set myself a challenge of being up for 100 hours straight. It was pretty cool with a bit of hallucinating but getting tough, then when I hit the target I just wasnt sleepy anymore! ended up staying up for 120 hours straight.

LordCirce
LordCirce
3 years ago
Reply to  foducool

I’d say it is equivalent to malicious compliance. “What’s that? The servers are all overheating and your train of thought is full of typos? Shame, but I have to clock out now. Wouldn’t want me to go over hours…”

And then the boss comes pleading…

TomB
TomB
3 years ago
Reply to  foducool

My record with a weekend of coding and a monday deadline was something on the order of 68 hours. My fuzzy brain finally recognized that it needed to give up when I started hearing things. The bug that kept me going (a show stopper) for about 24 hours before I surrendered to going home to sleep was nasty. I tried everything. Then I went home, slept for about 12 hours, got up, came in, and recognized the issue and fixed it within 4 hours. My first year out of school, I worked 800 hours of unpaid overtime. We were working… Read more »

Swiftbow
Swiftbow
3 years ago

I love my video games, but no… sleep comes first with rare exceptions. (And yeah, the other three are obviously in front of sleep.)

TomB
TomB
3 years ago
Reply to  Swiftbow

To a point. It was pointed out to me that while I was trying to hold down a demanding job, taking care of two crippled and remote aged parents, plus their pride of rescue cats, and dealing with real winters and trying to have a life and attend to little things like my own taxes, etc, that you can’t actually help others when you are too burnt out to even help yourself. Getting sleep and rest and eating decent meals and having some decompression time are integral to being in a good enough state of mind and body to help… Read more »

xvasek
xvasek
3 years ago

I intentionally do not buy some sort of games, nor think about them etc. It’s like alcoholism. Because when you do a mistake – last time it was FTL in my case – that feeling when you finally switch computer off and the sky is getting lighter in the morning and yout are going to bed to have at least one-two hours of sleep… (And you know tomorrow it may be the same…)

Stabby McStabingson
Stabby McStabingson
3 years ago
Reply to  xvasek

I haven’t done that since University. Though I have managed to up my gaming time in the last year, due to working from home, I can sign off from work, take 30minutes to grab a drink and destress then spend an hour playing. I had relegated gaming to the weekends only before the pandemic, and then it wasn’t a guarantee.

faaresemo
faaresemo
3 years ago
Reply to  xvasek

Haha, that’s been the last two weeks with us approaching the solstice. Though I’m still getting a regularish amount of sleep thanks to not having any engagements in the morning.

It’s definitely weird seeing the sunrise as you lay down to bed though.

Brad
Brad
3 years ago
Reply to  xvasek

Civ V for me. I downloaded it during a Steam sale, it finally finished downloading around 10:30 at night, and I told myself I’d play for a half hour just to check it out. All of a sudden it was 3:00 a.m., and I needed to get up at 6 to take care of the kid and get ready for work. I immediately deleted it and never played it again.

TomB
TomB
3 years ago
Reply to  Brad

Yeah, and once you realize how many different things you can tweak in advanced settings for MP, you can build so many different sorts of feels into the game world that… it seems (for all practical purposes) to be infinite and fairly interesting.

And yes, it is the black hole of life sucking.

I only play with friends and only in small chunks now (because I only play with friends in MP games) and that helps me regulate the hours (because they too have lives).

MasterofBalance
MasterofBalance
3 years ago

Must keep gaming, must keep gaming…must keep…zzzzzz

CTOWNS
CTOWNS
3 years ago

I’m lovin the man labelled “WIFE”

Fela
Fela
3 years ago
Reply to  CTOWNS

What exactly creates a 0% possibility a woman could look like that, in your opinion?

Dodgy
Dodgy
3 years ago
Reply to  Fela

Dude*, fuck off!

*male/female/unspecified

TomB
TomB
3 years ago
Reply to  Dodgy

Certainly are more choices than ‘unspecified’.

Mark
Mark
3 years ago
Reply to  TomB

Their point is made efficiently with that, which technically includes EVERY choice you could make that isn’t included in “*male/Female” without the 3 word point including a mutli-paragraph footnote that isn’t necessary to the point…

Robert Loughrey
Robert Loughrey
3 years ago
Reply to  CTOWNS

That’s not a man. Just because that person doesn’t have superhero level boobs and long hair.. .sheesh. Also these appear to be “Inside Out” style presentations. Genders are fluid.

Last edited 3 years ago by Robert
Eldest Gruff
Eldest Gruff
3 years ago
Reply to  CTOWNS

I agree with Robert above in that this is clearly Inside-Out level representation. Personally, I think it’s more likely that “Wife” is intended to be portrayed as slightly-androgenous male, as it’s a mental representation of the Author’s time and energy, and not his actual wife.

Whether it is or is not male really doesn’t matter. It’s a comic. They’re not real. Even in context of the comic world logic, they’re not real people. Everyone put all y’all’s guns down and stop pointing at each other, you’re stinking up the comments section.

no thanks nintendo
no thanks nintendo
3 years ago
Reply to  Eldest Gruff

It definitely is Inside-Out. Everyone’s so busy getting offended by the knowledge that gender fluidity and women who don’t have “superhero level boobs” and long hair exist that they completely missed that “KIDS” is represented by a single character. A character that, by the way, is clearly exhausted – obviously a representation of how having two young children to take care of is going to drain you. More proof that this is a mental representation of the author’s time and energy.

OMG Hello
OMG Hello
3 years ago
Reply to  Eldest Gruff

I totally agree with you, Gruff. In fact, I don’t get why people focus on “Wife”. Look at “Kids”. He looks tired and bored, that dude is not enjoying his role! 🙁

Bwauder
Bwauder
3 years ago

Given that Wife,Kids, and Work are already in the background and looking vaguely confused or depressed, they are probably only 1 major release away from leaving.

Looks like a normal gamers quandry to me.

Paul
Paul
3 years ago

Working from home has its advantages. All of those commuter hours…now I just go from laptop to console in mere seconds.

TomB
TomB
3 years ago
Reply to  Paul

That said, when you are at home, your boss may not see what you do as much. With everyone doing it, its normal. But before the pandemic, there were real advantages for those who worked in the office (being closer to the grapevine and tuned in on happenings and plans, plus being seen at work rather than sort of half assuming the person remotely working but the other half wondering….). I don’t miss the commute. But I do. I had a 1 hour commute at one point (too long) and I had a 5 minute (cross the street) commute (too… Read more »

Phaet
Phaet
3 years ago

One of the reasons I don’t have wife and kids is so that I could spend more times on video games. If I had a lot of money, I would also quit work.
Almost 40 years old and still single xD Not complaining, just being proud about it xD

Michael Delaney
Michael Delaney
3 years ago
Reply to  Phaet

No wife, no kids… and I still have that argument in my brain 😛

Dom
Dom
3 years ago
Reply to  Phaet

That “gaming only” -life also had me dreaming and trying to achieve it too, but I failed to get that doing ONLY that (aka, no activities, job, social life, love life etc), Aka ‘Your computer is your girlfriend” kills that joy eventually.

Dodgy
Dodgy
3 years ago

I fired that guy ages ago. He’s so demanding, always asking for more hours. Eventually I relented and offered him a flexible hours contract.

Darkening
Darkening
3 years ago

Seeing this comic while groggy from waking up from far too little sleep after a night of gaming is pretty perfect.

Pulse
Pulse
3 years ago

hits alittle too close to home for me and my job. summer is not kind especially when the big boss wont give us hours to field the people we need.

MistyJean
MistyJean
3 years ago

Not like that guy has been pulling his weight the past couple years

southpawfrenzy
southpawfrenzy
3 years ago

I tried that once, but sleep always wins. Ended up falling asleep while hyperjumping in Elite Dangerous and crashed into a star. Woke suddenly to the rebuy screen and a loss of all my exploration data!

Eldest Gruff
Eldest Gruff
3 years ago
Reply to  southpawfrenzy

Yup. That’s me. I might want to, but it’s like Sleep pokes Video Games in the side, and says, “Hey, that looks like fun. Can I play for a few minutes?” and then proceeds to do that on and off for however long it takes me to realize that I need to go to bed.

TomB
TomB
3 years ago
Reply to  southpawfrenzy

I’m enjoying Fights in Tight Spaces on Steam. But each campaign requires maybe 20-40 minutes depending how thinky or how many fights you end up in. To push to endgame involves at least 4 campaigns. If I start this late at the end of a work day (say 10-11 pm), I tend to lose just that critical bit of focus by 2 am and then I get slain by the baddies and I’m back where I started. There’s a point you need to save and go to sleep. In software, the time is before your ratio of things fixed to… Read more »

Neil
Neil
3 years ago

Incredible as I just started struggling with this, as a father of a 2-year old I started staying up until 12 to get some gaming in, problem is having to get up at 6 and never getting a decent nights sleep.

On one hand, I need more energy but on the other hand, gaming really helps my psychology.

Eldest Gruff
Eldest Gruff
3 years ago
Reply to  Neil

Six hours of sleep sounds like some miraculous amazing level of rest.

SimplyMonk
SimplyMonk
3 years ago
Reply to  Neil

This is the exact same compromise I made when I had my daughter. Get home from work, play with her before her bedtime, then game untill 11:30, wake up for work at 5:30. Rinse/Repeat. As I get older though and she is able to entertain herself more, Nap has become my friend over Sleep.

TomB
TomB
3 years ago
Reply to  Neil

Most adults in demanding life circumstances need 6-9 hours of sleep. The demand level does somewhat dictate the sleep required. For every 30 minutes of perpetually missed required sleep, you can knock 5-10 pts off your I.Q. due to cognitive impairment. If you have depression, trauma, or high stress, those too can attrit your effective IQ. I once figured I went from about 137 to about 95 due to chronic significant sleep losses and high stress. I do recall work when exhausted being very different; You had to concentrate for every little thing or you’d miss something or screw something… Read more »

Leon
Leon
3 years ago

To be a drooling mess with bloodshot eyes………

The rAt
The rAt
3 years ago

Let’s be real here, Work is the one screwing it up for everyone.
Sleep has been playing ball for years, and most people end up having to cut his time way before Wife and Kids are in the picture. Work just takes what you give him and demands more; he’s greedy.

Rolan7
Rolan7
3 years ago
Reply to  The rAt

Boss makes a dollar, I make a dime,
That’s why I game on company time.

ssBar
ssBar
3 years ago

I’ve noticed in inverse relation between the speed my hair greys and the amount of sleep I get (some years have been better than others). Tim is looking less “brown with distinguished grey” and more “grey with a hint of brown” in this comic compared to the last time we saw him. It might be worth giving Sleep a little more time…

Mjolnir_Prime
Mjolnir_Prime
3 years ago

Ah man Tim, why ya gotta call me out like that? 😛

Vedrit
Vedrit
3 years ago

I laugh that the look on ‘Video Games’ face says he already knew this was going to happen, and he knows how it’s going to go. He’s checked out until things start to matter again.

Soag
Soag
3 years ago

Your honor, I confess, I’m guilty…

Foxtrack
Foxtrack
3 years ago

Sometimes Sleep just comes at you with a 2×4 while doing games and you jut have to obey.

GlitcherGirl
GlitcherGirl
3 years ago

I do that. Usually, Sleep gets his revenge by dominating 14 hours in a row. I was up until 7:00 this morning but then gave Sleep five hours of my undivided attention. Hopefully he’s pacified.

RblDiver
RblDiver
3 years ago

In my case, Wife and Kid teamed up to give Sleep more time…except when I sometimes use Work to help me sneak in Video Games through the side door! (And ever since WFH, Work and VG tend to share the same cubicle!)

Kevin Greenbaum
Kevin Greenbaum
3 years ago

I don’t have that many things to manage time for, and I still take from sleep first, lol. Also not where I thought that was going till I scrolled down to the last panel, nice start up and smart decision on where to take time from.

Steeeve
Steeeve
3 years ago

Just remember, if you cut Sleep’s hours back too much he starts to plot against you.

Admiral Casual
Admiral Casual
3 years ago

Did better than I did. I shot my sleep manager.

John Brand
John Brand
3 years ago

I’m having a little trouble with the somewhat, shall we say, masculine “wife”…

Mordred
Mordred
3 years ago
Reply to  John Brand

It’s not meant to look like a wife… just the part of the author’s personality that deals with wife-related issues.

John Brand
John Brand
3 years ago
Reply to  Mordred

Thank you Dr. Freud.

Foxtrack
Foxtrack
3 years ago

sleep for work or stay up to play games. Oof

Crestlinger
Crestlinger
3 years ago

Gaming companes are going to realize this and increase hours played in a game by having specific parts of it Designed by atmosphere, music etc. to make the player sleepy.

Verdiekus
Verdiekus
3 years ago

Ah yes, so very true.

Mahow
Mahow
3 years ago

It is scary how much I can relate to this

Unagiman
Unagiman
3 years ago

The tragedy of the adult gamer. In you early 20s is usually the point when your funds and free time match up perfectly. Then you get a better job, maybe marriage and kids, buy a house/have to take care of more adult responsibilities.

Dom
Dom
3 years ago

Let’s not forget the other guys; Social life, Porn and (Web)Comics. A man’s gotta juggle a lot of things.

OMG Hello
OMG Hello
3 years ago
Reply to  Dom

Also our old friend “self care” (eating healthy, shower, exercise, etc), that dude is the first one to be sacrificed because of the others (including the ones you mentioned!).

Jiala
Jiala
3 years ago

Gotta say… cutting back on sleep can have long term health problems.

TomB
TomB
3 years ago

You can get away with that in your teens and twenties without real penalties. Even in your thirties, that sort of trade off is okay. In your forties it gets harder. In your fifties, you’ve gained enough wisdom to not be willing to make those sorts of trade offs, but at the same time niggling health issues could mean you don’t sleep well anyway. Get the sleep when you are in the prime of your life because then you will enjoy the those other things in your life that you are getting less out of because you are tired. —… Read more »

Devil_Arcana
Devil_Arcana
3 years ago

My work has been lax so I get some of my best gaming in while on the clock.

Gonfrask
Gonfrask
3 years ago

Have some dignity anthropomorphic representation of a vital need

Dave Soetanto
Dave Soetanto
3 years ago

Panel 4:

Sleep: “fine but I’m taking him with me”
Sleep grabs a shirt titled mental health

Mark
Mark
3 years ago

So true. We REALLY need an extra 6 hours in the night. A 30 hour day would be the perfect balance

HarvestDude
HarvestDude
3 years ago

Same conversation here too, but my sleep can hold a grudge…it backstabs me while spending time on others, specially work. But it just take spending a little more time with sleep and it becomes an angel, as it has never done those hideous revengeful actions. I think my sleep spends way too much time with my psycho side. Talk about bipolarity…

Gnu
Gnu
3 years ago

Have you been spying on me again?

Pablo
Pablo
1 year ago

That is only because you choose to have WIFE and KIDS.