More from The Flock. A passage from Chapter 31:
"It was clear to me that, despite occasional bouts with depression, the Flock was more effective than many of the other graduate students. This was even more true now that we had our own apartment and could work undisturbed for fourteen or sixteen hours each day.... The Flock required only four or five hours of sleep a night. That left a lot of time for work. And the amnesia that in the past had crippled us became an advantage. Our production multiplied because each personality could focus on a separate task. Jo, for example, worked for many hours researching and writing a paper, unaware of what else needed to be done. When I pushed Jo aside to fulfill my graduate-assistant duties, I didn't worry about the progress of the paper. When Jo came back to work, whe picked up precisely where she had left off, with no concern about her 'lost time'.... Being a multiple apparently created more efficient use of my conscious and semiconscious mind. I didn't want to give up my greater productivity to become just like everyone else."
And I understand what she means. I frequently have friends marvel at my capacity to go, go go. Five hours of sleep a night is usually plenty, as long as I'm switching enough to give myself time to rest. The body needs a few hours, and the rest is for the mind. If Kiara takes over for an evening, for instance, I feel plenty rested with just four or five hours of actual sleep. And we can concentrate on several things at once. As an example, while Jarett's driving me to work, Lynn is often making a list of things to put on our to-do list for the day, Kiara or Sam might be singing with the radio, and I could be thinking of things I want to write here in this blog.
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