The non-spoons energy model

[torquill]

Water flow: 2
Reservoir size: 6
Crack severity: 1

I'm not sure I ever actually explained this one. Each category is out of 10. "Water flow" is how fast my energy replenishes after doing something; high is good. "Reservoir size" reflects my overall stamina: ignoring refill rate, how many things can I do in a short period before I run out of energy? Again, high is good. "Crack severity" takes into account anything which is sabotaging me at the moment -- inflammation, stress, hormones, being sick, and so on. The lower the better, as the more severe the crack in the reservoir, the fewer things I can do before it all runs dry. A higher crack severity than water flow means I'm rapidly headed for a crash, even if I'm not doing much.

So today is... slow. I have a decent amount of stamina, but I'd better not do things too quickly or I'll run out my energy before it has a chance to replenish. Nothing is really putting a drain on me at the moment, fortunately, so I'm just taking my time and being careful. The main thing is to take my activity level down to something my "water flow" level can handle.

Sleep resets the values, but obviously there are factors that influence it from day to day. There are too many variables for prediction, sadly.

Comments

[knaveofhearts.livejournal.com]

There are WoW metaphors for this if anyone else in your circle of associates needs them.

Water flow corresponds to 'mana per five seconds', often referred to as MP5, and is based on intellect, spirit, and gear. Reservoir size corresponds to 'mana pool' and is based on intellect. Crack severity would of course be a debuff.

On a good day, you can hurl pyroblasts all day long. On a bad day, you can't even blink. :-)

[foogod.livejournal.com]

On the subject of the spoon model, I remember somebody (maybe kyburg?) making (what I thought was a pretty good) suggestion of adding "forks" to the model (specifically "pointy things (like a fork in the eye) that cause annoyance and just wear you down faster") thus the phrase "too many forks, not enough spoons".. (I suppose this might be roughly equivalent to the "crack severity" in your water model, though the spoon model is still lacking any equivalent to "water flow", I think)

Of course, the next logical step would be the addition of sporks, but then we all know where that leads...

[luna-torquill.livejournal.com]

Yeah, rate of replenishment was the main reason I came up with this one. Reservoir size is about equivalent to spoons in the short term. However, I get into the situation where I'm running at close to my limit -- I'm three spoons from crashing -- and keep going, and so long as my activity is roughly at the same rate, I stay at three spoons. If I do a little more at any time, I crash. A static spoons model doesn't describe that steady state situation.

There are also days where I start out low on energy and collect more during the course of the day; that's where crack severity is lower than water flow, and my activity isn't high enough to keep the reservoir from filling. But it doesn't make sense to say that I'm gaining spoons just by normal activity.

I will still occasionally refer to the fact that I'm running on sporks, then forks (as a poor alternative to spoons), then the miscellaneous junk at the bottom of the drawer like nutpicks and the plastic utensils left over from takeout food.