Since the day one of our ancestors decided to debone his lunch using a stick rather than his hands and teeth, humans were inventors and innovators. Only the brainy ones survived when nature challenged humans with hostility that required strategy over physical fitness. After generations of Mother Nature doing her part in selecting the fittest, we Homo sapiens are now all about making life a little simpler, a little more economic, and a little less time-consuming. Simply put, we have evolved to pursue maximum efficiency.

This explains why I had to hold my corn dog in one hand, a glass of milk in the other, wrap a ring finger around the ketchup, and tuck my pringles can under one armpit just so I didn’t have to make two trips from the kitchen to my room last Saturday night. I was almost going to give in to making two trips, but I could not bear to face the sense of defeat from realizing I am not too different from the apes that could not bring back their game home efficiently enough to survive the day. As a fully-grown human not lacking in any evolutionary traits common to this generation, efficiency was not something I was willing to forfeit. My single trip had its share of crises and turbulences, but they were completely expected and were handled accordingly. In the end, the satisfaction of having proven myself capable was sweeter than the risk.

When I got to my desk, I immediately hit the play button to the film I’d already picked out to avoid having to waste time scrolling through Netflix with food in front of me. No one wants to have a cold soggy corn dog, nor to start on a perfect corn dog without exposure to quality media. I was only 30 minutes into Big Fish when I finished my snack. This is when I started to play a simple game called Nonogram on my phone. My full hearing and half of my vision were focused on the film while my fingers worked through the tiles of the puzzle subconsciously. I don’t browse through social media, as it would fill the conscious side of my brain. Though I may think I can handle two sources of information at the same time, the moment I lose focus is when I’d have to rewind the film and find where I’ve started to zone out. This involves re-watching a bit of what I know I’ve seen (strike one), then skipping a few seconds forward and realizing I’ve gone too far (strike two), then finally putting my pride down and coming back to the part I’ve rewound to initially and just watching from there (strike three) — if this were the ice age, not a chance of survival for me.

Our natural inclination to pursue efficiency is truly a gift. It is a driving force of scientific and technological advancements and economic growth, frankly for a little more convenience in lifestyle. We want to use the minimum energy, time, and money needed to achieve goals and complete tasks. We wear Bluetooth headphones to free ourselves from the confines of those with wires, and wear smartwatches to keep track of our health at home. Though you may be thinking that my rant about a strange trip around the house on a Saturday evening and subconscious gaming has no meaning, I am telling you that those things I do for efficiency on weekends are not too different from all the R&D I do during the weekdays. I have this amazing evolutionary trait — why not exploit it for a perfect R&R?

I lay in bed on Sunday night, thinking about how fortunate I am to have been born at this particular stage of human evolution. I did my best to live my short and precious weekend with maximum efficiency and spend the 48 hours like it was 72. I closed my eyes, and slowly felt myself sink into sleep — only after making sure I’d set my timer to 6 hours and 20 minutes as my alarm, to coincide with the end of my fourth sleep cycle, added to the 20 minutes it would take for me to fall asleep.