Time

Time... Time Zones... Zone Out... Time Out...



Some people who come from the US to Japan have terrible jet lag. Other people have no problem. Some people have a really interesting reaction to a big time shift. One of the other times I was here, I joined one of my colleagues for breakfast in the cafe at the Hotel Okura. She ended up talking like a chipmunk on speed! I thought "Whoa! you have had TOO much coffee!" Apparently, she doesn't consume caffeine at all, so it was just hypomania. Wish she could've shared some of that with me.

Anyway, I thought I was one of those people who adjusted to the change well. I must admit I was prepared - a little wine and Mr. Melatonin, I slept probably 6 to 8 hours on the flight over here. Cool! I was able to get up the next day and reasonably conduct myself with moving into the new apartment, register with immigration and pick up my new blackberry at the office. The locals were totally impressed that I was walking around unfazed. Thing is, I can keep my body walking around and talking coherently, but the elevator was not always going to the top floor. I have a friend who came here at the same time, but she did not join Club Melatonin. She says she spent a whole week feeling like her head and her body were not attached. I think she was a little bashful about telling me this, but I know exactly what she meant and I told her this is actually a pretty good description of how I reacted at times. I got an e-mail from a friend in the states the second day I was here - I tried to explain something rather technical to her, but I asked her to get back to me if it didn't make sense. I told her that my brain was drifting out of tune so I had to end the message. Kind of like when your driving a long distance listening to the radio and it gradually fades out? And maybe you don't react right away, but then think "Oh crap, better tune into something else."

Well, I thought I had adjusted pretty well, but 2 nights ago I woke up between 3 and 4 AM and could not get back to sleep. Whoa! I felt like dirt for the whole day and really punchy/irritable too. So, I hopped on the melatonin train last night and now I'm OK. Whew.

The other thing about being so far away is that it is hard for other people to figure out. I've decided I'm not going to think too much about it. If I think too much about the time difference, I get confused myself. Here's an example - my brother had his birthday on Sunday. So I called him on Monday morning (here) so I could talk to him on Sunday evening (there). He's a bright guy but he had to think about that a little bit. Also, it makes my work a little challenging. I work with Indy (14 hours behind) and people in Europe (I think 7 or 8 hours different). So I'm working on this project with a person in Indy and one in Italy. Angelo proposes, "Let's have a teleconference - it will be midnight in Italy, 7PM in US and like 9 AM in Japan." What a nice guy! I would be dead asleep by midnight.

Ahh, time for the melatonin express.....