or, "no sleep til Tokyo..."

My apologies first up for the lack of photos for this praxis. My camera decided to bugger itself for some reason, and I couldn't get a new one working til I hit the other end (Well, I probably could have, but not a fraction as cheaply).

So, when I looked at this task I decided two things. The first was that despite talk of necessity, my completion WOULD involve a plane-trip, and secondly, that it would not ONLY involve a plane-trip.

My recent trip to Tokyo was the obvious time to complete the task, but this left me with somewhat of a problem - the three hour time difference to Japan is actually a beneficial one, and doesn't usually leave me jet-lagged. Just deciding not to sleep until I arrived in Tokyo was a step in the right direction, but I decided that I should go the whole hog on this one, and leave myself unable to tell up from down - or now from then, as the case may be.

Now, in the past I have abused my body's sleep functions in a number of ways. I have taken part in "staying awake competitions" (75 hours is my personal record, and stood unchallenged among my group of friends) to the point of visual and auditory hallucination, but this doesn't actually strengthen the body's sense of "jet-lag" and timelessness. All is really does is impare correct brain-function and cause you to sleep for 2 days straight at the other end. Another past habit of mine however (sleeping the sun away) really DOES screw with your circadian rhythm and produce a very nice jet-lag at the end of it...

I didn't have the time to do this for a week or two, too much work on. On the other hand, I HAD been working 80 hour weeks recently, and watching too much of the olympics to give myself 4 hours average sleep a day over a week or so... The day before I left I slept from 5AM (Still dark) until 8PM (well dark again), and then slept from 11PM til 2PM to build up sleep and set my body to "it's been dark a hell of a long time" mode. I then took a flight to Christchurch, where I had an overnight stay. Getting to Christchurch at 6PM it was just getting dark.

At this point I decided that to enhance timelessness further I should really go somewhere with bright lights, and flashing. Somewhere where I wouldn't be tempted to fall asleep. Fortunately my bus would have to pass right by the casino... Surprisingly casinos don't like you checking two full backpacks at the coat-check window, but as I was wearing my funeral suit (I think I mentioned before it's my warmest jacket), they couldn't ACTUALLY ping me on dress-code.

The combination of 6 hours poker (I broke even) and 4 hours slots (I lost, but this was made up for by the insane line-hypnosis effects that those machines produce) was sufficiently discombobulating that I went out of there barely able to think. Fortunately I'd gotten though a dozen (free) cans of red-bull, so the sugar psycosis kept me upright and buzzing. Oh, and it was dark outside again (just) a real bonus. Got to the airport just as the sun was thinking about rising (you have to LOVE the slow slide from black through midnight blues that time of morning), and quickly scuttled inside beneath the loving hum of the flourescent bulbs.

The actual flight was a bit of a cake-walk. I always watch movies for the 12 or 13 hours anyway. The food was both sustaining and delicious. Lack of caffine was a bit of a problem (I hate coffee), but as it happens I had snuck some "red-bull" syryp on board. For those unfamiliar with this elixir, it's the original product from Thailand. Not ACTUALLY called red-bull, but it has red-bulls on the bottle. It burns going down, like whisky, and will not freeze in your household freezer (sugar content). I found it at a Korean convini just across from the casino.

I arrived at Tokyo at about 5:30 (after pissing about through customs and train connections - Narita is a long way out). Dusk was just settling again, and to be honest I couldn't have told you what day it was. I'd hit my third wind though, and was feeling pretty genki. A quick stop at the internet cafe for a shower (GREAT idea that, it means that the fill to the rafters now with kids sleeping til the first train at 5AM. They actually pack them in TIGHTER than a capsule hotel), and it was a 5KM walk to a club I know (after dropping my packs off in a locker). This seemed like a good idea at the time, but as it turns out, my new shoes were a bit tight...

Drank and talked to chance-met strangers until 5AM kick-out, and was actually in pretty good condition to walk back to Shibuya and catch the first Shinkansen to Himeji. As it turns out, I went well past Himeji and ended up just the other side of Hiroshima. My body had finally had enough and decided that it would sleep, come what may.

Reading all that, it seems like it should have been AT least 48 hours awake, but doing the conversion it's only about 43.

Still, by doing the whole (way to beat jet-lag) thing TOTALLY backwards (They say no stimulants, stay awake until 11PM at the destination, sleep, then get up at dawn the next day) I managed to screw my body-clock for the whole week. I couldn't sleep each day til 4AM, and woke around 2PM. This meant late check-out-fees at the capsules, and surprisingly short sight-seeing days (everything shuts at 5), but MAY have contributed to my having the energy to catch 5 live gigs in 7 days AND catch up with friends for loads of Karaoke foolishness.

All in all I declear this to have been a success!!!

Now if only they would approve my "avoid the hours of sunlight for a week" task...