Running Diary

So I do most of my writing on my ipod, but then I can't really post it until I get some free wifi somewhere, which is spotty in thailand. Anyway, I just got it for the first time today, so I'm gonna post some of my backlog of stuff. starting now.

February 10th-11th
10:23 Chicago time
I'm going to attempt to write a running diary of my day. Just a few notes every once in a while to mark how it's going, since I've never been on an airplane so long. Plus the time change thing this direction is a little crazy for me. It's 1023 am and my flight leaves at noon. For Tokyo.

3:50 am Tokyo time
I've switched my watch to Tokyo time, since it makes no sense at all. 15 hours ahead. 9 hours behind and plus a day. No idea what's better to think of. In any case I'll only me there for 3 hours or so. The tv screen says it's less than 6 thousand miles away. I'm not sure I believe that. We'll also apparently be 45 minutes early. I love the feeling of being on an airplane at the start of something long. All the worries of your past life are gone, and no worries have begun yet for your next life. The time change adds something nice to it. It's as if this time doesn't exist at all. As if you don't exist at all. If you think I'm getting philosophical now, wait till the 7 hour flight to Bangkok.

4:58 am Tokyo time
I just finished my first meal. We get two, both of which are being called lunch. I don't know, maybe I should have waited till the middle of the flight to change my watch. Or maybe estimate the time where I am at every moment.
I've been trying to figure out the guy next to me fir a while. My first guess was that he was a retired army guy going over to visit some of his old haunts. I don't think he's quite old enough to be ww2 or Korea and probably too old for 'nam. He's also not particularly friendly. A 70 year old guy traveling to Asia alone,,, you worry that this is the guy who is gonna be talking to you the whole flight. Not this guy though, not a word. So who is he? He's dressed for warm weather. Not Tokyo or Korea. So maybe Bangkok like me, maybe hong kong or Singapore. So I have only one theory left, and the more I think about it and look at this guy, the more I'm creeped out and think it's true. I'm sure there is some perfectly innocent explanation for the guy, but i'm gonna go ahead and refer to him as 'the sex tourist' till I find one.

8:03 am Tokyo time
A couple of entries ago I talked about time on planes existing outside of the world. I think my explanation for that earlier is really only part of it. Maybe the bigger explanation is that being on a plane is really mostly about survival. You're stuck here with no control. No way out, no control over the movie, I can't even go to the bathroom until this sex tourist wakes up. So you focus on survival. How long will my book hold my interest until my mind starts to wander? Can I actually sit here and watch city of ember for two hours? Is this guy next to me even alive? These are the cares you have on a twelve hour plane ride. There's not much room to worry about the past or the future.

10:29 Tokyo time
Well the sex tourist just went to the bathroom finally, which meant I got to go too. So I got to get up and stretch a bit. Worked some of the kinks out, but i'd sat it's about fifty/fifty my back holds up today. I've been looking out the window a lot and watching the flight monitor when they show it. Passed through Canada and Alaska, both of which were pretty spectacular, particularly because I've been to both enough that I was able to follow along decently without the screen. Then we passed what must be the northern pacific. Which means, I guess, that these mountains I'm seeing now are Siberia. Mountains beyond mountains. Mountains I've never seen. Continents I've never seen. It's a good feeling for someone like me.
4:09 pm Tokyo time
I'm in f*****g japan. Not really, it's just the airport, I'm not gonna count it or anything, but still. Japan. Going through security here was fantastic. Imagine airport security as you know, but with twice as many people and the people are exquisitely polite, wearing white gloves, and are Japanese. Oh, and the sex tourist just got wheeled up to the Gate here where I'm waiting for my flight to Bangkok.

8:38 Bangkok time
So let's talk jetlag. There are two basic theories for jet lag. One, any sleep is good sleep, so for at least the first few days just sleep whenever you can get any. I've used it, it's slow, but painless if you've got the time. Two, what I'm going with now. Just stay up, at all costs till it's "bedtime" where you are. I could sleep now on the flight I've gotten about twenty minutes in 24 hours I could use it, but every minute I sleep now is one I will lie awake I'm bed later. It's a risk, I my well lie awake in bed anyway. But I won't sleep, I can't. There's two sleeping people between me and the bathroom. And I really have to go. That'll keep ya movin.

1159 pm Bangkok time
I have arrived. In more ways than one. Smooth as silk just standing waiting for my ride.