Wednesday, June 16, 2004

jet lag

The trip back home took 24 hours, from the walk down the sleeve to the 747 to the buzzer on my apartment door and my wife in the hallway, wearing her cat's eye glasses and short moppy hair. She'd made supper, somehow timing the whole thing perfectly with my arrival. I'd slept 3 hours out the last 29. How was I walking and thinking coherently? After too short a time awake we were dead asleep. I woke around six AM with a fully assembled fantasy in my head, a clear memory of having spent extra days in Australia, filming waterfalls and losing equipment and taking Elan along with me for the whole thing. Once the fantasy cleared itself and I remembered that I was back in my own bed, I felt good, I felt more relaxed than I had in months. Even now, at four in the morning, unable to sleep, my body still tuned to another hemisphere, I feel unnervingly good. Maybe a fortnight in the Antipodes was all I needed to realign myself. Or maybe, once the dial swings around to North American time, my parade of anxieties will start marching to the familiar frequency.

This time around the return home has been deeply satisfying. Sometimes I come back with nothing to look forward to but days in the office and a dirty apartment, but with my new position, nobody wants me in the office. The producers look nervous when I show up, as if I'm about to angle for more money or about to launch a lawsuit over hours spent at the office. I chat for a bit and they nod politely at first. Then they lean in close and say, "You should get some rest". And I should. I should. But it's more satisfying to see the fear in their eyes.

It could be I just look a little crazed with fatigue. Or I'm boring them with tales of getting lost in rush-hour traffic in Sydney. Don't ever drive in or to Australia.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dear Pal Node. This is Helvetica again. Not to be all Swedish minimalist, but I really really liked the former design. I know the current one looks lovely on your home computer, that when you look at the screen you see a whisper of mint-green rustling under bold black words. But on my screen it is extremely distracting, indeed quite difficult to read the text. Does anyone else have this problem? Anyhow, please reconsider the current background. I'm glad you are happy. I will be too, once I can read your postings.

palinode said...

Helvetica, stop complaining. There's no pleasing your sensitive eyes. I work all day, slaving over a design template - when I'm not in the office or on the road or hanging out with The Lotus, or any one of a thousand other things more worthwhile than picking out a decent background for my site. But when I'm not doing all those other things, I'm slaving &c. So, yeah. You're probably right.

starcat said...

Actually, I kind of like the op art illusions the background makes as I try to read your text. It almost made me feel jet-lagged. Well, my eyes are tired. Or something.
Looking forward to hearing wacky details of your trip. I would also be thanking you for reminding me of the word "antipodes", except that someone beat you to it a few weeks ago. It is a nice word, though.

Anonymous said...

HVA - Thanks! Ever so much better. Now everyone's happy. I can read the words; Starcat can stare at the wallpaper until she falls into a deep trance putting her COMPLETELY IN YOUR POWER.

Anonymous said...

luva- welcome back! a few days too late. sorry about that. i like the new design, but there's a huge blank space at the beginning, and i have to scroll down a lot to get to the text. i don't know if that fills in as you write? eh?

Friday Films said...

I'm not sure what all the fuss is about. Your site looks just fine on my computer, as always: a scroll of tan parchment on a sheaf of robin's egg blue, patterned with an interlocking floral design. Correct? It's attractive, easy to read, and I'm planning to co-opt it for my own purposes.