Tick Tock

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I am in a state of total time confusion.

For some reason, this trip has made me completely unable to figure out what time it is.  I cannot for the life of me realize and remember that I am indeed in the US and not in South Asia.  And now that we are on the west coast instead of the midwest (and thus still yet more time zone confusion) my mind, which is already suffering from extreme-mush-dom, cannot wrap its tiny little self around the reality of the clock.

Today, for example, I was thinking to myself that I would send my niece Anna a birthday email seeing that today is her 2nd birthday.  However, I was quite busy all day and was not able to get on email 'til about 9pm.  "That's OK," I thought to myself, "It's still the 14th where she is since I'm 12 hours ahead."  WRONG...... It is in actuality *later* here and I am in grave danger of missing her birthday altogether.  Good grief.

This morning when I woke up I was looking at the clock desperately trying to figure out what time it was.  It was as if I were trying to solve the greatest math problems of the new world as I looked at my cell phone (India time) and converted it to Minneapolis time (add 1/2 hour), and then remembered that I was actually in Portland (subtract 2 hours)... all in the twilight early morning light that was filtering through the vertical blinds of the guest room in which I was surprised to find myself.  Is it really 10am?  Then why is it still so dark?  Oh, no, it's 6.45am.  OK that makes more sense.  Ha ha.  What a nut case.

Probably the most difficult thing to get over, however, is that my dear friend Deb is not online in 'my night' so that I can have my valued daily Skype chats with her.  At home, she comes online around 9pm my time and I can chat with her about business or pleasure 'til time for me to go to bed.   However, here when I log on at 9pm after the children go to bed it is night where Deb is as well and she is certainly in sleepy land or at least not at all in the mood to be on the computer!  So sad for me!  But the even 'sadder' part is that almost *every* night I get online and look for her to be on thinking it must be morning where she is!  Oh my, oh my when will my brain get it right?

My exhaustion has also not subsided.  I slept a great amount last night (about 9 hours actually!) and had another fairly relaxing day, but I find myself completely unable to keep my eyes open or maintain any sense of concentration or alertness beyond 2pm.  The fact that it gets dark at 4.30 in the afternoon in this non-Daylight-Savings state of being is not helping matters at all.  At home we never go out of the house after dark.  However here we have many dinner appointments and have to venture out in what feels like the deepest, darkest depths of the night.

What time is it?  What day is it?  Where am I?

All natural questions for this stage of my life.  Is it jet lag or just personal craziness?  

Don't answer that.

~lk

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