Sunday, April 03, 2005

Trip report

Airport turbulence
The boarding call. The passengers, clutching their hand luggage, trudged out of the crowded, dingy, old terminal building and, unlike in most modern international airports, clambered onto buses to the aircraft, where they briefly braved the elements before climbing the staircase from the tarmac into the plane.

At their destination, they disembarked via a jetway directly into the spanking new terminal, a functional yet graceful building, with high windows allowing plenty of light. They had finally arrived in Israel's Ben-Gurion International Airport, Terminal 3.

The first airport, in case you were wondering, was Terminal 4 of London Heathrow.

V'nahafoch hu asher yishletu hayehudim, hemah besoneihem. "And it was inverted, as the Jews ruled over their enemies" (Esther 9:1).


A mild-mannered reporter
At times I felt like Clark Kent, wondering whether anyone around me had guessed my secret identity. Most of my hits come from the eastern U.S. Anyone around me might be a blog reader! Have I leaked too many personal details? Were people muttering behind my back, "I bet he's Biur Chametz"? Were they just too embarrassed to ask outright?

Unlike Sarah, who openly communicates with her friends through her blog and drops unsubtle hints about her real name, I would prefer to remain anonymous. So maybe I should just stop alluding to personal details? It's not as if I do it that often anyway.

Then again, there must be a part of me which enjoys the thrill of risking discovery. It's like speeding on an empty highway, or running a red light at 3am, or blogging at work. How far can I go without being unmasked?

Not that it matters. It's not like I'm Superman anyway.

Sometimes I wonder, though: If I were blogging under my real name, would people take me more seriously, or less?


Yawn!
About jetlag: What she said. Except I am one of those "people with 'real' jobs" and it isn't any easier. I think it's harder; I have to manage to work "real job" hours while battling jetlag. At least freelancers can choose their hours.

Yesterday I was awake from 6pm-5:30am, then slept until 8:30am and dragged myself out of bed to go to work. If only I could just have worked through the night and slept through the morning! I did get started on my Pesach cleaning. Hopefully without waking the neighbors.

Incidentally, Ya'efet (Hebrew for jetlag) neatly combines Hebrew roots for "weary" and "flying", in a construction often used for words connoting illnesses. One of the more successful neologisms of the Academy of the Hebrew Language.

Fortunately, I'm not alone. With the shift to daylight savings time, millions of people around the world are now exhausted!
Daylight saving time makes Coleman feel tired. She doesn't get enough sleep, and the sleep she does get is poor.

The same is true for most of her family and an estimated 40 million other Americans who have sleep disorders.

The nonprofit National Sleep Foundation, in its efforts to raise awareness of the hazards of bad sleep habits, released a poll last week reporting that Americans sleep almost two fewer hours a night than 40 years ago. The consequences of that can be dangerous: Studies show accidents rise in the days after the spring time change and drowsy drivers can be as impaired as drunken drivers.

Months-long waiting lists for rooms in sleep labs attest to the demand for solutions to sleep-related misery.

I wonder what hours they work at the National Sleep Foundation?

6 comments:

Soccer Dad said...

Sarah doesn't just drop hints as to her identity, she refers to articles she's had published. Thus we know her real name by now!
Welcome home. (I can't write welcome back. Because, alas, I don't live in Israel!)

Jack said...

I figured out who you were weeks ago. Just kidding. ;)

Zman Biur said...

Jack,

Could you let me know? I'm still trying to figure it out myself.

Cosmic X said...

Welcome back Mr. Biur. Did you see Anti-Disengagement Bloggers Unite!?

Zman Biur said...

Cosmic,

Yes, I did. I'm considering whether to join. I'm in agreement politically, but skeptical towards the value of such blogging initiatives.

Jack said...

Zman,

I'd be happy to give you an identity.