Kevin's Weblog

Well, the train has proved to be a disaster for trying to maintain my schedule. My 5:00 nap didn’t really yield any sleep at all, and once they turned the main lights off at 10, it was extremely difficult to stay awake. I watched a movie for a bit then gave up about 12:30. My sleep was extremely light and fragmented, so while I got up a bit before 6 when it got light, I was still exhausted and have let myself nap freely thoughout the day. Basically, the train is both sleep-inducing and sleep-preventative at the same time. So, I’m writing today off and hoping that I can get back on my schedule tonight.

The last couple days have been quite a challenge for my schedule. First off, it seems like the psychological impact of an oversleep is more severe than I would have expected. After what happened on Weds, there was definitely part of me that wanted to just give up. Because of the amount of sleep I ended up getting that night, I had difficulty with my naps, and then I had to fight the temptation to go to bed at my “normal” time.

The last couple nights, I’ve ended up staying up later than I wanted trying to get ready to go out of town, so my schedule keeps floating around. Plus, yesterday was another one of those days where the little one woke up at 6, despite staying up until midnight. My naps did not go well. This morning I was really dragging for about 3 hours after I got up. On the positive side, my morning nap today was really good. In fact, for the first time I had a proper dream during a nap. Previously I’ve only had light daydream-like dreams about stuff going on that day. This was a full-on, out-of-nowhere, mildly surreal number. So, I think that’s progress.

Today, I’m on the train on the way to LA and I’m wondering how the heck I’m going to manage this for 30 hours on the train. Naps should be easy. Staying awake is going to be the hard part, with limited modes of amusement. At least there’s a lot more room to move around than on an airplane.

(A bit of train secret-tech: On the Amtrack Superliner cars, there’s a couple seats with power outlets, but you have to look carefully to find them. The staff seems completely unaware that they even exist.)