Thank you, super express that gave me dreams

On the train, just a couple of days ago I saw the ad announcing the retirement of what is arguably the greatest train ever made, the 0 Kei Shinkansen or Type 0 Main Trunk Line (or more fittingly, the bullet train). On November 30th the world’s first bullet train will retire after 44 years in service. The pride, nostalgia, and sadness the Japanese feel for this icon of an era is so evident in the ad and on the website dedicated to the final month of the 0 Kei that shows the Type 0 against the background of the setting sun and the words ‘So long, dream super express’ or said much better in Japanese as ‘Sayonara, yume no chou tokkyu’.

The original shinkansen was the train that along with the Tokyo Olympics re-introduced a peace loving and technologically and economically rising Japan to the world. It was the train that made me fall in love with trains. Today, it’s rounded front may look friendly rather than fast, but I still think no other train in the world looks more like a bullet. Albeit a friendly bullet with big eyes. I first rode this speeding wonder on a family trip to Kyoto when I was ten years old and I’ll never forget looking down from our hotel room window with a sense of wonder at the shinkansens arriving to and leaving from Kyoto Station.

To me the 0 Kei will always be the train for going on trips with Obaachan (grandmother), the train that promised more adventure than any other in the world. It will always be the train that reminds me of why I love this country. I don’t know if I’ll have an opportunity to ride her one last time before she speeds off into the Fall sunset for the final time, but even if not I would like to say ‘Arigatou, yume wo kureta chou tokkyu’.

Who wears a Monocle?

Fashionable yet snooty, design and lifestyle oriented yet brand obsessed and consumerist… is Monocle confused? Perhaps, but the magazine/e-zine seems to do confusion in style with a lot of love for Japanese and Danish design and lifestyle products. There’s also some politics and international news thrown in for good measure. But I really enjoy the design and culture stuff, even if there is some cheering for blowhard brands like bag maker Louis Vuitton and pen maker to the British royals Conway Stewart. Conway Stewart? Anyway, there is also stuff like a report of UK clothing startup Albam that makes its clothes in England and a Japanese preschool that encourages outdoor activities such as downhill rolling.

Monocle Magazine

Sleep my sweetie, I’ll never kick you out of bed again

Am I living the three hours a night sleep dream? No. Of course it was too good to be true. I’m back to my usual and erratic range of six to nine hours of sleep a night. However, contrary to the concern of some friends the quest for short yet sweet sleep didn’t end with hallucinations or sleep deprived shaking or any other dramatic ill effect on my health. My body simply told me it loves the sweet sugar of sleep and kept sleeping.

Still, this doesn’t mean there isn’t something to be said about efficient and disciplined sleeping habit. And I learned a few things about my sleep needs. I don’t need eight or more hours of sleep to function and feel well. Six or seven will usually do. But I am a slow starter and I do need a good kick start to get out of bed and get my engine started. And if I’m on the low end of the sleep scale then I will probably need a nap. The problems are getting out of bed in the morning and not allowing naps to transform into marathon day time sleeping sessions.

So, I’ve made my peace with sleep and I’ll be enjoying her company with less guilt like I already did last night and today when I slept for about twelve hours total. Ahh, sweet sweet sugary sweet sleep… here comes daddy… yawn.

A Personal Theory of Love

What is love, and why are some people unable to find it? What is loneliness, and why does it hurt? What are relationships, and how and why do they work the way they do?

The preface of ‘A General Theory of Love’ begins with those questions. They are all questions asked frequently by any of us- several times a day by this love deprived blogger. But this book, written by three psychiatrists, elegantly meshes the sciences of psychiatry and biology with philosophy, literature, and even spirituality to try and answer these questions. It’s well written and I have little doubt that these doctors know what they are talking about on the science end, but what impresses me about this book is how poetic and human it is. Chapters have titles such as ‘The Heart’s Castle’ and ‘A Fiercer Sea’ and the book begins with a poem called the ‘The Secret’. Even the authors acknowledge that some readers will find it strange that a book about psychobiology begins with a poem but as the they firmly note ‘the adventure itself demands it’.

To me this melding of such an intangible yet important thing such as love with hard, cold observations and facts is such as vital endeavor. Perhaps because I am non-religious. Because I believe there doesn’t have to be God crouching hidden behind everything in order for something to be truly meaningful. For me, the wonder is that nature, evolution, the cosmos conspired in such a way to enable us to love so that we might better thrive. I don’t think the biology behind it takes away from love’s power. To reverse that, I don’t think God necessarily adds to the power of love.

The science behind love shouldn’t leave us cold or make us think love is simply a pedestrian mishmash of brain chemicals and physiological reactions that exists to promote procreation or survival of the species. Love as we live it, will always be a bit random, silly, magical, maddening, and saddening, but absolutely essential to our lives. That is why when the main character from a movie about sex, fashion, and girl talk says she came to the city to find love I don’t laugh.

Sleep Boot Camp

I know that all I have written about in the last three posts is sleep, but it’s my blog and I can write about sleep if I want to, right?

Bare with me. After the night of failure where I slept for twelve hours, I pulled myself together and pulled through another all-nighter. Tonight is night five and my third night of 6 hours of sleep. This is the last night of 6-hour sleep before I head into two nights of 4-hour sleep and then into the unchartered waters of 3 hours a night of regular sleep. The ninth night is another all-nighter with zero sleep, then after that it’s 3 hours all the way through. I guess once this becomes routine I can actually give myself 4 hours a night. Oh, the luxury. But it will be great to be a productivity machine able to take advantage of the wee hours to get work done, enjoy hobbies, and even just sit around listening to podcasts and not feel bad about it.

Fell asleep alright…

…and slept for twelve hours. Complete. Utter. Failure. Since I’m loaded with twelve hours of delicious sleep, I’m thinking of having a go at zero sleep tonight. I’m pretty confident that I’ll make it through the night and day again. The problem will be sleeping for just six hours Friday night. The sleep felt so good I just couldn’t resist. Besides, what obligation or motivation do I have to get up at 4 a. m.? Still, I will try once more because this failure reminded me how costly all of this sleeping is. I can get crap done if I’m sleepy all of the time.

Sleep experiment, day 2

Excepting a couple of short dozing sessions, it’s been about thirty some hours of almost zero sleep. Right now, all I can think of is getting some shut-eye. Tonight I get to sleep for six hours, so I’m going to hit the hay at 10 p.m. and wake up bright and early at 4 p.m. I’m too tired to do anything right now, but hopefully I’ll be perky enough to get some research and other work done. Argh… too brain dead to write a decent post. Don’t want to fall asleep just quite yet though.