So for no distinguishable reason, I was awake for a total of 49.5 hours.
Its not that I was galavanting around tokyo on a massive two-day party-binge, which would have been at least a more exciting excuse, it was just that my head wouldn't shut the eff up, and my bed refused to let me look at it. Sorry to disappoint, but thats the truth. My random moments of insomnia sometimes sneak up on me during the most inconvenient of times. Sometimes when I have work the next day... And i did.
I had a shoot for an editorial, which went well and finished early. After, I met with my friend Lina for dinner and a drink. And after that... the rest of the night was spent drawing, reading, emailing, Facebook stalking, watching movies, blogging, googling, organizing, and counting anything countable to try and make myself tired. But my constantly bouncing knee, and disappearing supply of Sleepy Time tea was mocking my attempts. And then I could hear morning; the clacking of heals and stiff business shoes of the pavement. The growing hum of cars. The cackling of crows. I hate crows. Hearing them in the morning, and being in Japan while I do reminded me of the last time I tried to watch the movie The Grudge. BAD idea to watch a scary movie based in Japan while in japan. Now I kept imagining a greasy, incredibly flexible japanese girl climbing out of my ceiling to kill me. I put on my most calming playlist and listened to it until my alarm eventually went off. I was showered, dried off, and dressed with more time to kill before my call time, so embarked on a walk.
People filed quietly and efficiently towards their morning destinations. An eery sight with so many silent black haired people. The occasional face mask didn't help. Nor did the fact that nearly every one held eye contact with me. I guess I shouldn't be so surprised, because Im the one who's out of place being light haired, blue eyed, and about a foot taller than most Japanese. I decided to head in the direction of a park hoping there'd be less people, and I could hopefully stop thinking about movies like Dawn of the Dead. When I got there, there was a flee market! A nice surprise for me because I love flee markets. Im always keeping an eye open for fantastic vintage clothes, so I began to feel better. Though it was still filled with people, this time there was chatter, laughter, and even the occasional tourist. I decided I'd spend some time here, and set my alarm to remind me when i had to leave.
Searching through racks, baskets, and displays on the ground of old clothes, I found a few fantastic pieces! I found a black dress from the 80's, with insane shoulder pads and incredible draping and cinched waist that reminds me a bit of Balmain, and Dries Van Noten. I also found a big sweater that isn't dissimilar to the jackets and sweaters done by Pendleton for Opening Ceremony. SCORE! I just saved thousands of dollars if I think about it... and this is why i love vintage shopping. Not to mention the awesome vintage leather jacket I recently discovered.
I think I'll make another post with pictures and comparisons to the real-deals...
Anyhoo, my alarm had been going off for about 5 minutes before I realized it, and I booked it back to my apartment just in time to get picked up by Rolly, one of my managers. Heading to work on no sleep, I was still able to present a happy mood and good attitude. I was feeling pretty damn good after my little early morning discoveries anyway, so it helped. The time would have passed faster I think if I wasn't working alongside a male model who was determined to talk about him self, only himself, and to himself if no one was listening. I now know that he's German, likes skateboarding, listens to old rock, smokes a lot of weed, but not in tokyo because you can go to prison, dated Chanel Iman briefly about three years ago, likes to snowboard in his free time, has a girlfriend who is a professional horseback rider, knows where there's an awesome massage parlor in Rapongi, shot three campaigns in his first year modeling, started when he was 16, didn't finish high school, has a mom who's a psychiatrist, and a dad who's a teacher.
I very much doubt he knows that my eye colour is blue, and that my first language is english.
Not that I'm not conversational, but usually the other person should appear remotely interested in knowing something about me if I'm going to volunteer information. Im glad I had my Nintendo DS for company.
After I finished the shoot, it was off to 9 castings. THATS NINE CASTINGS. This was turning into the longest day ever! Im lucky I ran into Lina at a few of them, and she helped me keep my sanity. Exchanging stories and laughing about how long the day was was all we could do. Each casting seemed to be full of girls, and the wait was usually long. I told her about my vintage finds, and we made plans to go hunting again maybe the next day. Thats if I could actually sleep though! We decided that Since she was working tomorrow until about four anyhow, I'd definitely get enough sleep in by then. I was starting to feel exhausted, and had high hopes.
I got home at about 10 pm. I was still pretty alert, so popped off a few emails and messages. Then updated my ipod. Then took another shower. Then had a Sleepy Time tea. Then read a little. Then drew a little. Then watched a movie... wtf! Couldn't sleep at all! I layed in bed for about 2 hours staring at my ceiling, then playing Nintendo when my eyes couldn't take it any more. When I realized that sitting in my room wouldn't help me get sleepy, I got up and decided to head over to Don Quy Hote, the 24 hour store that sells everything international and otherwise. Thank god for 24 hour shops! even if i don't buy anything, at least it gives me something do do during periods of jet-lag and insomnia. Scouring the three floors I managed to get only one memory stick. I was quite impressed with myself for not also getting new headphones, nail polish, hair crimper, and groceries.
Plus one point for "Elyses-money-saving-plan"
I headed back to my apartment grudgingly. No Starbucks was even open yet. I would have welcomed the sound of crows by now if only it meant that I'd have somewhere to occupy myself! But no. It was still dark. People were grogily walking home drunk from a full night of drinking, and some people were even getting on their way to work. Sometimes, a person could be seen in a full suit going to work drunk form the night before! There is no other kind of alchohalism like that which can be found in Tokyo. Probably no other type of insomnia either. I've worked with a few clients who've admitted to getting about 2-3 hours sleep on a regular basis. 6 hours is sleeping in. Maybe on some messed up subconcious level I'm just trying to blend in with the culture. But c'mon! It's been over a day and a half! Certainly no sane person, Japanese or not, can be awake that long without the help of non-human chemicals. This makes me wonder what the hell kind of chemicals do I have? Perhaps its my anxiety. Perhaps its just the wine from dinner. Perhaps wondering about it wont make the situation any better, and I should just lay back down in bed again. But my bed wouldn't have it. Every position was uncomfortable, my blankets seemed itchy, and my pillow lumpy. What really sucks was that my body was actually so tired! I think that I was even shaking a bit. I took a long hot shower for the second time to try and relax more. The stress that all this wakefulness was putting on my body eventually lead to me breaking down and crying. My brain was screaming at me, and my body was sulking until eventually, I fell into a dreamless sleep.
49.5 hours.
49.5 hours I was awake. And it was only 5.5 hours before my natural clock woke me up again, relentlessly, just in time to receive a phone call from Lina reminding me what we were meeting at Starbucks in half an hour.
I suppose this would be some type of addition to my tree. Some type of self discovery. Some growth. Some adventure. Being in a weird state of mind where your tired, exhausted even, but with nothing you can do about it, can cause you to look at the world in a in a different light. A changed perception. The surreal angle from a sleepless mind.
At least I have something to write about.
cheers.
