singer/songwriter/musician, former IT wage slave, father of two, mother of fsckerz, master of poppets and all-around pain in the arse. some day i will smile.
so, i'll be MIA for most (if not all) of the next 3 weeks. not going away for good, just heading off to the other side of the planet for a bit to alleviate my wife's homesickness and let our kids see their other grandparents.
A better tactic might be to bluff; attach the giant "marital aid" to your groin area, stand up tall, show your teeth, and make lots of noise. *OMG, that ugly hairless primate has an enormous pink penis! Run!*
- Christopher A Carr
Or, you may find yourself with a few new female primate friends.
- Victor Ganata
"On Sept. 9, 2009 I experienced something that I still am having trouble believing happened to me. I came into the possession of a cassette tape containing a Beatles album that was never released. I dont expect you to believe what happened to me, I sure wouldn't, but thats why I grabbed the tape as proof that my experience was real."
- Joe Silence is not dead
from Bookmarklet
"Yep. The title is true. Kim Basinger and Alec Baldwin’s daughter Ireland asked for, and, more importantly, received a Lil’ Wayne monument of a cake for her birthday. Needless to say, the youngster is probably the coolest kid in her grade, or at least, shooting up the ranks of the middle school social ladder. Of course, its Hollywood so lil Ireland Basinger Baldwin can’t be on top forever, oh no, not with competition like Bruce Willis and Demi Moore’s daughter Tallulah, who was reportedly seen at the same Beverly Hills bakery ordering an Easy-E cake complete with fudge-sicle oozies and a chocolate jheri curl with double chocolate truffle oil Soul Glo…better let ya Soullll Glow."
- Joe Silence is not dead
from Bookmarklet
"Let's make a plan, just like engineers! *guffaw*"
got crackin' on the packin' tonight. getting really keyed up and more than a little anxious about this trip now. mostly worried about what 3 weeks with the inlaws will be like THIS TIME, tho. :(
"Finally, if you're looking for some good ol' fashioned dirty humour and you are comfortable enough with your sexuality as to not be offended by drawn pictures, COME ON IN!"
- Joe Silence is not dead
from Bookmarklet
Lived in Georgetown (Penang) for two months in 1996. Incredible food for breakfast, especially some of the cheap outdoor dim sum places.
- TheIndustryStandard
i'm headed back to Kuching for the second time. not looking forward to all the flying, but i think it'll be good staying there again (assuming everyone can get along).
- Joe Silence is not dead
something i ate has put me on the liquid-fuelled rocket sled to Hell.
"The race has been getting national attention, with some calling it a referendum on President Barack Obama and others saying it could help Republicans focus their message to attract more people to the party. Republicans hadn't lost in the region in more than a century. Owens defeated Hoffman despite a 45,000-voter registration edge for Republicans and big-name endorsements for Hoffman from former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, former Republican Sen. Fred Thompson and others. Hoffman had rallied an unexpected level of support in the final days of the campaign, ultimately forcing Scozzafava to quit when he surged past her in the polls. Steven Greenberg of the Siena College poll, which has most closely tracked the race, said voters probably didn't pick Owens because they thought a Democrat could extract more federal largess from Washington, now in the hands of Democrats. "I don't think it even goes to that level for most voters," Greenberg. "It's about, `Who is going to fight for us?'""
- Joe Silence is not dead
from Bookmarklet
Pink Floyd performing an instrumental (sometimes referred to as "Corrosion") which segues into "Embryo". Originally broadcast on ORTF in January 1971.
- Joe Silence is not dead
i shall return when the evil day orb burns away Mother Night.
so, imagine you're about to take a 12 hour flight to Tokyo followed by another 8 hour flight to a further destination with barely a 2 hour layover. you will not be able to nap on the flights. what would you do to cope?
i wish! if i was it wouldn't be via Japan, tho. more likely via NZ. no, going the Japan-Singapore route to Malaysia to visit inlaws for a big chunk of November.
- Joe Silence is not dead
I would just enjoy the flight :D nothing else I can do :D
- Viva Vida
@Viva Vida: that's not the issue, tho. the issue is staying functional for that long a trip with no sleep.
- Joe Silence is not dead
I would take books, logic puzzles and crossword puzzles.
- Alan Simpson
do you have problem sleeping on plane ?
- Viva Vida
yes, i cannot sleep on planes, not even with the aid of a drug. i will also be care-taking a 20 month old and a 4 year old.
- Joe Silence is not dead
I'd shoot myself. Seriously, I have no idea. Drink water because staying hydrated will help you feel better. Some sort of stimulating activities. Hoping it's a big enough plane where you can get up a walk a few times. Yikes!
- Jill is sugar free
i considered stepping in front of a lorry a few times in Malaysia back in 2006, but that was unrelated to the flights. the 12 hour trip to Tokyo is on a 777, which is a bit like a huge Greyhound bus back in economy class. like last time, i plan on getting up for a stroll to the tail every 2 hours to hopefully prevent deep vein thrombosis. and, yes, they NEVER give you enough water on the long-hauls. paper cup in the washroom, glugglugglug! :P
- Joe Silence is not dead
i suppose i'd hoped someone on here with long-haul flight experience might have something i'd missed for coping.
- Joe Silence is not dead
Will you be the sole caretaker of the children? If not, could you power nap on the layover? When I get sleepy and I'm reading, I'll tend to be lulled to sleep. I'd instead do something with movies or a computer game or something because that keeps my mind engaged in a different way and makes it harder to nod off.
- joey
i'd cry the whole way there. ;-) naps are the way I cope with most long distance flights.
- pea ♥ fierce as a woozle
my wife and i will be doing the tag-team parenting thing we always do, tho more and more we're working in concert all the time. little kids are very high-maintenance. the layover at Narita will be just enough time to get the bus from one terminal to the other, maybe snag a quick bite and use the head and then board the connecting flight after the security ppl inspect our colons.
- Joe Silence is not dead
Yow. The kids complicate it for sure. I have never taken that long a trip, so this is based on less Xtreme travel. Bring plenty of things to read to and with them. Bring a sketchbook/notebook to draw and play paper games with them. Bring music for everyone and multiple MP3 players with batteries. Is there some project that takes a lot of imagination, but not much else that you can work on? Something you want to write, for example?
- Steve is older than ever
i do all my crying afterward, it's the only way i can stay vigilant during a (for me) crisis.
- Joe Silence is not dead
it wouldn't be nearly so bad if i wasn't utterly terrified of flying. in addition to everything else, this will be hours of barely-suppressed panic attacks for me.
- Joe Silence is not dead
Joe, can you get some medication from your doctor pre-flight to help with the panic attacks?
- joey
Joe, that is going to be punishing on all of you. I've only travelled from Canada to England on an 8 hr then 1 hr flight with 4 kids (and a hubby) and that was okay. First time the youngest was only 1.5 yrs old and she slept most of the time and then just played on our knees. Packing things to play with and occupy them will be very good. If you have a phone with flight mode and the...
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- WorldofHiglet
i would bring my iPod, but i'm not taking a computer with me so i won't have a way to charge it for 3 weeks. back in the 90s when i was flying back and forth to NZ i used to bring a walkman and loads of cassettes with me, tho. maybe a portable CD player with earbuds? still, i need to be able to hear my kids. books are looking really practical to me. this is working out pretty much like last time. hopefully the details will be more pleasant.
- Joe Silence is not dead
@joey: i could, but i don't want to be incapacitated...one of my fears on a flight, especially with the kids. i'll phone about it, tho.
- Joe Silence is not dead
Take stuff like baby wipes, diapers, sweets, treats and help to break up the flight with treat-breaks and reading breaks. So you tell your older kid that every hour (or whatever) you will read a story together. It gives you both a focus and helps you to manage the time. In between the reading breaks slot in a walk to the end of the plane and back. In between the walking breaks you could play a little game of I spy or something similar...dividing your time up into managable chunks.
- WorldofHiglet
And good luck. The kids will sleep if you are calm, and if they are asleep then you can relax a bit. Hopefully things will work out ok and you will make it to the other side in one piece.
- WorldofHiglet
@Higlet: very good advice on the childcare side there. that's more or less how we did it last time, tho it's even more important now that we have two. we're also bringing a car seat for the youngest (which will attach to one of the rolling carry-ons between planes) and an umbrella stroller for hauling our 4 year old for the 2.5km of walking through Changi at 5am when the trains are shut down! we need to organise our bags for the kids better this time, that's for certain, cos right now we're over-packing.
- Joe Silence is not dead
Oh, I like Higlet's plan for breaking up the time so it's not One Long Flight From Hell.
- Steve is older than ever
funny thing, the 8 hour flight between Tokyo and Singapore is nowhere near as stressful as the 12 hour leg coming from the US. partly cos JAL's planes and service are SO much better than American Airlines. startlingly so. AA is surly staff that ignore everyone and the planes are stuffy and dark and smell rank. JAL staff are pleasant and attentive and the planes are clean and well-lit and well-maintained.
- Joe Silence is not dead
Being ruthless with your packing is essential - and hard! First time we gave them a backpack each and let them pack stuff but they hardly used any of it and it was a pain handling them all time. WE found it easier to have 2 bags for flight stuff - I handled one and hubby had the other one so we could take things in and out easily from underseat luggage rather than having to stand up and...
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- WorldofHiglet
USB CPAP system and a laptop with a backpack full of laptop batteies.
- Josh Haley
I used to be very, very afraid of flying so I really identify with you. I got tied into this job that required flying 2x a week, and during that time I did some mental exercises that helped, I think, along with the sheer boredom of it. I've done a few long hauls too- to Asia, to Europe, all around Europe, back, etc.
- anna sauce
So if I were you I'd buy a book of meditation exercises. Breathing exercises are by far my best method of getting out of panic attacks, adn preventing them from happening. Breathing exercises you can also do while taking care of kids. I do a 3-exhale, 3-hold, 6-inhale (those are beats) exercise, slowly ramping up to 4-3-8, 5-3-10, etc. patterns. There are some other relaxation techniques that help with fear of flying
- anna sauce
As for the duration, I end up hanging out in the flight attendant area. I get coffee, chat with them, make a new friend back there, have a long conversation. Standing, for me, helps the anxiety because I get a lot of muscle tension from being tense, and stretching, etc. helps with that. I know with kids it's harder. We were stuck in a storm on the way to Russia last year, and had...
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- anna sauce
my CPAP will be hand-carried (medical equipment doesn't count toward carry-on) and we'll have at least two carry on bags, maybe three. one will be a diaper bag. one will be this really neat backpack designed for exactly this type of travelling that includes special straps for attaching to the back of an umbrella stroller (which will be stowed by cabin crew) and one will probly be a duffle.
- Joe Silence is not dead
I also bring busywork, like translating foriegn languages or learning new words- bilingual books, etc. that kind of homework really helps me. movies help, but it's hard to get enough on a device to make it worth while. I end up watching airplane movies.
- anna sauce
OK one last thing- when turbulence starts, which is a panic trigger for me, I do this acting exercise called "sack of potatoes." You literally envision your body, skin, etc. as a sack and your bones, as potatoes. It helps loosen you up, and if you really let go all control and just envision yourself as this bag, it helps ally my fears. It's weird, but it works for me ;)
- anna sauce
Booze does help- but you have to be careful b/c of the dehydration aspect. I also hate getting congested in flight, and alcohol, esp. beer, gets me that way.
- anna sauce
oooh, yah, turbulence...no fun. walking is great for many reasons, including stress relief. i probly won't touch booze til we depart Japan, but if the kids are okay i may just give myself permission to get mildly loaded. i don't normally drink anymore (and won't if i do end up taking Clonazepam cos they do NOT mix) but it would help a bit. more likely i will read and/or listen to music in between trips up and down the aisle.
- Joe Silence is not dead
it's also likely that my oldest, who i'll be sitting next to, will keep me plenty busy!
- Joe Silence is not dead
Oh, I gave this tip to my sis who never flies and is equally afraid- don't do anythign during takeoff. I tend to think a lot of my anxiety is from motion sickness, so if youf ocus on the direction of the plane, until it's in the air, then distract yourself with activities. Stay upright, during turbulence, take your back off the seat, that helps, oddly, too. I think your abdominal muscles compensate for the movement and it's not as strong. You can see I used to spend *a lot* of time thinking about this, ha.
- anna sauce
been there done that, all the time 2 weeks ago. Books are best. Geroge R.R. Martin Fire and Ice Series. For the kids, dont worry set them up with movie system and they will be good to go. You will get to sit on the bulk head so you will get the baby bed that fits in the wall. Plus you have extra room. In terms of Booze I prefer the Bloody Mary, the tomato seems to help and yeah drinks...
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- Robert Higgins
I agree with the relaxation techniques. Actually drinking water or sucking on something like a Lifesaver helps me with the panic attacks. I've practiced various breathing techniques that helps me calm down and focus. It has something to do with maintaining appropriate oxygen and CO2 levels in the blood. Ginger ale helps with settling the stomach. Make sure it's something that has real...
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- Jill is sugar free
iPod, books, movies, and a vivid imagination
- Shevonne
A neck pillow perhaps...some accessories that would allow you to get some quality sleep.
- Alex Scoble
sleep not gonna happen, as stated and explained earlier in the thread. :(
- Joe Silence is not dead
If you need clonopin to kick in quickly, let it dissolve under your tongue instead of swallowing. It tastes horrible but it does work fast. A nurse taught me this.
- Amy℠
i used to carry liquid vasodilator around that was supposed to be delivered like that...sublingually. i was warned that if i ever had to take it (for heart attack) i should expect to pass out almost immediately.
- Joe Silence is not dead
WTF?!? we had an agreement that i would pay $100 per month toward the total of this medical bill, but now you're sending me an "account past-due" notice?? we'll see about this!
to top it off, i've reconfirmed this arrangement with them verbally every other month, but now they're threatening me with a collection agency! *insert very foul language here*
- Joe Silence is not dead
spoke with them by phone. as i suspected, one hand doesn't know what the other is doing. gotta love incompetence. up the butt with a pipe wrench!
- Joe Silence is not dead
Do you have written documentation of your regular past payments?
- Sparky Crocker
AMPLE. also, they didn't deny that i've made timely payments in the amount agreed upon.
- Joe Silence is not dead
"This is exactly what the world needs: Another taser. This one can be fired using a standard 40-millimeter grenade launcher, which gives it a 197-foot range—three times the range of the XREP. Supposedly, it's non-lethal. Some disagree: There is a known risk of severe injury from impact projectiles, either from blunt force at short ranges or from hitting a sensitive part of the body. That's what security researcher Neil Davison says. Given the strength of the grenade launcher, it sounds logical. On the other side, Wes Burgei—an engineer at the US Department of Defense's Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate—says that the device is designed to "reduce the projectile's mass and mitigate the impact forces on the target through innovative projectile-nose design." Whatever. I bet the target would prefer this to a bullet round. The development cost for the military taser is $2.5 million, but it'll be totally free for soon-to-be-incapacitated victims worldwide."
- Joe Silence is not dead
from Bookmarklet
what the world needs now...is taser guns. giving you a heart attack from 197 feet.
- Joe Silence is not dead