The Dharma Force

Delayed jet lag

Has anyone heard of delayed jet lag. This is the second time that happened to me.

There are 15/16 hours of time differences between China and U.S.

So it is almost exactly the difference of night and day. (Give or take 3 hours.)

My plan to adjust is very simple, when I got back here, I will not fall asleep the whole day. Then when the night came, I will be so exhausted that I will fall asleep right away.

The plan worked perfectly. I got back on 7/4 in the morning. (I left China on 7/4 in the afternoon. Talking about weird...)

So I worked whole day 7/5. I was slow and groggy, but that was probably just from getting old.

Anyway, I had to work the whole week including Saturday, and then I slept Sunday.

I mean I slept the whole day. I started 10pm on Saturday and I did not wake up until 3pm on Sunday!

Then of course, I did not get a wink of sleep Sunday night, and I was back with the same jet lag problem.

In the name of the sage Homer Simpson, I will say. "DUOOOOOOH!"

So I was sleep walking on Monday and tried the whole routine again last night.

Then I remembered, it happened to me the last time I came back from China. My jet lag did not actually happen until the second week.

Talking about weird!

Did anyone watch World Cup Soccer last Sunday? I had not been a fan for almost 16 years. It was pretty big in China, so I picked it up while I was there.

I will have to admit, soccer is long and boring up until the moment someone scored. Then it was very much exciting and unbelievable. (Of course, after that it fell back into long and boring.)

I saw a penalty kick by Beckham of England, (Who is the husband of one of the Spice Girls, and voted the most handsome man on the face of earth. So to all of you Johny Depp fans, ). A long and curved missile that was just perfect! It curved almost 90 degrees and slipped past the goalkeeper's hands and entered the net at the upper right corner.

Talking about Wow! And that was his trademark. He did it for the past three World Cup.

The goal kept England alive for another game.

I can see the appeal of the game, but I cannot sit through 90 minutes of it.

I was more of a NBA fan. I saw the last game of Heat vs. Mavericks.

Actually, I was not a fan of either teams, but there was a particular player caught my eyes.

Jason Williams of Miami Heat. He was not a star on that team with flashy Wade and powerful O'Neal. But he used to be my favorite.

Back in 1999, the year after Michael Jordon retired, NBA was at an all time low, the games were slow and boring, and there was not a particular superstar that could catch everyone's attention.

Then the Sacremento Kings came to stage. They were actually nobody at the time. The team was at the bottom, the new star was a troubled young man Chris Webber (Who did not want to be there, and rumored that he almost strangled his old coach) and a washed up center Divac.

Then there is a new point guard Jason Williams, a rookie they just picked up. He was a very good passer. He gave all kind of wild, unbelieavable passes. No look passes, behind the back passes, completely out of control.

All of a sudden, the game was exciting again! It was fast, it was wild and it was funny.

Wow! Did you see that pass? Oh, my god! How about that one! The shot clock was 24 seconds, and their pass and shoot was done within 10 seconds.

In that year, they reached the playoff, but they were eliminated in the first round!

The Kings reached the playoff every year after that. And everyone tried to emulate their style of play. From the New Jersey Nets to Dallas Mavericks to Phonex Suns. Everyone wanted to go fast and faster just like the Kings.

NBA even changed the rules to favor the guards like Jason instead of the centers and forwards.

It was amazing. But the Kings traded Jason soon afterwards because his play was too wild. It was entertaining but not suitable for a mature team wanted a championship.

Jason got traded a couple times after that. The Kings were not the same afterwards. They got better, matured, more controlled, and then they went downhill.

I was surprised to see Jason in Heat's lineup. He was the backup point guard behind Wade. When he played, he was very much changed. There was none of the flashy plays in his earlier career. He was a traditional point guard again.

Of course, then Heat won the championship, and he got a ring to show for it. It was kind of ironic that the Kings traded him in pursue of the championship, and he got there first.

Humm, let's see, I forgot something here. Oh, yes, a tip for all of you who needed to travel aboard.

When you go through Customs, regardless of which airport, and which nation, always go to the line that was furtherest from the direct path. It will be faster, trust me!

It is so interesting that it happened to me here and in China. I always picked the easiest, which is in the direct path that faced me.

And the officer, whether he/she is a Chinese or an American, was always the slowest. He looked through everything in slow motion, and checked everything throughly and slowly, then he would let you pass, while the furthest line was letting people through like a revolving door.

I don't know why that is. I suspect that the guy in the middle always got the heaviest load, or he always got the attention of the supervisor or something, but he had to be slow and through.

Oh, well, just a tip of the day. That and how to deal with jet lag.

I think I can hear myself snore at this moment. I need to get off now.

See you again!