Another set of old earbuds

In my current sorting out of my room, I came across something that I had long forgotten about: the set of earbuds I was given to keep (from the airline company) on my family's flight from the United States to Amsterdam. Where were they? Packed away in a bag that I once used as my main travel bag.

Prior to today, the only time I had ever used them was on the aforementioned flight so I could listen to the onboard entertainment system. I tried them in my phone this afternoon: they worked, but their sound quality is lower than that of my new earbuds; plus, they are extremely susceptible to the bug in my phone's headphone jack.

I won't be using these earbuds in my phone again. Instead, I'll likely use them with my Sweex Vici MP4 Player. One of the problems with my Sweex is the inability to lower its volume; these earbuds are naturally quiet, so the Sweex's problem will be a bonus in this circumstance.

"Goodbye" - Kristinia DeBarge

In the spring into the summer of 2009, one of my favorite songs on the radio was "Goodbye" by Kristinia DeBarge; it is the first single from DeBarge's debut album, Exposed. "Goodbye" received frequent airplay for a couple of months before almost vanishing entirely from my local radio station and its programs; Debarge herself has vanished, too, as she is supposed to be releasing a second album, but I've read little about it and she is hardly mentioned in any news sources.

I'll be glad when she releases a second album, but for now we can enjoy this track:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4576ymdmemQ

"Goodbye" is also a song I listened to (twice) on the flight from Portland to Amsterdam, although the sentiment expressed by DeBarge in "Goodbye" is not how I felt about leaving the United States!

24 hours

In early June of 2010, my family and I moved from the United States back to the United Kingdom; in November of 2012, the United States held its 57th presidential election. The two events by themselves are completely unrelated to each other, but there is something significant to me that links them.

When I woke up in Portland, Oregon for day of our flight, I stayed awake for around 24 hours. I was not bored when waiting at the airport, I was completely alert on the nine-hour flight (I was the only one of us not to sleep on the plane), still not tired when in Amsterdam or even when we had to wait for well over an hour in Manchester for my grandparents to arrive in the minibus to pick us up. It was only during the minibus ride the exhaustion caught up on me and I had to fight to keep awake (before then, it was unprecedented for me to sleep in a vehicle).

On the day of the presidential election, I woke up around 7:00-7:30am; I wanted to stay up for the results, and since the United Kingdom is five hours ahead of the East Coast of the United States, I knew I would be staying up for the night. Sure enough, I sailed past 3:00, 4:00, 5:00, and 6:00am without any drowsiness; the lack of sleep caught up with me when I reached the 24 hour mark of being awake, and by then the result of the election had long been announced. I again found myself fighting to not fall asleep, and ended up going to bed for a few hours at the time I usually get up.

From these two events I learnt that if I want or need to keep myself awake for 24 hours or more I can, but once the situation I have to be awake for concludes, the need for sleep hits me...and with a vengeance. For the minibus ride, our flights were long over and we were back in the United Kingdom; with the election, I knew the main result by the time 24 hours came around. With the main goals resolved, why remain awake?

I'm sure there will be many more occasions for me to keep awake for 24 hours or more, only to rapidly fall into a deep sleep when the event is over. The worst part is not keeping awake or even, in itself, falling asleep at the end...it's sleeping during the daylight that bothers me!