Good Morning Earthquake

No matter how hard I tried to open my eyes and get out of bed, the mattress’ gravitational pull overpowered me time and again. As I repeatedly slipped in and out of consciousness, I began to question whether or not it was possible that the universe was actually conspiring against me. It was all too perfectly orchestrated to be the result of a random series of chaotic events; I suspected the existence of a metaphysical collusion between Mother Nature and Ole Lukøje. Outside my room, the constant rain gently tapped on the roof and windowpanes creating an energy field of white noise in surround sound with kryptonite-like effects. Any efforts made to resist the magnetic forces around me were swiftly lulled by the “Shhhhh! Shhhhh!” sounds of the slowly driven cars on the wet asphalt below. Tucked in tightly beneath a nimbostratus blanket, I succumbed to the languor induced by its penumbral half-light and softly drifted off to sl….

I dreamt about waking up and, when I did wake up, I thought I was still dreaming. Disoriented and drowsy, I blurred the lines between reality and fantasy and became increasingly more restless and anxious. I felt as though I had been hit by a melatonin cocktail: engulfed in sopor as the halothane vapors consumed me. As I tossed and turned wrestling this state of delirium, the room began to shake, as though it were fighting alongside me. I forced open my eyes just in time to witness the final extirpative tremor with which the house and I both suddenly released our dormant energy and thrust the Sandman’s spirit out. As everything around me stabilized, I felt the vigor return to my body through a shockwave that radiated from my core. With renewed strength and restored vitality, I finally broke free from my sedentary state and felt alive again.

Author’s note:

The above story is true. I somehow achieved synchronicity with the planet. Seeing as how it may never happen again, I had to write about it in an attempt to preserve the event as experienced through my altered state of mind. Yesterday morning, I felt like I was on the verge of getting a cold, so I decided to give in to my exhaustion and sleep it off as long as possible. However, when I am sick, I tend to oscillate violently between sleep and wakefulness to the point of mild paranoia. My intermittent streams of conscious and unconsciousness led me to wonder about outside forces controlling us through our perceptions, and I started to envision this tug of war between reason and imagination as personified through Science and Folklore (if it hasn't already been established, let me go ahead and say it now: yes, I am a dork).  When I finally did snap out of it, the room was swaying due to an earthquake near the Izu Islands, 249 miles SSW of Tokyo (the third one I have felt in 3 weeks). While previously not something I had ever experienced, earthquakes have now seemingly become a weekly occurrence, and thus, an integral part of my life in Japan…so, I might as well get used to them hanging around.