» 14 Hours Of Sleep, Oh I Couldn't Say No

Because I was up for 32 hours, I needed a lot of sleep and hey presto, I slept for 14 hours. It was grand.

Why was I up for 32 hours? Because I'm mad. But also because there was no point in going to bed, as I had to get a 4am train to Stansted Airport in the early hours of Thursday morning.

Wednesday was spent out of the house, most of the day. I took my parents to Manchester Airport around noon and went to Manchester afterwards to meet up with my friend Rose. We just bummed around and went to all sorts of strange places, including a shop that had a lot of crazy stuff. It had a card that said something like 'sorry I wrote the word 'tw*t' on your garage door' and lots of really funky key rings. One was a skull whose eyes lit up when you pressed a button on it and a demonic laugh came out. There was a duck one too that quacked and a dolphin that squeeked (is that a word? *shrugs*). Funky stuff.

When I got back from Manchester, around 7ish, I decided to stay up for the whole night as I wouldn't get much sleep anyway. Also, I had to put my duvet etc into storage somewhere, courtesy of my landlord, as I couldn't bring it on the plane with me. So off I went to Sainsbury's and picked up a 6-pack of coke to aid me in my quest for no sleep.

I kept myself amused by watching Dylan Moran's 'Monster' stand-up, thanks to someone on Youtube who'd uploaded the whole thing in 10 parts. The trains were on time so I got to the airport when I needed to be there for.

So everything was going well.

Until...

It was time to pay for the 5 kilos of excess baggage. I had no money. Ryanair demanded £60. My card was declined three times so I had to text my dad and ask him for his credit card details. This was against the law, as he had to be there and sign the papers himself if he was to pay for it but I told the clerk that unless we did it this way there was no way I was going to get anywhere for a long while. So she did it and I thought things couldn't go any worse.

Then I got to airport security. No metal on me anywhere. BEEEEEEEEEEP! Could you put your arms and legs out, sir? They frisked me. I was checked my a very camp man so I was a bit uncomfortable with him touching me in various places. Then they went through my bag, which has like 7 compartments. So that took ages. And they came across this tiny table watch I have, that's quite heavy and in the shape of a rocket. This could be considered a dangerous weapon. I thought he was joking. But no. So he had to talk to three colleagues, none of who were of any help. In the end I told him about my problems paying for excess baggage and that I (by that point) hadn't slept for 24 hours and he was quite understanding and said we could forget about the watch.

I was dying for a drink and attempted to buy a bottle of water for 75p but my card was declined. 75p. I didn't even have that. Ridiculous!

Luckily I found a €2 coin on the train when me and Lee got the train to Manchester to see Bill Bailey and for some reason I'd kept the coin and I was able to get a tiny can of pepsi on the plane for it. So that was one of the few highlights of the day. The other one was that I was the last person in the queue to get on the plane but then they changed the gate at the last minute and I sprinted to the new gate and was one of the first people there.

I'm feeling really disorientated and icky after sleeping for 14 hours but I needed it and I'm sure I'll get back to normal soon enough.

But yeah that was my hellish day of travelling!

Glad you got some sleep. Doesn't sound like a fun time. Though I sleep 14 hours straight more than I probably should. I alwasy feel great afterward though.

Oh my goodness, Choccster!! What a horrible trip! Where were you going? Home? I'm glad you were able to get 14 hours of sleep after all that!

How can you sleep that long, Quibus? It's probably your youth...ah, to be young again...now that I'm old, I'm lucky if I can get 4 hours of sleep at a time!

Yeah I was going home. I really miss Rose now, though! At least she loved the necklaces I got her for her birthday. She said she thought they were 'soo cute! ' If I can just make her miss me a lot over the next six months then that'll put me in a very strong position

I'm glad Rose liked your gift, Choccster, and hope she misses you just as much as you miss her! Will you be home for 6 months? What are you planning to do during that time?

No, I'm spending a total of 10 weeks at home. First, six weeks at home, then, three months in Finland as part of my MA and then four weeks at home before continuing my MA in England. So I won't see her for a while

Wow, you're going to be quite a gad-about, aren't you, Choccster!!! What is the focus of your MA?

It's an MA in Screenwriting Film. Should be good!

Oooo, yeah! Keep us posted on what and how you are doing!

Glad things worked out for you to use your dad's card for the extra baggage! You have to be really grateful for that! Perhaps next time you travel, you should walk with emergency cash?! Just a thought!

I know the feeling...I'm usually a heavy packer so last year when I tried to get on a plane to NY from FL (back when they still allowed you two bags checked free on US domestic flights) one of mine was overweight and my friend had to help me do some serious reshuffling between the two bags to get them both ok. I was glad I didn't have to pay extra that time...but I did pay extra another time when I had a carryon that was too heavy and BWEE (now Caribbean Airlines) asked to weigh it and made me pay for an extra without even giving me a chance to see what I could do to make it lighter. Can you imagine they made me pay for a whole extra bag when the thing was only about 5 - 10 pounds overweight?! I don't see why they should fuss, I'm 10 pounds lighter than most people on the plane (unless they're under pre-teens)! What if I gained 10 pounds, would they make me pay extra?! It's not like the bag was over-sized!! Ok, I'll stop this tirade now!

I can't remember a time when I got 14 hrs sleep even when I'm sleepy I can't usually sleep that long...I generally tend to awaken by 10am no matter what time I went to bed, and I almost never sleep during the day. You're both lucky that you can do that! I almost envy you! Sometimes oversleeping gives me a headache....I guess you two don't have that problem!
The sleep deprivation thing was partly your fault though! You should never decide not to get sleep before you travel! That's the worst thing you could decide to do...that's what I think anyway. I always make sure I try and get some sleep, (even if it's the obligatory 3 hrs) before I travel. You just never know what's going to happen! The night before I left NY this year, my friend Kar was trying to get me to stay up because I had an early morning flight, it was tough just trying to convince her I needed the sleep, but I did get some sleep in spite of her! It would have been nice to stay up, I know and enjoy the last few hours of my time in NY, but I know I would have felt yucky the whole of the next day for it and that wouldn't be good! So she stayed up by herself, probably dozed for an hr and then saw me off in the taxi.

So anyway, I hope Rose will miss you lots too, Choccster and they do say absence makes the heart grow fonder!!

Emergency cash? Good idea but I was out of cash, completely broke hehe.

Completely broke...I can relate to that!

Hear, hear! That will be me soon *sniff*

I'm trying to pay off my credit cards from the wedding, and I didn't even go into debt that much compared to what most parents do on occasions like that.

As for Rose, she is now in a relationship with some dude. My friend Flo went to visit her and did some detective work on my behalf. Rose told her she wasn't looking for anyone at the moment. So Flo advised me to back off for a bit, which I did. Two weeks later Facebook told me that Rose was in a relationship. Never mind, eh? Plenty of other fish in the sea. Fish that want to be caught by me, hopefully

Well, silly Rose. You are right, though, about there being more than just Rose out there. All in good time; just be patient and work hard at attaining the goals you've set for yourself!

Instead of making a new thread about this, I decided to recycle this one.

Here goes...

On Thursday last week, I got to meet my idol, Kevin Smith!

Cool! Who's Kevin Smith?

Wow awesome!! He's a director!

Writer & Director, actually. And actor (although not according to himself).

Written and directed such films as:
Clerks (also acted)
Mallrats (also acted)
Chasing Amy (also acted)
Dogma (also acted)
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (also acted)
Jersey Girl
Clerks II (also acted)
Zack and Miri Make A Porno

His latest job will be 'A Couple of Dicks' starring Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan. This will be the first film he only directed and didn't write.

He's also acted in The Jennifer Gardner film 'Catch & Release', Die Hard 4 and Southland Tales (written and directed by Richard Kelly, who also wrote and directed Donnie Darko).

Do you regret asking who Kevin Smith is yet?

Oh and his daily blog turned-book called My Boring-Ass Life is a NY Times Best Seller. He also wrote a comic called Batman: Cacophony which is also a NY Times Best Seller.

Well, I'm at 100%...I've not read or seen anything he's done! Go figure! No wonder I didn't know who he was. I'm glad you got to meet him.

And we can't forget that he was in NUMEROUS episodes of Degrassi as he was filming Jay and Silent Bob Go Canadian, Eh!

Haha this is true. That's even more obscure than his own stuff so I didn't think I should mention it. For fears of spreading even more confusion

Well, consider the confusion spread...thanks a lot, Quibus!!!

Haha! But clearly it's important. It's Degrassi, after all.