Leaving on a Jet Plane... Don't know if I'll be sane again

I've worked for a Japanese animation convention called Acen in Chicago for the past decade. I've traditionally spent much of my time in programming, but over the past couple years have transitioned into guest relations. Before anybody laughs or pulls the weeaboo/japanophile card, keep in mind that planning any kind of event where over 15,000 people converge is quite the task, more so considering that nobody on staff is paid for their work. For me, the reward is when people get excited over a guest announcement and give huge thank yous for doing this. That feeling is priceless.

Of course, the job is not without its share of stress, even with the best of outcomes. In this case it is the board of directors authorizing myself and another member of the guest relations acquisitions team, June, to attend Tokyo Anime Fair in three weeks to more or less meet with representatives of various animation companies. It's great for the convention and will hopefully give us more options in future years to get interesting guests of honor from overseas. When it was approved at a meeting, both of us were quite happy and immediately came up with any number of potential plans.

Five minutes later it hit me.

Tokyo Anime Fair takes place from the 25th to 28th of March and I have a plane ticket to depart for Tokyo for school on the 31st. Each way to Tokyo is approximately 15 hours with departure from Milwaukee. I will conduct three ways between Tokyo and home over the span of a week, meaning 45 hours hours on a plane. I am dreading the kind of jet-lag I will endure with that kind of turnaround.

Tokyo Anime Fair is going to be great. My mental condition after those flights and complete unbalancing of my sleep pattern will be debatable. My only hope is that my sleep pattern is irregular enough that I may actually be unfazed with the ordeal and come out of this relatively unscathed. I am not counting on it, but can hope.

I love Acen, and for that I am willing to test the limits of my body to travel around the globe. I've hurt my back and knee over the years with them, what's a little sleep deprivation at this point? I have a kindle and a laptop- bring on the horrors of air travel!