Last night I got to bed at about 1:30am or 2am (as per normal for me). Then I woke up at 7:30am to attend a conference in Europe via Zoom (where it was late-afternoon/early-evening). Then, after 1 talk, I had class. So, by 9am I was back in Corvallis (where it was morning). I had an hour to get some more coffee in me, and to check a couple of assignments. Then I had a meeting via Zoom in France at 11am (where it was early evening). With the talk, I was tired but I didn't have to talk. Which was good, because all of the non-Pacific Standard Time people were well awake. I went to a e-social hour with members of the conference the day before (see previous post), and I was trying to be.....social. And it just hit me how I was just at a totally different level of awake-ness than the people who were actually in Europe. So, today, after the talk, I was back in Corvallis with people roughly at the same level of awake-ness as me (I'm pretty sure the entire world has some non-zero level of insomnia right now). Even with an hour to go from very-caffeinated to ridiculously-caffeinated, I still wasn't able to fully simulate awake-ness enough to be at the same level as the person I was conversing with in France. Then I had to write the mini-essay.
While writing, I realized just how depleted my energy-level felt. I thought about how I had basically just spent the whole morning trying to be at the same level of alertness and awake-ness as people who were in a completely different hemisphere. In one case, I was trying to do that while speaking a second language. Having had jetlag before, it struck me how similar jetlag and my then-current state were. It was exactly like the mental disorientation that comes with jetlag without the physical effects of jetlag. Hence, "Zoomlag".
Anyway, I think it's a fun word.