morning glory

February 18, 2004
11.25a

i work as a software engineer. what this means for me is that although my company's business hours are theoretically 9a-6p, i enjoy a certain degree of latitude as far as when i actually need to arrive at the office. generally i shoot for 9.30, arriving somewhere in the middle of the herd. as long as i make it in by 10 nobody says anything, but i try not to push it that hard more than once or twice a week.

lately i have been playing a game called "see how late you can wake up and still get to work at an acceptable time." i'm still working on the name, but i'm getting quite good at the game itself. it goes a little something like this:

7a - alarm goes off, open one eye and look blearily around. yeah, still way too dark/cold/rainy/morningish to go running. reset the alarm.

7.17a - unable to go back to sleep. pick up one of the six books stacked by the bed. turn off the alarm.

7.42a - sleepy again from reading in bed. decide to take a short nap. reset the alarm.

8a - alarm goes off again. now deeply groggy, hit the snooze button.

8.07a, 8.14a, 8.21a, 8.28a - hit snooze button again. bargain with self...i don't need to eat breakfast here, i can get something at work. do i REALLY need a shower? etc. repeat as necessary.

8.35a - fling self from bed, panicked, pawing desperately at alarm clock's off switch. sprint for bathroom.

8.45a - emerge from bathroom with all basic hygiene and grooming tasks complete. what didn't get done gets skipped. on mornings such as this, extra trips between bedroom and bathroom just waste time!

8.46a - put on clothes that were mentally selected during shower.

8.47a - somewhere around here is where things fall apart. zenlike automaton state of getting it done is lost. the clothes aren't right, or water! i'm thirsty and i need to drink some water! once the momentum goes, it's all over.

8.51a - struggling to get back on track but the clothes are really all wrong. change once or twice. why is there a direct relationship between how late i am and how dissatisfied i am with my clothes?

9.02 - okay, done, dressed, ready. make sure i have all my stuff: cell phone, ipod, fast pass. the sine qua non of the urban commuter.

9.03 - lock front door behind me, turn, see bus pulling away from bus stop a block away. damn! walk to bus stop, narrowly missing the pile of i-don't-wanna-know-what near front steps.

9.11 - see bus coming down the hill towards the stop. it's packed. will it stop? ... damn! it's that cranky lady who never stops.

9.16 - this bus is even more packed, but the driver stops anyway. oh lovely steamy human miasma. jostle for position, try not to fall on anyone this time.

9.47 - arrive at work with bagel and coffee from downstairs. i'm not the last one! and boss isn't at his desk today! i win!

- GAME OVER -