NaNoWriMo - Day 1

This year may not be my year either.

Last year, I was only part-time and I still couldn't manage the drive to get much further than 3,000 words or so. The year before that I was unemployed and was pretty much using copy/paste on old IM conversations from my past and STILL couldn't make an honest 50,000 by the end of the month. This year - I'm a full-time salaried employee who often stays later than he should.

It doesn't bode well.

Anyway, here's pretty much what I have done on Day 1 - though it's just a modified version of an old beginning to something that never even made it to a middle.




A Day in the Rut of AaronBSam (Working Title)

Phase 1

It's always between 4 and 5am that my day truly starts. There's always something rousing me from sleep, peaceful or otherwise - forcing me to verify that it is indeed not time to get out of bed, but rather to do more tossing and turning as the minutes tick by as the hour of true awakening draws nearer. At some point, sleep prevails, which is followed seemingly instantly by the sound of droning. My radio is constantly set on a gospel station - which usually results in waking up to angry men yelling about how I'll be going to hell or yelling about how I should believe in Jesus. It's not something you can easily sleep through. Also, the volume is turned up rather high - to ensure that it’s something not easily slept through.

But it will always be something you can easily smack with your hand as you fumble for a snooze button.

5:30am; 5:37am; 5:44am; sometimes it even reaches 5:51am. I love a clock-radio that snoozes in 7-minute intervals. While most of the world enjoys the finite nature of waking up to an alarm set to the 5-minute or 10-minute break, I think there’s something to be said for odd times. That’s too much of a “beginning” for me, and it’s like giving myself the option of when I choose to start my day. If that were the case, my answer would almost always be “later.” That is why I enjoy waking up at an odd time to a morning that feels as though it is already in progress. I also love having a clock that's set 12 minutes fast - even though the fact that I always look at it and re-calculate the correct time kind of defeats the purpose. You're supposed to set a timepiece fast so you'll see it, think it's the correct time, and then arrive at places early (or less late) because you think it's later than it actually is. With me and my clock, it's fast and I always recalculate to compensate. But in that recalculation, I'm THINKING and AWARE of the time, which is reminder enough to not be late.

I don't need cheap tricks and lies - I just need constant honest reminders.

Once awake, my day almost begins. I get out of bed, put on my Lazy Clothes (an official outfit worn at home, always when alone, where nobody will care about my fashion/comfort except myself), and select an outfit for the day. I lay them out in the living room on a chair, and apply fabric freshener, whether it's necessary or not. I do laundry much more often than I used to - once every week or every other week - but old habits die hard, and change is almost always a bad thing. Once they're placed on the chair and have been given exactly five sprays with the fabric freshener, I head back to the bedroom, remove the Lazy Clothes once more, and turn on an episode of downloaded TV while I sit in bed and watch. When our area finally had Comcast service offered to us, I’m sure that a lot of families got cable TV and the cable high-speed internet. I figured, “Why pay for both when the internet gives me access to the cable TV shows and more?” So thanks to some choice downloading, I’m more addicted to the TV than ever. Downloaded shows don’t have commercials, either. Between 6:12am and 6:22am on the clock (so between 6am and 6:10am), I pause whatever I'm watching and take my shower.

That's about 15 minutes on average, depending on whether or not I'm using conditioner.

Some days, I find myself wishing that I were able to take time and relax and enjoy myself during periods like shower-time. It’s not about my schedule – I can alter that whenever I want in order to get the same result of an end-time – it’s about my lack of ability to really relax. These are some of the thoughts running through my head while in the shower – often leading to the lack of relaxation in and of itself. I emerge from the shower and towel off, and then put on my Lazy Clothes once more to retreat back to the bedroom to finish air-drying while watching the rest of the show. Rather, it’s not that I’m air-drying, I’m just wearing a different form of a towel. At 6:32am on the clock (6:20am real time), I shuffle off to the living room and retrieve my clothes for the day, then dress while still watching downloaded TV. I’ve got the art of finishing a show as I head out the door down to a science. I would probably call it the science of teeveetimendology. At 6:35am on the computer clock (which varies between 3 and 5 minutes fast, depending on how much I’ve given it to do in the past few days) I grab my daily items out of my Bucket (where all necessary items should go - you never lose things if you constantly keep them in one place and one place alone) and pocket them. I’m a firm believer in the Bucket system, and advocate it to friends, who remind me that I am a socially-inept nerd. I remind them that the term “nerd” practically by definition implies that I’m socially-inept. Removal of my 7-Day CTA pass from the wallet takes place as I put both in the left pocket. My ID Badge, keys and cell phone go in the right pocket. I go and open the door to see the temperature and decide whether to wear my sweatshirt, coat, or neither. Today it seems to be about 45-degrees outside, so I grab my sweatshirt and load those pockets. Digital camera goes in the left pocket (if it’s not still lurking there) and my iPod goes in the right pocket. Lastly, I do a final check. Left pocket, right pocket. I go to my computer, log off of Yahoo, set my away message on AIM, and then set the thermostat to its lowest point (no sense in heating an empty apartment). On sweatshirt/coat days, I check the status of my pocket paper towel to see if it needs replacing. You wouldn't believe how many times a day a well-timed nose-blow will improve your breathing situation.

Head out the door and lock it, then off to the bus stop.

(To be continued.)