Wednesday, May 2, 2007

Morning Routine

If you haven’t read Cicada’s last post, go do that first. I was thinking about blogging about the subject several days ago (after we first had the conversation), but then my laziness took over and I didn’t. So here goes. Keep in mind that after that conversation, I decided it was time to change my morning routine, so here’s what I used to do.

1. Wake up (1–5 minutes). At my last job I used to get up at 7:45 and leave for work at 8:45 so I could be there at 9:00. At my current job, I continued the habit of getting there at 9:00, but then I started getting up at 7:15 for some reason. Anyway, I have a CD player alarm clock, and I always get up when the first song is over.

2. Shower (25–35 minutes). This is probably what eats up the biggest portion of my time. I’m very groggy for a while when I wake up, and it’s nice to just stand there and space out. Also, I shave in the shower, so that sort of justifies the ridiculously long time I spend in there.

3. Get dressed (2–5 minutes). This only takes longer if I have to go get something out of the dryer (because I’ve been too lazy to take things out and put them away) or if I can’t figure out what to wear because my warddrobe is so small that it feels like I’ve already worn everything in the past week.

4. Do my hair (2–5 minutes). Just a little mousse or gel (or both), and voila. It probably never even takes 5 minutes, but I said that just to be safe.

5. Breakfast (0–15 minutes). I don’t eat breakfast as often as Cicada apparently thinks. I hate breakfast, too, but I also find I’m better off if I have something. Sometimes I have cold cereal, but often it’s just a shake or nothing at all.

6. Pack a lunch (5–10 minutes). I hate packing a lunch. I feel like it’s the same thing every day, so I often putter around and poke through the fridge and try to see if there’s anything other than cheap frozen food or sandwich fixings. Usually there’s not, though there was jambalaya the other day. Mmm, jambalaya.

7. Brush my teeth (2 minutes) (“Oh my gosh, that’s three times as long as it takes me!”). What else is there to say?

8. Read (0–15 minutes). You have no idea how relaxing it is to sit down and read for 15 minutes before running off to work. I love having a nice, leisurely morning. Since snooze never works for me (I just can’t fall asleep again that quickly, and if I do I still wake up groggy), the next best thing is to relax a bit before jumping in the car and heading off.

But anyway, after the conversation with Cicada, I started to realize just how much my morning routine had expanded (I’d added an entire half hour) and how staying till 5:30 every day just wasn’t worth it. I’ve started getting to work between 8:30 and 8:45 now (I’m still tweaking my revised routine, I guess). Taking my time in the morning was nice and all, but it’s so much better to leave at 5:00 and have more of my evenings free. Not that I do anything with my evenings, but it’s a start.

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Jonathon
Jonathon Owen

COMMENTS

4 thoughts on “Morning Routine

    Author’s gravatar

    Shaving in the shower? Dude, that’s seriously old school.

    I used to do that, but I wear glasses so even with a fog-free mirror, I couldn’t get the lines on my facial hair straight. Even with a full beard, I can’t get the lines good enough just by feel. Plus my facial hairs grows in 17 different directions so it’s hard to

    But I wish I could shave in the shower — it leads to a good shave because your pores are all opened up and your whiskers are nicely softened, esp. if you run the shower as hot as I do.

    Author’s gravatar

    I’m so excited that I’m inspiring more morning routine awareness.

    This morning I packed a bag of strawberries. That’s the closest I come to ever packing a lunch. Sometimes if there are leftovers already in a lunch-sized box, I grab those.

    And that’s why you spend less money in the cafeteria than I do.

    Author’s gravatar

    William: I’m confused. You wear your glasses in the shower? Or your eyes are so bad that without your glasses, you can’t see well enough to shave in the shower?

    Cicada: Yeah, go on and take all the credit. As if I’m not the one who started our conversation the other day!

    Author’s gravatar

    Without my glasses I can’t see well enough to shave in the shower. When I have done it, it’s been totally by feel.

    —-

    I *have* to pack a lunch. And I don’t eat sandwiches — it has to be something I can heat up in the microwave. Some weeks I’m good and make a big pot of something on the weekend that I eat all week; sometimes there are leftovers; sometimes I get desperate and have to take canned soup.

    I wish there were good places to eat on campus, but there aren’t. There’s a mall just a few blocks away, but the only good place to eat there is Chevy’s and that’s expensive and takes too much time.

    My ideal job would be 2 blocks away from home so I could go home for lunch.

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