A day in the life

I awake at 7:00 AM because Darling Wife leaves for work at about a quarter past, and I like to see her before she goes. Besides, I used to be a morning person before late night studies, city life, and a night-owl roommate altered my sleeping habits. I still feel best if I get an early start, so I rise at 7:00, though I have nowhere particular to go.

After spending several minutes uncovering the birdcages and tending to seed trays, I read the local paper cover-to-cover as I eat breakfast. This is something I have longed to do for years. I enjoy staying abreast of national and world events, and I feel closer to my community when I read the local news and advertisements. DW used to read the paper on her bus-ride to work when we lived in Boston, but I walked the few blocks to school and work. I was seldom well-informed. When we moved to CA, I began to take the daily paper, but I hadn't time to read it. It piled up until it was all horribly out of date, then I would purge and start the pile again. I thought it would be wonderful to actually read them now that I have made my escape from the tower. But alas, as with so many things in life, it was better to want it than to have it. I am usually aware of any major news before I read the paper, and small news doesn't change much in a day. Furthermore, reading about something every day makes me lose interest in it. But I read it nevertheless.

I finish breakfast and the paper at around 8:30 AM and move into "the study" to check my e-mail accounts. It is a matter of minutes to delete the spam. I have few if any substantive messages, but if I received one, I answer it immediately. Having finished with e-mail, I read the blogs of a few friends and check the job listings on the university, the city, and the county websites. This used to occupy some time, but no longer. It only takes five or ten minutes to scan for a listing I haven't already seen. On the rare occasion that I find something promising, I shoot off a resume and wonder if I will ever hear anything back. Then I wander onto random websites, anything I can think of, really. I just want to pass some time. I try to remember things I have wanted to look up or places I might like to research. Somehow, this manages to vaporize more time than I ever expect, but I never feel like it was time well spent.

At around 10:30 AM, I make up the bed and clean up last night's dishes from the kitchen counter. I contemplate sweeping the floor or undertaking other tasks but usually decide to hold them over another day. Why not?

11:00 AM is usually when I get around to my daily work out. Sometimes I do yoga, others low-impact aerobics. And some days I ride my bike to the library instead. Despite my desire to be healthier, I am at the point where it is a struggle to convince myself to go through with the workout. It has not yet reached the point of habit or need, and it has been long enough that the newness and excitement has worn off. Usually I go through with it, if only to stave off boredom.

11:30 AM takes me into the shower. (Must remember to use the pumice stone and foot scrub.) Do I need to shave today? Probably. Do I have to? Not really. Most of the time I skip it.

Noon, check e-mail again. Then, aimlessly kill more time on Youtube or some other pointless website. Or make a blog post. Think about lunch. Perhaps I will eat. Or maybe I'll just grab a peach or something in a bit.

At 1:30 PM, I move back into the living room, check on the birds, and continue my project to recopy and reorganize the recipe-card box. Sometimes the mail has come, and I can waste a little time going over it.

DW should come home at around 3:30 or 4:00 PM, so I begin to think about dinner. I wonder whether I should start cooking, but I usually continue with my project until she walks in at about 4:30 PM. We each discuss the day we've had and decide what to have for dinner.

At 5:15 PM, I cook dinner; we eat; and then we lounge at the table reminiscing about something or simply unable to work up the energy to rise.

By 7:30 PM I'm tired of sitting with dirty plates in front of me, so I clear the table. DW wanders into the study and slowly circles work that she needs to complete. Eventually she may land on some bit and do a little while I put in a video (primetime shows are still in reruns) and resume my project.

At 8:30 or 9:00 PM, I turn the lights off over the birdcages and try to get the little ones to quiet down for the night. (It's easier to cover them up later if they have already begun to roost.)

DW goes to bed at 10:00 or 10:30 PM, so I check my e-mail one last time before covering the birdcages and joining her. I read until about 11:30 PM, and then I settle into sleep myself.

Can you imagine spending months or years full of such trivial sh**? I can't. Well, I just heard the sound of the mailman dropping off today's junk mail. It's one of the highlights of my day. Time to go sort and discard.