The first alarm goes off at 4:30 AM; my iPhone by my bed, showing with a dim black text on silver grey background the current time, overlaid with the standard iOS popup message:
Early alarm! [Snooze / OK]
I normally hit [Snooze], then [OK] 9 minutes later when it goes off again.
The second alarm goes off at 5:00 AM. I usually get out of bed this time, pausing when I’m sitting up, facing the curtained window, long enough to pick up my iPhone, adjust the brightness higher and turn on normal sounds again.
I turn on the light in the living room, turn up the thermostat, then go in the kitchen to start the coffee: two scoops of my special blend of half espresso, half decaf, plus 14 ounces of filtered water in the reservoir. I don’t put out the coffee the night before because Jesse, my coffee guy, said that can kill the flavor, and I believe him.
I start the maker then take care of business in the bathroom. This includes weighing myself: I have to step on, then step off and wait until the scale shows 0 lb, then step on and wait. I always exhale deeply and hold it while weighing myself, just in case. And I do this whole process until I get the same number twice in a town, for accuracy.
By this time the coffee is ready, so I go back into the kitchen, smelling the fresh brew. I pour a little raw sugar in my favorite cup (a white one from Marie Laveau’s House of Voodoo in New Orleans) along with a small measure of half-and-half, and pour the first of two. Then I break out the frying pan (it, along with most of the other dishes or implements to be used in making this breakfast, can be found in the wooden drying rack on my kitchen counter right next to the sink; I usually only washed them the night before and left them to air dry) and put the pan on the largest stove coil, and bust out: the hickory-smoked thick cut bacon, one large egg, the loaf of Franz whole-wheat bread (made without HFCS), some catsup and a small jar of raspberry or blackberry or marionberry jam.
I fry up the bacon, turning it over occasionally with my metal tongs, until it’s done not-too-crispy. While it’s cooking, I pop a slice of bread in the toaster; when it pops up, I put it on my plate and spread a pat of butter on it to melt into it while I finish the bacon. Also, I crack the egg into a 1 cup measuring cup and scramble the Hell out of it. The slices of bacon go on a paper towel on the cutting board that’s laying across the rightmost stove coils.
I drain most of the bacon grease into a jar that sits on my oven top, then pour the egg into the pan and quickly rinse the cup in the sink. The eggs get scrambled, soaking up bacon grease and bacon bits, then spatula’ed onto the plate. Jam gets spread on the toast; bacon gets placed between eggs and toast, and a little catsup (organic, non-HFCS catsup) gets squirted onto the eggs. A dash of pepper on the eggs, and I grab the plate, my coffee, a fork and a cloth napkin and go sit at my computer desk in the living room.
While I eat, I surf: I read through my Twitter feed, my email, and my Google Reader feed to catch up on stuff and things. While I do this, I have my HappyLight on right next to my laptop.
I surf for at least a half-hour, or until about 6:15 AM, whichever is longer. Lately, I’ve been listening to music from my “Happy” playlist while doing this. Happy-sounding music helps me start the day in a good mood.
If I’m feeling ambitious, at 6:15 AM I wash the dishes (by hand; no automagic dishwashing machine in my apartment). Lately, it’s hit-or-miss if I have the energy for this.
Something I’d like to do more often is to open up a text window and simply write off the top of my head for 15-20 minutes. I’ve done this a couple of times in the last couple of weeks and a topic always surprises me even if I have nothing in mind when I begin. Maybe this will be part of my normal morning routine soon.
If I don’t wash the dishes, then sometime between around 6:15 AM and 6:40 AM (depending on energy level or interestingness of the internet) I will go into the bathroom and shower, shave (a couple of times a week) and brush and floss my teeth (twice a day - seriously), and put my contact lenses in. My slippers go next to the bathtub; my bathrobe goes on the hanger on the shower curtain rod next to the towel I’m going to use. I keep the bathroom fan on, to help with removing the damp steamy air that causes so much mold and whatnot.
Then into the bedroom to dress.
Once dressed, I check on my laptop for the next bus (I take the #70; the stop is just around the corner from my apartment), then close the laptop, put it in my messenger bag, put on my coat (three seasons out of the year), grab my keys from the hanger right next to the door, go back inside to double-check that I turned the heat down (most times), then lock the door and head out to the bus.
