Downright Pavlovian.

My alarm didn’t ring yesterday and I woke up at 6:59am, a minute after what was suppose to be the second snoozed blaring of the bell. I lay there for a minute pondering the virtues of either resetting the alarm and snoozing 10 extra minutes or getting up and facing the day.

After a few seconds of sleepy consideration I opted for the second alternative. Thirty seconds later I crawled out of bed, edged groggily to the office and began the morning ritual. Slump heavily into chair. Flick on the computer screen. Stretch. Crack, pop and snap. Yawn. Connect to net. Yawn some more. Check weather. Shiver. Moan. Shiver some more. Glance quickly at news. Yawn. Make way semi-coherently to bathroom. Turn on water. Stretch. Hop in. Yelp as the cold water hits toes. Scramble back out and readjust temperature. Step cautiously back in. Lather up and rinse off. Mumble disjointed inanities to self. Stare blankly at tiles for a few moments. Turn shower off. Grope blindly for towel and wrap about body. Grab toothbrush and paste. Squint at it. Realize that it’s green. Green?!? Wait for mind to make connection between green and Hugin’s toothbrush. Replace toothbrush and pick purple. Brush teeth. Knock knee on bottom of sink. Curse mildly. Trod off to room and spend a mad five minutes looking for articles of clothing that have mysteriously moved during the night. Find them under a pile of other clothes. Get dressed. Snag lunch. Make a mad scramble out the door.

By 10 am, after the large morning coffee I am awake, coherent and ready to get on with the day. This of course lasts just past lunch when the body shuts down to process food, bemoaning the lack of bed, pillows and a rather large horizontal surface on which it can rest itself. By 5:00, just as the fresh arctic wind hits my face I am bright eyed and bushytailed ready for the adventure back home. [read: ready to curl up into a ball on the couch, and while the away the hours till bed, reading, puttering about and playing on the computer.]

Yesterday however, 10 o’clock came and went without a dent in the mental fog. 11 rolled around, and the two coffees consumed did nothing to dissipate the murk. By 5:00 I was ready to crawl back into bed, where I truly belong and wonder off to la-la land. Yes, my daily ritual had been thrown all decoct by the failed ringing of a bell.