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January 29, 2004
Sun, sun, go away
It is no secret that Girl-E and The Morning are sour enemies. From an objective standpoint, she supposes the morning could be considered serene, crisp, blah blah blah, but she usually spends most of it cursing, staring blankly, and running into things. It is totally unnatural for her to be conscious before 11:30, no matter what time she went to bed, and so the expectation that she should be thinking, writing, or having a conversation with anyone before that point is really just ludicrous.
In pennance for yesterday, however, she did manage to get to work at 9:03 this morning. People really should know how much danger she puts herself in every day by attempting this, evidenced by the picture-perfect ass-dive she took down her icy granite front stairs this morning. Those of you who have been to her house are familiar with the Fun House Stairs of Hell, so you can understand how well her day began.
When she got off the train, the shocking realization that it was only 8:54 led her to take the luxury of ducking into a cafe where they have actual milk for the coffee (the free coffee at work only comes with Mini-Moos, those unnatural and criminally nasty "no refrigeration needed" half-and-halfs). Deciding that she needed something more than the packet of instant oatmeal in her purse, she also threw in a blueberry-bran muffin and a banana. She wasn't thinking about much except how hungry she was, drowsy and crabby she felt, and lunch (since visions of impending food tend to orbit her head hours before it materializes). She thought how pleasant it would be to meet up with Girl-C at a trendy new lunch place, and swore that she will be getting the bibb lettuce and grape tomato salad, and not the ham and onion pizza, for reals.
As these highly profound thoughts swirled through her sludgy brain and she went to add the milk in question, she noticed a disheveled man sitting at the counter near the dispenser. He wasn't eating, but was taking a penny to each of the 20 or so scratch-off lottery tickets piled in front of him. He was not complaining that he had to get up in the morning for an interesting job with his own office. He wasn't trying to convince himself to choose the healthier of the $9 entrees. He very probably wasn't thinking about what to write in his blog today. He was existing with a small and desperate hope that there has to be some way to get the good life where it has failed him before. He was not calculating his odds, nor reflecting that even a $20 win would not make up for the amount he'd put in over the weeks, months, years. He was not playing the scratchers in the way the rest of us play the ring toss for an oversized stuffed fish. He was persevering, irrationally, but persevering none the less.
Girl-E is still woozy, and grumpy to be awake, because her circadian rhythm persists in its folly. But every so often we need these reminders. Though not as much as we all need something real to hope for.
Posted by The Twins at January 29, 2004 10:14 AM
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Comments
Dude, you know in The Princess Bride when they've kidnapped Buttercup and they have to go up the Cliffs of Insanity? That's totally your stairs. It scared me to look at them.
Posted by: nikita at January 29, 2004 10:27 AM
so what you're saying with this post is, go with the ham and onion pizza. yeah?
Posted by: kate at January 29, 2004 11:30 AM
Uhh... yeah... totally.
Posted by: EV at January 29, 2004 11:35 AM
ouchie! i hope your ass isn't smartin too much after that nasty fall!
i'm with you on the whole morning thing. the bf is a morning person and at times it makes me want to kill him with a blunt object. :-)
Posted by: kat at January 29, 2004 02:42 PM
well said.
Posted by: jules at January 29, 2004 02:55 PM
"People really should know how much danger she puts herself in every day by attempting this, evidenced by the picture-perfect ass-dive she took down her icy granite front stairs this morning." I love this line and I feel your pain. I totally understand the volatile relationship with mornings which is why I am looking for a night job. I drive to work, making my sojourn all the more fraught with death defying gauntlets to run.
Posted by: Sue at February 4, 2004 03:20 PM