I am not a morning person. But sometimes I try to be anyway. There is something to be admired about a person who can get up well before dawn, write the next chapter in her novel, then go off to the office at 9:00am. Some very famous and successful novelists did that for years.
I got up the other morning after tossing and turning for a couple of hours and decided to just get to work. I was doing it in my sleep anyway. It was 4:45am. I felt fairly focused. I thought, "I can do this! I am awake! I could be a morning person!"
I sneaked down to the kitchen so as not to wake anyone up, and hit the brew button on the coffee maker that was not set to go off for another hour. Then I sneaked back upstairs to begin to work. I closed the door over on the office instead of closing it so that Eva could still get in (otherwise, she would howl at the door) and then turned on the light. I walked over to the computer and turned on the monitor. I was still feeling fairly refreshed and ready to go at it. I was going to march right through this deadline.
I logged in, but something was wrong. The computer wouldn’t let me in. Oh. I mistyped. Dang. I was having trouble seeing the screen, or the keyboard. You see, my eyes wouldn't open all the way. That damn overhead was just too bright. I blinked a few times. Is this what those morning people go through every morning? They have to fight through the bleary-eyed stage after first turning on the light and before they can start their day? Yuck. Maybe I don't want to be a morning person!
After about an hour of blearily entering edits, I was awake. I sure hope I made the edits I thought I had. I did it without coffee. I did it without orange juice. I did it without being able to fully open my eyes.
Maybe getting up at 6:30 isn't so bad after all. This 5:00am stuff is for the braindead. At least, that's how morning people must feel at this hour. They are human after all ... aren't they?
Posted by ellen at October 27, 2003 09:56 PMMan, when I saw the title I was sure she was talking about me again.
Good bit, Sweetie!
Posted by: David Wiley at October 27, 2003 10:22 PMDrat! I thought it would be about Dave too!
BTW, other than the last few days where I'm fighting a losing battle against a nasty cold/flu bug, I routinely get up at 4:30AM to be at the gym by 5:00AM when they open the doors 3 days a week. Admittedly, I'm not at my sharpest at that hour but that's probably a good thing considering what I'm facing for the next hour or so. I've found that 25 minutes on the treadmill pretty much wakes me up enough to lift weights for an hour or so. Don't know if you want to become a lifter, but 15-25 minutes of cardio might allow you to fully open your eyes. (Either that or convince you that your brother-in-law is truely nuts!)
Posted by: Scott Ferris at November 1, 2003 09:58 AM