Thursday, September 29, 2005

100m Dash

I set my alarm clock for 7:00 a.m. but get up at 7:30. I take 30 minutes in the bathroom. I try to go about my morning abolutions faster but I just can’t seem to go any quicker. I look at the clock in the bathroom. It says 8:15 a.m. I should be out walking to the bus stop to catch my 8:30 bus or listen for the quarterly weather update so I know what to wear for the day. Clad in a towel, I walk around looking at my messy pile of clothes and think, "What should I wear?". Putting off my choice until I put on my essentials, I walk back and forth from room to room where my daily ritual takes me.

I put on my make up where the mirror is. Unfortunately, it’s not in my room. My closet is in the hallway. My room is near the other bathroom, not the guest bathroom near the room where the mirror is in which is separated by the clothes-donning semi-long hallway. The clock says 8:20 a.m. but I really don’t know which clock says the right time. There is at least one in each room and they all tell different times depending on who sets them.

The bus schedule is taped to my bedroom door. I take a quick look. I walk back to the mirror room and see out of its window that the 8:30 bus had just passed by.

I go back to the closet, look at my clothes again. I hurriedly choose something that matches. You ask, "Why don’t you choose what you’ll wear the night before?" And miss out on the fun of rushing like mad in the morning? No way! Anyways, I finally choose something and it has crinkles, not full blown wrinkles and so I have to rush to the ironing board to make some last minute crinkle-eradication. But the iron is not hot enough so I sit first in front of the mirror and put some face powder on or comb my hair before I can actually plow the blouse. Then back to the ironing board. After my clothes are ironed, I can put the final touches on my make up and rush out the door.

But before that, I have to check if my pack lunch is indeed packed and if I have my umbrella in case it rains. Do I have a hanky? Let’s see…Then, I get the urge to pee!!! I have to go though, no time…or maybe just a little tinkle. Bathroom break! No time to drink water. Nothing in my stomach.

I rush out the door. I have no idea what time it is! I walk to the other side of the street and walk looking back if the bus is coming. I see the oncoming bus from the other direction. In Geneva, this is the sign that your bus will soon arrive because buses usually stop within minutes of each other at the same stop but in opposite directions. (Read: The bus is coming!) But I have a blind corner so I can’t see if the bus towards my destination is actually coming. From a far, I can hear a murmur of what is sometimes a truck but actually a bus. Stealthily a familiar gust of wind brought on by the somewhat 15m bus hits me. The bus is coming and the traffic light is green.

I begin my race taking a deep breath. No time to go down like real sprinters do. I just lunge back and make a movement suggesting I will soon move forward and for the nth time, I am running my daily 100m dash!

1 comment:

tontoronton said...

i also wake up 30mins after the alarm goes off. so...set yours at 6:30. hehehe, be careful dashing your way through. luv yah.