Snow Day

The good thing about waking up at 2:30 a.m. and being unable to fall asleep is that when you finally decide to go in to work (2 hours early) at 4:00, you're not at all too sleepy to get out of bed like you usually are. This is how I spent my morning. In spite of the 6+ inches of snow blocking my exit, I trudged to work in the wee hours because I figured getting paid would be better than rolling around in bed failing to get comfortable.

If it hadn't been for the snow, I wouldn't have woken up so ungodly early in the first place. You see, I have this wonderful alarm which wakes me up gently every morning by slowly brightening a lamp over a half-hour period. I find this an infinite improvement over the near heart attacks that used to ensue every time my auditory alarm went off in the middle of my deep sleep. They sell these special clocks for anything from 40 to 200 dollars, but I am a cheapskate, and I didn't want all the fancy features that come with a typical alarm clock, including an LED display (lately I shun these because they shine in my face and make me constantly aware of how late/early it is when I am unable to sleep). Fortunately I was able to find a device for just 20$ that simulates this sunrise using the power of my own bedside lamp. Unfortunately, you can only set it by plugging it in at bedtime and letting it run on its internal 24-hour timer. It works fine after the first use, but if there is a power failure because of a snow storm, and you forget to reset it, it does crazy things like wake you up at 2:30 in the morning.

Following my unwelcome (though gentle) wakeup, and my trek to work, I didn't have much to do. The delivery truck was late to the store, so after packing all the backstock I had available, organizing the cheese case because the cheese packer had called out, and cleaning my area, I was quite ready to leave after 4 hours. I usually only work 4 hours on Thursday, anyway, but usually those 4 hours are over at 10, not 8:30. Just as I was rolling out the door, the truck rolled into the parking lot. I pretended I didn't see.

I got home from a complete day's work before my housemates had even gotten out of bed for theirs! That's always a pretty gratifying feeling. Following this, I had a 1.5-hour nap, and now, at 1:30, I am ready to begin my day!