No time to say Hello, Goodbye

Today I woke up an hour later than I usually do. And then I went back to sleep.

I could have jumped out of bed, frazzled, thrown on something that was just lying around, and raced to my train. Or, I could have taken my time, showered, ironed some clean clothes, had a bagel and orange juice, and leisurely walked to the station. I'll let you guess which plan I went with.

I normally arrive here at work fifteen minutes early. Today, with the delay, I arrived ten minutes late. The lesson? I can sleep until 8:45am and still be fine (this is even with ten minutes of combing my hair so it doesn't look totally ridiculous. If I get my hair cut I'll be able to sleep for ten more minutes with the added bonus of not looking at all ridiculous).

So, faithful readers, I am passing this lesson on to you: Sleep in. Be late. Be like John.

Right, I haven't mentioned John before. John and I met in high school. We played hockey together. We would drive each other to or from school. Actually, my mom would usually drive us from school. I would usually get to school on my own. John only drove me to school when my alarm didn't go off, the shower broke, my brothers threw all my clothes in the backyard the night before while it was raining, and my breakfast cereal spontaneously combusted. When I was going to be late anyway, when it was go now, or don't go at all.

John was never on time. They made you stay after school to make up the time you'd missed - He was a regular in detention. I'd call his house at 8:30, he'd just be starting breakfast, sure he'd pick me up on his way to school, no problem. We'd arrive near nine o'clock (ish). I know this because I always wore a watch (not so much because being on time was important to me, it was a little, but more because I always liked to know what time it was at exactly the time it was). I would not have known if I didn't have my watch. Because John purposely mis-set the clock on his car radio. I don't mean "set it ten minutes ahead so you'll always be on time" or "forget about daily savings, just add an hour" I mean miss-set. I couldn't even do the math, something like add four horus, subtract seventeen minutes, or maybe subtract an hour add thirty-one minutes, or add one day, eleven hours, and eight minutes. It was nuts.

Why? Because John didn't believe in time. He explained it like this: "I don't let time rule my life. Things happen when they happen." Pretty simple. It's the reason I don't wear a watch now. It's the reason I took my time this morning. It's a good philsophy.

-Tom
recommended downloads:
The Old 97's, Cryin' Drunk
and
The Red Hot Chili Peppers, On Mercury