two more morning routines

1. 6:47. I usually set my alarm clock to pointy times, the non-round numbers that fool me into wakefulness. My room is corner windows and merciless light. It segues into warm water, clothing planned the night before. Liberal Radio wars with French press or stovetop espresso or manual drip, and I steel myself for the rituals that precede other rituals: my hour or so to write or draw before duty calls. The best of mornings, I forego home brewing and join legion wannabes in the neighborhood cafe. We are playwrights and limners and designers trying to be ourselves, fighting off the imminent closure of night.

2. alarms on my and a's watches go off at 7:30 and we turn them off. i usually turn off a's because he's rarely bothered by the alarm. we continue to sleep. a second alarm goes off on my watch at 8:30, this is so i remember to take my no-baby pills. that's when i wake up, take the pill. pee, usually. i turn on my computer and check my gmail (basic html view!), the news, and world cup and wimbledon updates (lately). i'm trying to get off facebook. by the time i'm done it can be as late as 10. at some point in there, maybe while my computer is booting or the internet is connecting, i'll make and eat breakfast -- pseudo-muesli cereal with almonds and ground flaxseed. with yogurt, preferably, or buffalo milk if we're out of yogurt. i take a multivitamin. a will also probably have woken up at some point and he'll shower and eat. ideally my bowels will be ready for a shit at some point within the first 1.5 hours of waking -- if they're not, usually i'll go the day without it. i'll brush my teeth after i've had my chai. sometimes i shower (bucket bath) with a, depending on if i'm at a natural stopping point when he's ready, but sometimes i don't shower until noon or so. after futzing online, i study (microbiology lately) for a couple hours (for the boards) and then work on my thesis, which i currently hate and feel inadequate at. by about noon a will have started cooking lunch and we'll eat around 1:30.
   
   that's the usual, but if there's no water, i'll have to go to the outside tap and fill up three buckets, every large pot we have and all 5.5 water bottles. if there are leftover dirty dishes (because there was no water the night before either) i'll bring all the dishes out there to clean, too. at these times i feel like a real woman of the world. if there's no electricity, i can't use the computer, so i'll start studying first and/or just read (Faulkner right now).
   
   unless we're without basic utilities, i usually forget i'm in India until a) a turns on the tv or b) we go outside.