Mornings work this way...

I thought I'd sleep in this morning. I came to this conclusion last night, when I discovered that my alarm clock was broke.

I bought the alarm clock years ago, back when I lived in my apartment, after several disastrous attempts at using freeware alarm clock programs on my PC. You see, my bedroom was so small that my PC always ended up rather close to my bed. It was too small and I had far too much furniture (as I later learned when I moved in with Vicky). So, I downloaded these freeware programs, which I thought were neat because they were supposed to awake you with MP3s on your PC. But the bastards would never go off at the right time! You'd think a computer would be able to keep the time, but... I ended up at Sav-on, where I paid $5 for a battery-operated clock.

You can imagine how long I mourned. I looked at the thing and thought, "Oh well."

Anyway, I've been doing pretty well with going to the gym. I've gone every morning this week - so why not take a day off? Why not find out what this "sleeping in" is all about?

I woke up at 3:40.

I'd been having this dream for a long time. It's very fuzzy to me now. I was waiting inside a building and whatever it was I was waiting for was causing me a great deal of stress. WAIT! I just remembered. I was in the old Linksys building. So, there - throw in whatever subtext you want.

I thought about just getting up and going to the gym. I'd normally wake up in an hour, anyway. But, no. I wanted a taste of this "sleeping in" stuff. I went back to sleep.

I woke up at 5:05.

I can't remember what woke me but I knew it was too late to hit the gym. (Normally, I'd already be there.) I didn't want to disturb Vicky. So, I took my hand... and found Alacrity next to me. I found Suki snuggled up next to my leg. I found - ah, there she is. My Vicky. Sleeping soundly. Nothing bothers her sleep - I'm so envious.

Back to sleep, I went.

I knocked a large, butcher's knife off of a stainless steel counter onto a tile floor.

Vicky said, "Did you hear that?"

I said through my sleep, "Yeah, I accidentally knocked a knife on the floor."

I don't know what she heard but I'm sure she was wondering about me after that.

I remained asleep... and then, Vicky's morning routine made it impossible not to be awake. Vicky loves her snooze bar. Seriously. She French-kisses it. It's rather disturbing. She hits it at 5:30, 6:00, 6:30, 7:00 (approximately!)... how does she keep sleeping? I couldn't!

Oh well. For me, 7:00 was "sleeping in". I'd had all I could take. It was time to get up.

One of the benefits of working out faithfully is that my clothes are fitting me better. This morning, I was even able to fit into one of my "thinner" shirts. And I didn't have to suck my gut in so much to fit in my pants.

(You're loving hearing this, aren't you?)

But, when I went to weigh myself... nothing. No change. I hate this. I know how it works and I hate it. One morning, in a couple of weeks, I will suddenly drop 5-10 pounds. Until then, the scale will refuse to show a change. Until then, I'll gauge it by my clothes.

Vicky and I are going to spend some time with Sean and Megan tonight. If you don't know Sean & Megan, here's a brief intro: Megan was Rosa's best friend and Sean and I were never friends. Then, the divorce struck. Sean and I became fast friends. I met Vicky. Megan likes Vicky. Somehow, I've gone from doing "couples" things with Rosa, and Sean & Megan, to doing "couples" things with Vicky, and Sean & Megan. Very strange for me. Oh, and did I mention that Megan hates my guts? Yeah, that always makes things fun.

(Vicky insists that Megan no longer hates my guts. Now that Vicky's in the picture, supposedly, Megan only dislikes me intensely.)

So, we'll all be hanging out tonight.

Sean wants to play games. Oh god, no! Couples games! These aren't the types of games I like, like "Pin the Tail on the Whiskey" or "Ring Around the Martini". No, these are those god-awful PictionarTriviaScattagorScrabblesque kinds of games. You know - BORING ONES!

Listen, I know of a great game that couples can plan or that two couples can play, that lots of people can play, all at the same time! Why can't we play my game? I just don't understand!

But that's the way it works when you're part of a "couple", you do stupid thing that you'd otherwise never, ever do... like walking into Nordstrom...

After I was ready to go, I went to give Vicky a kiss. She was balancing our checkbook at her computer. I said, "Don't forget to put the money for my PC in my account." (We have many different accounts. We're like Dick Cheney, only with far less money, more scruples, and not hated by all.)

Ah, money. My PC has been giving me problems lately, so I'm looking into making some changes. I'm hoping I can get my PC situation worked out soon and get back to playing World of Warcraft... you know, instead of those couples games...