Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Waking up made easy(er)


Everyone who knows me will testify that I am a night owl. I will happily stay up until 2 or 3am but HATE getting up in the morning with every fiber of my being. I realize that's strong language, but I have strong feelings here.
Unfortunately, the summer job I got requires me to report at 0 six thirty hours in the morning. I knew I was going to need help if I was going to be civil, much less functional.
Since my egg and toast are ready at about 5:30 (my mother is very sweet), I need to be moving by 5:15. Rather then having a single alarm that goes off, then dragging myself out of bed and growling at everyone within reach; I have set up a three step system.
1. My clock radio comes on at around four thirty. It's tuned to a music station, and the volume is turned way down. I've never woken up to it, but it's enough to start pulling me out of really deep sleep.
2. At 5:01 my cell phone alarm goes off. Since the music has been on, I usually hear it pretty quickly, but I don't even attempt to get up or even open my eyes. I smack it to make it shut up, then reach up and turn on my reading lamp. The light further penetrates the fog, and I start to actually wake up.
3. Seven minutes later my cell phone goes off again. Sometimes I smack it one more time, but I'll usually get up then.
By the time my feet hit the floor, I've got nearly a 45 minute head start on full consciousness (it can take an hour and a half to get there), this means it doesn't take as long for me to get dressed, my outfit is less likely to look like it was assembled by a blind person, and most importantly, I don't end up growling at my family.

12 comments:

Blessed said...

She really is telling the truth here... she's an absolute bear in the morning without her 3 step program...

:) love you sis!

Anonymous said...

I think I'm going to try this on my husband! :)

Anonymous said...

Thanks for your comment yesterday on my blog! Your reason is precisely why I love Mint! I get tired of checking so many places for information and having to remember so many passwords!

Anonymous said...

That is a wonderful system. Normally, I wake up to my cell phone, and then my faithful dog alerts me to her needing to go out by scratching my arms with her paws. Rite Aid has this alarm clock that has a flying ball that you must retreve in order for it to shut up. Might look into that one...

Anonymous said...

DO YOU THINK THIS WILL WORK FOR MY TEENAGERS?

The Random Muse said...

anonymous,
It's certainly worth a try. If you're waking them up, my recommendation is to turn on the light as early as possible. Light and music both 20 to 30 minutes before actually attempting to get them out of bed might be helpful.
Come back and let me know how it works and if you make any refinements.

Damselfly said...

Wow. You are dedicated.

Cell phones are good alarms. Once after a hurricane and our power was out for more than a week, we lived by our cell phones, including using the alarm to get us up!

John said...

Random Muse, thanks for commenting for my giveaway! And I'll check out the tip!

Scribbit said...

Wow! 4:30--that's amazing. I should get up earlier, I'd get much more done I'm sure.

Anonymous said...

I'm just like that! I'll stay up 3 hours later to get something done rather than wake up 30 minutes earlier. Maybe one day the world will work on our timetable!

Thanks for stopping by my giveaway! Come visit anytime!

The Random Muse said...

Damselfly,
Don't give me too much credit, if I don't get up and go to work, I won't be eating six months from now during school. Food, even future food, is a powerful motivator.

ispeakbeanish,
Let me know if you can think of a way to get that trend moving, it would be a major improvement to our society :).

Anonymous said...

I like the multileved system you have there, it's very through :P