UP EARLY, POSTING LATE

   by Gina Sestak

Good morning, gentle readers.  The question for the day is this:  What time do you get up?

I'm in the habit of getting out of bed around 5:00 a.m.  but this morning was a little different.  I got up at 4:00 instead.

I know some people need a bomb going off to shake them out of sleep,

 but I usually wake up at 5:00 naturally.  There's an alarm clock back-up, just in case.

Back when most of us had farms, roosters filled the alarm clock slot,

but I'm a modern city dweller, so I make do with a cat.





And there's the rub.  The cat is usually pretty good about knowing when I want to get up.  She'll wander into the room a few minutes before the alarm is set to go off and make sure I'm awake.  But not today.  Today she woke me up at 4:00.  I got up and chased her out of the room, then tried to go back to sleep for an hour.  The cat came back at 4:20, more insistent than ever.  I got up and chased her downstairs.  By then, I figured that I might as well stay up, and so I put the coffee on and started trying to learn Hindi.  [Those of you who have been following my posts know that I do a Pimsleur Hindi lesson every morning.  It feeds my Bollywood addiction.]

BTW, while we're on the subject of sleep and bedrooms, here's a film clip.  This is a dream sequence - the dark-haired guy is suspicious of his wife's relationship with the singer in the white suit.  Enjoy.

But, back to this morning.  Lest you think it's cruel to chase the cat, there is one thing you ought to know:  she wants me to chase her.  Honest.  Kala's favorite thing is play and, when the available humans aren't in a playful mood, she will do whatever is necessary to make us chase her.  She wakes me up and bites my ankles or, if all else fails, meows loudly beside where her favorite toy (a "cat dancer") is kept until either I or Theresa give in and play with her.

Here's what a cat dancer looks like:

If you'd like to know how it works, click on this link.

OK.  Question.  If I got up so early, why am I posting late?  Because the internet is slow.  It's been telling me it couldn't find the server, which means I couldn't get to Working Stiffs or access free clip art to decorate this post.   I'm on-line now, though.

You're probably wondering why I get up at 5:00.   On the days I work I rarely have to be there before 8:30 and the Hindi lesson could be done anytime, so why get up so early?  Because early morning is my favorite writing time,  when the world is relatively quiet and my mind is not too cluttered yet.

So here are my questions for you.  What time do you get up?  When do you write?