Is Winter Over Yet?

My willpower broke.

I've found that I'm more likely to get up at the 2nd time the alarm goes off than the first, so I purposely set my alarm 10 minutes early. I hit the snooze button the first time, but although I close my eyes to go back to sleep, I'm really slowly waking up. By the time the alarm goes off for the second time, I'm anticipating it. Usually, this system works well for me.

This morning I thought I hit the alarm for the first time, then dozed until it went off again. But when I looked at the clock, it was ten minutes later than it should have been. I think I didn't even wake up for the first one. Since I was already late, it was too easy to say that it wasn't worth it, roll over, and sleep for another hour. And dream:

I went back to high school, although I'm not exactly sure why. Brian and his friend Mike had both got their GEDs instead of graduating when they originally went, and Indiana nullified GEDs, so they had to go back too. The high school was located in Mishawaka, deep in the neighborhoods behind where I lived when I was 7.

Since Brian shared most of his classes with Mike, we went separately. I got there so early that no one had opened the building yet, so I sat at a picnic table outside. As I sat there, 3 highschoolers joined me, two girls and a boy. I talked with them for a while, and they were friendly enough

Brian and Mike walked up to follow the crowd in the door, both wearing backpacks. Mike went in, but Brian went around the table to give me a kiss and tell me to have a nice day. One of the girls was mad that I hadn't introduced them to my husband, but I didn't have time to explain. We had to rush inside because school was about to start.

Inside the school, the main hallway was in the shape of a half circle. I was carrying my bag, my purse, and my long coat while trying to look at the brochure that the school gave me. The brochure was blue and cream and had my classes in it, along with information about the school and a listing of the classrooms. I went to the classroom that I thought I was supposed to go to, but it was dark, and a teacher that I didn't think was mine was turning on the lights. I dropped all the stuff in my arms to get a better look, and found that I had an art class in classroom AE.

I followed the hallway around past the math classrooms, the gym, and the science classrooms. Lorraine Ball, who was also going to this school, saw that I was lost and came up to help me. She pointed out the classroom at the same time I saw it, and I thanked her for her help. But I realized I didn't have any of my stuff. So I followed the hallway back around to where I had dumped it, and ran back to the classroom. The crowd in the halls was practically gone at this point, and I was afraid that I would be late.

When I walked in the room, everyone else was sitting at big art tables. I looked around for a seat and sat in one towards the back of the room by the door. The kid at the table thought I was the teacher at first. I laughed to myself at the fact that I could be the teacher since this was my profession, and that this class should be a piece of cake. I was looking forward to doing art projects that I wouldn't normally do, and knew that would be the challenge.

The teacher came in. He was bald on top and had bushy gray hair that stood out on the sides. He was passing sheets of paper out to the students at the table. When he came to our table, the kid that was sitting across from me asked if he was going to introduce me because I was a new student. The teacher purposely didn't mention it. He didn't do introductions or anything, he was starting out with a pop quiz.

I thought the quiz would be easy, but the questions made no sense. I got mad at the teacher for not really teaching art and for spreading mindless dribble instead.

When I woke up, I was trying to complete the questions.

It was nice to have the extra sleep. I think I'm just trying to do too much, with writing the book for Nanowrimo, trying to exercise in the morning, tai chi 2 nights a week, Re-Startup Weekend, and studying for tax class which is on Saturday mornings. Then there's a real Startup Weekend the first weekend of December. Add to that this dreary, rainy, cold November weather, and I really could use a vacation.

I'd love to be sitting on Siesta Key Beach in the sun, reading a book. I'd get up every so often to play in the waves, then come back to my book to dry off in the warm sun. Then for lunch, I'd get a big mojito or margarita.

Ahh!