Day 2

Hm. I'm maintaining my definition of this habit to form/break to be me getting up with the alarm in the morning, and most importantly, not snoozing it to crawl back into bed. Yesterday, I noticed that it took 15 minutes for me to get from my bed to the alarm clock. This morning, it was 30 minutes. I do not recall myself getting out of bed to snooze it prior to the moment that I turned it off. I am certain I did not previously snooze it, but it seems off that I would have both allowed this first alarm to go for 30 minutes without hearing it as well as not hearing the 2nd alarm that also goes off within that time frame. This makes me wonder how subconscious my little problem is.

I believe that continuing to notate my progress on this blog will help me to get past the habit of snoozing. The person who invented the snoozable alarm clock was an evil genius. "5 more minutes" for me has translated into more than an hour before. If I can keep going on this, I will be cured of my snoozing problem by December 1st or so. Blow it a single day and my 66 days resets. This snoozing problem has cost me hundreds in lost overtime because I couldn't get out of bed on time. It contributed to my losing one of my jobs before. I need to kick the habit.

2 of 66. 1/33 of the way there. Not sure how encouraging that is.

Sonnet V

V:
The darkness wraps itself around the house
Again it comes, the sanctity of night
The quiet comes now for the man and spouse
The breathing slows and all the world is right
And then to sleep she wants to hear his voice
She says she finds it soothing and sublime
And long ago she found her tale of choice
It always starts with once upon a time
Though she prefers romance, this story's not
Instead it is a tale of elves and rings
Of hobbits, dwarves and men and lots of plot
Of towers, councils, orcs, and missing kings
Why should she wish to hear a tale so deep?
Cause every time, it puts her right to sleep.

Sonnet IV

IV:
Oh what a joyous feeling to be loved
To find myself in someone's realm of need
To think by me someone could be improved
And in a marriage I'd somehow succeed
Sometimes it's hard for me to understand
That I'd be so important to your soul
And still you know your wish is my command
So I can be the part that makes you whole
I'd always heard the two would become one
I never really thought of what that means
But what our God has made can't be undone
Which means we are a pair like geeks and queens
The world can run while we are standing still
I find I need you too and always will

Day 1

Yesterday, I read an article on cracked.com (I love their articles, by the way - informative and witty) where it covered various ways that our brains prevent us from breaking bad habits or starting new ones. One of the more interesting pieces of information to come out of that article was something measurable: 66 days. I don't know what it is about 66 days that allows someone to start or stop a habit, but I worked out the numbers and that comes out to right around the 1st of December from here. I thought about my various habits and what I would want to break and I came up with something that has plagued me for years, and gotten me into quite a bit of trouble. That would be oversleeping.

You know how this scenario goes, whether with you or someone you know. The alarm goes off. ou hit the snooze and keep sleeping. That's the purpose of the snooze button. I take this to an epic level. I can snooze an alarm clock for more than an hour before finally getting out of bed. I'll even ignore the buzzing of the alarm clock for a time before even responding to it. We all have habits to break, but I think this, for me, is the biggest one. If I could get a handle on, specifically, waking up with the alarm clock, I would be a better person for it.

So this morning is day one. The night was rough to begin with since there was a storm, and our scardy-cat 70 pound lab-german shepherd was whimpering all night due to the thunder. This made me wake up multiple times during the night, but my criteria is to awaken when the alarm clock goes off, rather than responding to the whimpering. I'm not sure if I succeeded or not. I have a blur of a memory where I might have snoozed it once, but it's not certain. Again, rough night.

So I got up with it, to the best of my recollection, and rather than snoozing it, I just turned it off. This act has served before to force me to stay up, so I figured I'd employ it now. It took me probably thirty minutes before my mind reached a decent cognitive state, which is fine in this early stage. My brain wanted nothing more than to go right back to bed. It tried. Oh, how it tried. But I prevailed today. Only 65 days to go before it should be a new habit.

I just have to make sure to kill the alarm for Saturday morning. Even one day's slip can ruin the entire process according to the article, so if I forget to unset the alarm for Saturday morning, I will have to wake up bright and early Saturday.

I also figured another habit that would be decent is writing on this blog, and since I'm endeavoring to get up earlier, I thought I'd type to give myself something firm to do. Here we go.

Sonnet III

III:
What can I do without you in my life?
I find the stars above don't shine as bright.
What can I do without you in my life?
The day descends too quickly into night.
How could I live without you in my world?
The colors fade to grey before my eyes.
How could I live without you in my world?
The beauty all around me slowly dies.
For you within my arms I'll always hold
I'll never let you stray, I'll keep you close
I'll gaze into your eyes till we are old
So that you'll know it's only you I chose
I'll always keep you here and still repeat
That only within you am I complete

Sonnet II

II:

I do not need to write another song

I do not need to write another book

Because I've never want to take that long

And those things always need a second look

So what I want is something I can give

To you before the moment passes by

And also something that you can relive

And that you know I never will deny

For all of time and space cannot compare

To what within our world that we have made

The world cannot dissolve the love we share

Like time itself can never be delayed

No matter what the future has in store

Together we will stand forevermore

Sonnet I

I've taken to writing some sonnets for the Queen. As I rarely post anything interesting, I figure I'll share these for anyone who happens to drop by. It'll give a more consistent update pattern while I do it. I'm a Geek of many things, and I've found this form of writing is very refreshing and mentally stimulating, and I know the Queen doesn't mind being my muse at all.

I:

I have to think about the things to say
For all the things, they rest within my heart
For when I write, I tend to lose my way
And it's so hard to find a place to start
Is it just love that keeps us moving on
A simple feeling and a simple thought
I know sometimes I can be so withdrawn
And never tell you everything I ought
I know the things I feel within my soul
What more could I say that has not been said
And I could say that these are things you know
And that I've meant them since before we wed
Still you can know that all my words are true
I always have and always will love you