I'm groggy this morning, because I stayed up too late and then didn't get up in time to take my usual morning shower. I'm lost without that morning shower. The shower wakes me up and clears the cobwebs, somehow signals to my brain that it's okay to wake up now in a way that simply opening my eyes and getting dressed and consuming cup after cup of tea can't. I feel grungy without it, physically and psychologically, even if I took a shower the night before (like last night).

The two-minute rinse-off and wake-up shower is not a stranger to me, but there wasn't even time for that. You see, a two-minute shower still consumes ten minutes of my morning, because of the accompanying ritual. Turning on the hot water and waiting for it to wend its way to my end of the house and then fine-tuning the knobs to find a reasonable temperature takes about a minute. On the other side of the shower we have towel-drying, interrupted by the cat wanting to have the water in the sink turned on so that he can drink, then face moisturizer, deodorant, body lotion, hair gunk -- none of which I can survive the day without.

The answer, really, is to not stay up so late -- although midnight will seem not seem too terribly late to most people. Consider, though, that I'm normally in bed with my book by 10 and too tired to read anymore by 10:30 or 11. But the siren song of the newly arrived Sopranos season 1, disk 3 got to me. After ceramics studio, 24, and That 70s Show.

The Sopranos has come late to me, seeing how I don't have cable, but I am in love. It's imaginative, well-written, and messy, but I think my favorite part is how they've used real-looking people rather than model types to play all the characters. I applaud HBO's genius in making the show available on DVD (and VHS), and hope that other great shows will follow. (I just saw that Twin Peaks is starting to become available . . .) And it's a perfect marketing ploy, as it wins new fans to the show. I know now that if I ever get around to getting cable (and I likely will soon), I will be ordering HBO -- the Sopranos and Six Feet Under will make it worth the $15 or so that it will cost.

Netflix, I think, is one of the greatest things since sliced bread. If you're not familiar with this service, despite the recent ubiquitous advertisements, you should be. It's $20/month and you can have three DVDs out at any one time. You make a list of what you want sent, in what order, and when you send one back, they send you the next available one from your list. Postage is paid, and the disks come & go by first class mail. The selection is incredible, and includes all kinds of documentaries and other weird stuff you'll never find at Blockbuster. You can spend a little more money and get more DVDs out at a time, if you want. Simple. Brilliant.
- posted by Lori @ 2:48:00 PM | permanent link | |