"Meme" is just another name for "unoriginal material"

This weekend has not been inspirational blog-wise; I have been lazy. I'm using this idea from Yellojkt's blog (thank you). "The 24-hour meme":

5:00 a.m. For a long time, I woke up at 5:00 (or even 4:30) and went jogging for a half hour. But now since I ride my bike to work, I don't do that very often.

6:00 a.m. Time to be getting my stuff together so I can be on the road by 6:15.

7:00 a.m. Arrive at work, head to the bathroom to change into the corporate uniform: pantyhose, high heels, skirt, blouse, name badge.

8:00 a.m. The early reports should be run by now, and it's about time to answer the overnight emails.

9:00 a.m. Settle in for the workday, fielding inquiries, responding to (perceived) crises, holding up my end of the operation.

10:00 a.m. Time I leave for church on Sunday.

11:00 a.m. Time I eat lunch at my desk, while still working--that's because the coworker I share my office with goes to the cafeteria at 11--this way I can eat my crunchy cereal without bothering her. I read that "noisy eating" is the number 3 pet peeve at the office. (Number 1 is people yelling between cubicles)

12:00 noon Time I take my "lunch break" which usually means taking a walk--to the beach or just around town; I have a regular route that is 2.5 miles and goes over three drawbridges. That's a lot of scenery.

1:00 p.m. Time to be back from my lunch break--if I feel sweaty, I might spritz my mandarin orange-mango body spray. Body odor is probably somewhere on that office pet peeves list too--although nobody has complained and a few times when I have come in from walking at noon people have said, "you smell like fresh air!"

2:00 p.m. The afternoon tasks have to be lined up at this point--any requests I get from here on out will likely be resolved TOMORROW.

3:00 p.m. Time for school to be over for the day. This mattered to me for 12 years when I was in school and for another 12 when my daughter was in school. Now, it's pretty much irrelevant.

4:00 p.m. My workday officially ends. Change into my shorts and sneakers and jump on the bike for the "no-stress commute."

5:00 p.m. Arrive home. Assess the situation. My husband works at home (art studio), so I might find anything from a total disaster mess and mental confusion to a clean house and dinner on the table. I have to be flexible and take whatever comes.

6:00 p.m. Housework, as much as I can force myself to do before collapsing (I can do about 45 minutes to an hour. My house is not very clean.)

7:00 p.m. Reading, most nights, or a dvd/video.

8:00 p.m. Sometimes, craft projects--jewelry, crocheting, sewing--and Tocci goes back to the studio for a while.

9:00 p.m. We're winding down by this point, looking forward to sleeptime.

10:00 p.m. Weeknights, bedtime. Weekends, I'll probably be on the computer.

11:00 p.m. Remember the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson--it started at 10:30 where I was (Central Standard Time). When my brother was in high school (he's three years older) he had a job at Kentucky Fried Chicken. I would start watching the Tonight Show and at 11:00 he would come home from work and he would bring chicken! And we would sit and watch tv and eat the chicken, just the two of us. Those were the days when George Carlin and Steve Martin and David Steinberg used to be on and we would laugh until we almost literally fell out of our chairs--Steve Martin with the arrow through his head, I loved it.

12:00 midnight On New Year's Eve, when we were kids, our parents usually went out. We were allowed to stay up and Mom usually bought Seven-Up and Fritos and M&Ms. Big party. We would watch tv until the New Year and then go to bed. Nowadays, I go to bed early, knowing the neighbors will wake us up at midnight with fireworks and yelling. I greet the new year and turn over and go back to sleep.

1:00 a.m. After the Tonight Show, sponsored at our house by KFC, there was a local show with Gailard Sartain, who went by the stage name of Mazeppa (when he used his real name, he always pronounced it "Gailard S. Artain"). The show was called the Uncanny Film Festival; he showed old movies and during the breaks he did little skits, for example, parodies of local commercials. He was funny. Later, he developed more material and they dropped the movie and the show was called the Unfilmy Can Festival. Really. He's quite the big-shot character actor now. I was especially impressed by his role in The Spitfire Grill--he did a spot-on Maine accent, that's real skill for a Tulsa boy.

2:00 a.m. I can't remember the last time I stayed up that late--my 2 a.m. memories would be about the baby waking up or else my disco days.

3:00 a.m. Sometimes a train goes by--I live less than 1/2 mile from the tracks, and that is a cool sound in the darkness, the whistle and the train going by.

4:00 a.m. I love to wake up at 4:00 a.m. when I don't have to get up until 5:30. That last hour and a half is so special: bonus sleep.