this morning, i did something i do maybe less than a dozen times a year. no, stupid, i didn't go to brooklyn, i woke up before noon and ran errands! not only did i wake up before noon, but i woke up at 8:05 am. 8:05! bloody christ! i don't even wake up until 9:15 on a weekday to get to work at 10:00! big deal? you damn skippy it's a big deal. it's a big deal for me to be functional at 8:05 having actually slept before i woke up (functional after an all nighter is another story). sure i went to bed at 2:30, i always do, but this morning...was special.
last night at about 8:00 pm, i received amazing news. the lord of the rings trilogy is playing in it's full extended version glory at lincoln center this weekend with most of the cast in attendance. tickets sold out to film society members within two hours of their release. the tickets were hard as shit to get and i was lucky enough to score a pair for every event. um...but my sister, kaly, who hooked me up, forgot to tell me that she got them for me and she was off on holiday in london. there was mad miscommunication and confusion. needless to say, i had made plans to sleep in and relax in these short wintry days...plans i now had to alter.
because the hard-to-come-by commodities were paid for, i immediately scrambled to post them up for sale on friendster and craigslist. i sold all of saturday's events at face value in five minutes. i'm not kidding. happy to sell them to true fans, i had to face the reality that i would be waking up early today...a real buzz kill. i arranged to rendezvous with my ticket purchasers at 9:15 at alice tully hall. that meant i had to wake up at 8:00. the horror.
when the alarm rang, fearing the snooze button, i hopped up immediately to brush my hair and teeth. pulling on my long johns i checked the internet for weather reports. 1 degree. what?! yes, three sweatshirt-layered weather. making my way uptown (something i also rarely do) i felt like i was visiting a new place. it's middle-earth in new york city. there are interesting characters out and about and this part of town is quite different than the parts i normally roam. ashamedly, i rarely get to see the sunlight at this time.
after a bit of chaos at the box office i was able to settle the sale of tickets with strangers i'd only corresponded with via email. almost done for the day and it wasn't even 9:45, i still had to refund my sunday tickets. only problem, i wasn't allowed to return sunday's tickets until the fellowship of the ring peeps were sorted. in an attempt to regain my warmth i headed over to the barnes and noble across the street. finding my way to the cafe, i ordered a hot chocolate. i had fun watching a mid 50s eccentric with perfectly coiffed hair order a small hot chocolate, ask for a tray and come back with 20 bags of sugar, 15 stirrers and about 30 napkins. she was demanding and asked a lot of weird non-linear questions. delicate rich ladies are so crazy. and up here, they accept it. i'd never seen such patient coffee makers carry out such ridiculous demands.
with about 20 minutes to kill, i finished my book, kitchen confidential. stories of new york restaurant hell are so intriguing. it's taken me nearly six months to finish. i regret not reading it through in one weekend. but with my life, it's hard for me to allot myself this luxe. i felt suburban sitting there sipping hot cocoa turning the pages in the bookstore cafe.
we had houseguests from december 23rd to january 5th. i had convinced myself that this first weekend, i would be allowed to dream until at the very least, 2:00 pm. i was wrong. but you know, after all is said and done, i enjoyed my morning. i was productive. and if i am awake, i am no doubt, producing. if my body didn't need 10-14 hours of sleep per night on the weekends, i could be a forceful machine, finishing up my sister kiki's wedding album, reconciling bank accounts, alphabetizing cds, whipping up new meals, posting up pictures from cambodia and clipping my cats toenails!
oh and one last thing. my weekend noon rule: i do not accept calls before 12:00 pm on saturday and sunday. if you call me before noon and leave a message, i will not return your call until monday. that's your punishment for fucking with my sleep. you get one warning with a return call of me sounding off something like this, "dude, why'd you call me so early today? you know about my 12:00 rule. it better be an emergency or i'm going to hate on you for waking me up so early." sometimes my machine records greetings from friends in california, a full three hours behind, with messages like this, "hey sor. it's 12:05 pm. call me so we can catch up! love ya!" how can one be so chipper at 9:05 am on a sunday? oy.
surprisingly, 100% of the people in my life follow this rule. barring emergencies, there have been some, i'm not so chatty before brunch. i mafia-love sleep. if someone tries to argue with my policy, i explain to them clearly that it takes a lot of energy to be me. i need to recharge if you want me to give you a triple a performance from monday to friday. you fuck with my sleep, you fuck with me. capisca?
my boy is still sleeping. when he wakes, he will find a breakfast served by me with pain au chocolat, hot cocoa, coffee, eggs, bacon and grits. only two more hours till 2:00 pm. breakfast will be served nicely then. and afterwards, maybe a nap!
