Juggling Act

Who says that routine is boring? Walking to school is often the most exciting part of my day. (By "day," I mean non-weekend, non-holiday, and non-LAN party day.) You see, I manage to spice up my commute by juggling on the way. Figuratively speaking. It goes something like this:

9:15 I wake up and grimace at the clock. Class starts at ten.

9:20 I guiltily wake up again and repeat the grimace.

9:25 I wake up again and get out of bed. Then I wait for other people (whose gender, ahem, will remain unspecified) to finish using the shower.

9:35 I shower, shave, and shine.

9:40 I check Facebook and pack my books.

9:45 I check my feed reader.

9:48 I head to school. This ordinarily takes six and a half minutes, but today a stoplight is red that is usually green, which takes another fifteen seconds.

9:54:45 I find a parking space six rows from school instead of eight. That gives me twenty more seconds. I walk toward the entrance.

9:55:45 I say Hi to a passing friend, which doesn't take any time, but we decide to stop walking for a second and ask each other about the test yesterday.

"How'd it go yesterday?"

"I dunno, I think I bombed it."

"Hmm.. too bad. Yeah, it was hard. I feel good about it though."

"Cool. Good luck.

"See you tomorrow."

That takes fifteen seconds. I've got time.

9:56:30 I enter the building.

9:57 I go to the bathroom. I check my watch and realize that I have enough time to go there the long way, stopping by the water fountain on the way out. It takes 30 or 45 more seconds, but things are going smoothly today.

9:58:30 I run up the stairs a little faster than usual.

9:59 I head down the hall toward class. The drink machine looks good, but getting a Mountain Dew would take a whole minute. Oh well, maybe I'll get one during the break.

9:59:30 I pause in front of the classroom door to roll up my iPod earphones. Pocketing them, I enter class.

10:00 I have a seat.

10:00:30 The professor comes in. Drat, he's late. I could have got the Mountain Dew after all.