It’s only morning, and I feel like I’ve already had a full day.  Mostly because I don’t count sitting on the couch coding websites as much of a day.

Also because of all the stuff I did this morning.  I’ll start from the beginning.

I got up pretty early today: 6am.  I didn’t want to keep snoozing with the alarm, since that tends to make me more reluctant to leave the bed (mostly cause I keep slipping in and out of dreams, and I wake up just enough to realize how comfortable I am).  So I popped up after the first smack of the snooze bar.

That gave me time to have some breakfast (1/2 grapefruit and some O.J.) and kick back with an episode of Friends.  The temperature was overing around 6 or 7 degrees celsius, and I knew the snow had all melted off, so I figured I’d bike in.

I had forgotten that I heard the rain drops pinging off our window boxes.  I mention this because that is the ONLY way to tell if it’s raining outside from our apartment…  I miss being able to hear the raindrops on the roof…  that’s one of my all time favorite things!!  Anyways.  Missing this information, I decided to bike in.

I like biking in because I get to do a language lesson.  And if I bike alone, I do two.  I’ve been doing a Polish lesson on the way in, and Italian on the way back…  although, I’m on my last Polish lesson.  Something that makes me happy and sad at the same time.  But I’m still way behind on Rosetta Stone, so that with some free podcasts should help…  I’m thinking of finding some Polish news report and just listening to it on the way in, seeing how much I can learn.

Anyhow, I’m minding my own business and pedaling my way to the school, talking to myself in Polish about how I bought wine yesterday, when I had my very own movie moment.  Unfortunately it wasn’t the good kind.  You know in the movies when the character who has everything go wrong is waiting at the corner and WOOSH – they get drenched as the big city bus plows through a puddle?  Well, that was me.  The wave was so big, for a second I wanted a surf board! 

Needless to say, I was soaked.  Head to toe.  Luckily it mostly got the front of me, and I had some dry clothes in my backpack – but I was wearing my workout clothes.  But I didn’t break stride.  Said some unpleasant things, sure, but kept going.  I pretty much had to.  I was half way to the school, soaking wet in the cold.  But for some reason, it really didn’t bother me.

Maybe it was all of the reading I’ve been doing – stuff about WWII and the holocaust.  Or maybe it was because of some of the philosophy I’ve read and tried to apply to my life.  It also could be my martial arts training kicking in.  But what I think it really was, was that I just watched Rocky IV the other day. 

It’s not so much the movie itself as it is the music and the training montages that I always liked.  The movie is good, too.  Almost Cold War propaganda, but just enough in the neutral territory to avoid losing respect. 

Anyway, a little background.  When I was younger I listened to that soundtrack over and over and over again.  I listened to it while I worked out, while I did homework, even when I was playing.  It was my inspiration, and drove me to always work harder.  Songs like "No Easy Way Out" were especially motivating.  Luckily, they’re also on my ipod. 

So once I got to school, and draped my wet clothing over the heaters, I had some time to kill.  I was already in my workout clothes, and they were just going to get sweaty anyways.  So I figured why not?  I’m already wet.  Besides… There’s no easy way out; no shortcut home. Oh yeah – another good line from "Eye of the Tiger" is "Though his body says stop, his spirit cries: NEVER". 

So yeah, I had a pretty good workout.  And not only were my wet clothes dry, but they were also TOASTY!  Almost makes it worth getting splashed (almost).

Anyways, the ride home was slightly less wet.  By that point it had started raining.  But compared to the pond I got hit by earlier, it was nothing.

I got back to our place, one Italian lesson smarter, and headed for the garage.  I haven’t stored my bike there yet (been keeping it on our back patio), and thought, since it was soaking wet and covered with mud, that it might be a good time to start.  I tried the button, but it didn’t work.  I was afraid it might have gotten too wet from my morning swim.  Then I realized I was at the wrong door.  So I found our space with our landlord’s Volkswagen van and started chaining my tire to the bike frame (best I can do).

While I was doing this, one of the older security guards came over and said something about my bicycle and the garage…  Those being the ONLY two words I cought.  I told him I only understood a little, and he kept going.  I apologized again, not understanding, and finished chaining my bike up.  He mimed the lock and I smiled with understanding.  Of course I responded with "Si", having just done about 30 minutes of Italian…  I corrected myself with a headshake and a "Tak".  He pointed further in the garage and said something else about the garage and over there.  I felt really bad because I knew he was trying to help.  I also got that he was saying my locking of the tire to the bike was pretty pointless (which is true).  After he gave up and I went to leave, I realized I didn’t know where the door was!  So I tried one – locked…  Another had a sign on it saying it was the exit, and I thought that was it, but I also saw that it was an emergency exit, so like a fool, I walked right past it.  The guard was still there, so he pointed it out using a word I didn’t know…  For all I’ve learned, I know the word for "There" "Here" "That one" "Door" and about a billion other ways he could have pointed it out…  but he picks the one I don’t know (of course).  Which makes me want to learn the language so much faster, but there’s only so much I can do. 

So, sheepishly, I went up, took a warm shower, threw in a load of wash, poured myself a bowl of cereal, then shared this experience with you.  Now I’ve got to put in my 8 hours of sitting (breaking it up – now that I’ve learned my lesson about that).  There’s a play at the school I’m trying to figure out if I should go to or not.  If I work 8 hours straight, I’m done at 6pm.  It gets dark in the apartment at 2:30 (due to the building layout), though sunset is around 3:30/4.  The play is at 5, so I have to leave here at 4 if I want to catch it, and make up the hours afterwords (aka – 8pm on a Friday).  So I’m leaning towards no play, unfortunately.  But we’ll see. 

Things have a way of turning out contrary to your plans.