Waking up (life)

For my big three oh, I got an alarm clock that works with my iPod. I love it. This morning, I was woken up by a playlist that has The Flaming Lips, the Stray Cats, Iris Dement and John Pryne, and Django Reinhardt. Ooo, fun. In the olden days, I would have been woken up by whatever annoying radio station my old, wonky alarm picked up.

Let me explain the wonk.

I'm the kind of person who tries to trick herself into actually waking up by having the alarm across the room. I heard that if the actual alarm doesn't do the trick (which it really never did), the walk to turn it off would wake me up. But, the person who said that had never met me. I can sleep like a champion - before and after a variety of things that may seem rousing to others.

When I lived in Arizona, one morning, I pulled myself out of my warm bed and walked across my room to take care of the blaring alarm. My sleepy shuffle across the rug combined with the dry air of Arizona, causing me to pick up a lot of static electricity. When I touched the alarm, the whole thing shorted out for a second and then restarted itself. Since then, my radio alarm clock had been a radio/buzzer alarm...which feel under the category of most annoying thing ever. But it still, officially, did its job - told the time, woke me up (albeit, a little angry) - I had a hard time parting with the clock. It seemed want-y. That is, until I met my new alarm clock. I love my new alarm clock.