“Free Fallin’” by Tom Petty wakes me from my slumber and reminds me that things don’t always look optimistic when you’ve not slept enough through the night… “I wanna glide down over Mulholland. I wanna write her name in the sky. I wanna free fall out into nothing. Gonna leave this world for a while. And I’m free. I’m free fallin’ …”
Yesterday, I woke up to the sound of “Free Fallin’” blasting through my radio alarm. Really good timing too because my alarm went off just as soon the song had started. It always reminds me of that scene from Jerry Maguire where Tom Cruise’s character, on a natural high, is singing along to it in his car, on his way to work. Great song and I might have done the same if it was playing on the radio in my car on my way to work. If I’ve had insufficient rest through the night, the last thing I want to hear is an alarm or music hearing me up. So those times when I am woken to music, it should be music that I like; music that inspires me.
I woke up at about 7:30 am. I hadn’t been up that early for ages and I never really notice the sunshine till it makes its presence well known, to the point where it causes me to almost squint. When I wake up and the first thing I see is the bright light seeping in through my curtains, it makes the rest of the day seem worth getting up for. Some days I’ll leap out of bed but yesterday morning I just sat up and walked to the bathroom like normal people do. The other thing I never truly appreciate is my electric toothbrush, which is never apparent till I have to get ready for work whilst half asleep. If I had an electric washer and electric clother, life would be so much closer to complete.
Today was a quiet day at work. Much more quiet than usual since a few campaigns had come to their end, so my floor was near empty. Portions of the day flew by and other portions dragged on and on and on. Nearly all the IT and tech team were on my floor now, so it makes teasing them easier. Plus, was able to recap on my degree through discussions with another colleague on my floor via topics such as viruses and gene manipulation. He’s so enthusiatic about reading up all the techniques and trivia on genetics and he asks me to explain certain things as we go over them. I end up explaining everything to tie up his barrage of questions and in the process get enthusiastic about it myself. He always calls me “genius” and makes several other Blade Runner references and always asks me why I’m not pursuing a career in genetics (and replicant android design). I guess in a way I am, since in the long term I know I want to get back into it via a different angle. Although I understand what he means, it’s strange hearing this from a guy who is an (aeronautical) engineer by trade and used to travel the world with his job. I guess we all decide to settle down after so much travelling, whether it be by foot or by mind.
The last part of the day went by really quickly. For some reason, when I can see the end of the day in sight, I tend to forget about it so things move along quickly. My team-leader spent some time trying to hit the IT guy, who was seated a few rows in front of us, with a paper pellet slung from a rubber band. He was a tall and thin guy, but he was wearing a cap (the wrong way around) which made him look a bit tougher, so my team-leader was trying to score points by seeing if he could could hit him in the back of the head. The IT guy was looking a lot like Wally from the “Where’s Wally” (and “Where’s Waldo” book series) so we agreed that it was double points if he knocks his cap off!
For some reason, this made the day go by much slower, especially so since today I was near starving all day. I didn’t have breakfast, but packed some fruit to eat later. As soon as I got into work I had gone through both apple and banana and had to leave to pick up a sandwich. This only served to purge my hunger for about an hour and from then onwards I was dreaming of where my next snack or meal was coming from. Then for some reason, by lunchtime I had lost my appetite and it stayed away for a good portion of the day. I was feeling alright on my way home, but as soon as I came home and went into the kitchen, the smell of dinner cooking turned my stomach back on track. My uncle was there with my mum in the kitchen, just tidying up after cooking and they immediately started to fill up my serving on a plate. I ate till I was full. Now, an hour later, I’m starving again! Damn you, fast metabolism!
