Banana Republics


A Day in the Life

What To Do When The 900 # You Dial Is Busy:

Every day when I wake up I try to start my day with 50 pushups and 50 situps before getting into the shower. After the shower, I then pour myself a glass of orange juice and prepare a healthy morning breakfast. I would do this quietly when she was around, because she needed her beauty sleep. She needed her beauty sleep is what I said. I would open the door and pick up the newspaper and I would always see that my three neighbours were yet to pick up their newspapers. I would then pace back and forth reading the back page of the newspaper before proceeding to turn on the television quietly. I would turn to the weather channel to see the forecast and determine how I would plan my day. If it was to rain later in the day, I would wear grey and black. At that point, the toast (whole wheat bread) should have popped and I would then walk over quietly to the kitchen counter and hum a nice 'pick me up' song while doing so. I made sure to smile as much as I could and think positive thoughts. "Today is the first day of the rest of my life!" or "Those small changes you make everyday to improve yourself will become habit!". I liked to butter my day up like I buttered up my toast. I would read the sports section in the paper and then laugh at the 'morning funnies' before folding it and putting it in our recycle box. Oh, that Garfield makes me laugh! Sometimes I would cut out a comic and put it on my fridge so it would make me laugh at a later date.

After eating breakfast and watching those familiar faces on television tell me how to consume, I would then make a note to contact one or two people that I hadn't been in touch with for quite some time. It was definitely my fault for not keeping in touch, not their fault. I would then wash my hands and brush and floss my teeth. While brushing, I would think about how I could save time and be more efficient during my day. I would then look at the mirror one more time before leaving the bathroom and I would smile, telling myself, "I love life!"

Before leaving the house during those days, if she wasn't sleeping I swear to the lord and baby jesus that I would do a kartwheel down the hall as I was heading over to put on my shoes. I would clap my hands and shout out that I was alive and I would smile again. I didn't want to wake her up though. She was always late in coming home and didn't get enough sleep.

As I stepped outside, I would start walking to my daily destination. I would witness people shouting at their kids telling them to stay on their own lawn. I would see people in their cars get angry with the traffic and honk their vehicular horns. I would see people get in lineups to get their 'morning coffee' because, god forbid, they couldn't function without it. I would see people and they would tell me they weren't 'morning persons' and that they had some problems at home. They would tell me all about their television shows and how 'Ross' and 'Rachel' were fighting; I would then ask myself why they didn't care as much about their own lives as they did of the celebrities. Someone told me escapism is the key to success. Find a way to sell it. I was wearing black and grey on that particular day. I passed by the same homeless people and smiled to them. They were never late for work, them buggers! I saw the blind man get asked everyday if he needed help in crossing the street and the blind man would get angry at how the people wanted to help him. Less fortunate people made most people feel better and I tried to smile as I walked by and saw the people picketing about their wages. Sometimes you need to lose your vision to see more clearly is what I wanted to tell the blind man all the time, but I didn't have time to tell him.

Anyway, I wanted to tell you was that I swear to god and baby jesus that I would do a cartwheel on the street, but there is just no room on the sidewalk for doing a kartwheel these days. I don't even know if the spelling of that particular gymnastic move is with a 'K' or a 'C' - woes me!

Everyday, I can't wait to get home and go to sleep and do it all over again! I am just so happy for everyone and what keeps me going is to see how much people really care for each other's well being. You are all saints. I think you should clap yourselves on the back! I'm going to go purchase something at Ikea now.

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