12/30/2005

As many of you know, I wear fire retardant coveralls to work every day. While very convenient in the fact that I don’t have to decide what to wear nor bother with makeup, hair, etc., they have the side effect of often times feeling less than lovely. So, a while back, I decided that on the Fridays I have to work, I’ll dress up (normally meaning jeans, a nice shirt, and done hair). Fridays are an ideal time to not wear Nomex, because there are fewer people around and less chance of needing to go outside to the unit (which is why we wear the Nomex). With the hurricane, holidays, and other happenings, I haven’t been able to do this to regularly, but today I figured I could.

Last night, in preparation, I washed my clothing of choice and set my alarm for half an hour earlier. I normally get up at 5:45 am so I can leave by 6:00 am, but with a morning shower (as opposed to afternoon), doing my hair and makeup, and etc., I figured I’d need a little more time. When I woke up at a quarter after I jumped out of bed (instead of trying to steal a few more minutes) and started getting ready. Shower: check. Hair blown dry: check. Hair curled: check. Teeth brushed: check. Clothed: check. I was just getting ready to put on my makeup when I decided I’d better check the time. I had a feeling I was running a little late, which would limit the amount of makeup I’d have time to put on. Sure enough, it was a minute after. . . except, not a minute after 6:00 am like I expected. No, my bedroom clock read 1:01 am! I thought something had happened to it. I rushed to the living room to check the clock there. Same time. Finally I pulled out my cell phone, since it automatically updates. Sure enough it was just after 1:00 am. I must have woken up naturally at 12:15 am (only 2 hours after I went to bed) and still been so tired I somehow missed that a) the alarm hadn’t gone off, and b) the clock said 12 and not 5! I felt so stupid! To make matters worse, I didn’t know what to do. I just stood there for a few minutes trying to wrap my head around what had happen and figure out what to do next. Eventually I put on some clean jammies and went back to bad, but not to restful sleep. No, no, I had terrible dreams about being late to work because I was right and the clocks were wrong. Just as I was calling my supervisor to let him know I was going to be late, I turned to look at the time, and as I did I woke up and was looking at my clock: 2:40 am and it was still dark out, so I figured I wasn’t missing work. I finally fell back asleep, woke up at 5:45, got all pretty (minus the shower and hair, since that was already done) and sure enough, was late to work, though not the three hours I had dreamed.

The kicker? I ended up having to go outside anyway, with my Nomex pulled over my nice clothes. And since it was a pretty hot day, I was all sweaty when I came back inside. Too bad for looking pretty!!!