Tuesday 8 January 2013

Morning

Morning. The time of day when you awake to new possibilities, new challenges and when I stagger zombie like from wall to wall.

I like mornings, it's just I can't always gauge when they will be. Morning is whenever I wake up, morning to other people might have been some time before that. Possibly sometime after.

Working in TV, any hours are possible. Right now I'm working 9 till 9, 2 weeks one way, then it swaps around. They're long hours and the work is demanding.

Odd hours and shift work have followed me my whole professional life. When I'm freelancing or stay on the same shift for long periods I cope just fine, but when it's swinging all over the place I tend to get a bit messy. Messy lifestyle, messy looking, messy brain.

Life at that point is no longer something I'm a part of, but something that is happening to me. I don't feel present, but like I'm watching life on a little monitor. Life becomes a video game and I become a curious 2 year old pressing all the buttons or leaving the controller where the dog can get at it.

This morning was one of those mornings. I'd done some overtime the night before and so began a series of events which would scupper my best laid plans. I forgot to order my driver, I largely missed dinner, I got to bed late, I turned my alarm off without waking up, I eventually woke up an hour later, skipped exercise, showering, breakfast and did not have time to wait for a driver if I ordered one. I staggered out of my hotel, into the street and began looking for a cab, I ran out of phone credit and after a great deal of walking and hailing later, I was defeated.

At this point, standing dishevelled on the side of a ten lane highway in the desert wasn't a good look for me. Nor was being late for work inside my first week on the job.

Hello bottom of the barrel, hello what's this little bit of paper? Sajeer's friend. A number I'd been given should I want a ride somewhere. Ok serendipity, do your stuff.

The process is convoluted by the language barrier, but true to form a total stranger shows up in a car and gets me to work. I give him some money, we shake hands and as I watch him drive away I picture him more as a rescue ranger on a snowmobile than an Indian man in a Camry.

Level 1 completed, Level 2: Food.

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