A Day in the Life: August 2014

This post is another entry for Manda’s A Day in the Life linkup. Feel free to view my previous entries.

It’s not every day you get a lot of decisions, or at least get to think about the decisions you make on a daily basis. I have decided to make today’s A Day in the Life post a focus on decisions. I only decided this about an hour into the morning, but an hour is really a lot of time, is it not?

My new cuff from Helene Jewelry
My new cuff from Helene Jewelry

This A Day in the Life post is partially random Q&A style, and scattered with miscellaneous Instagram-style photographs.

Should I press snooze?
Yes, because I am not quite awake.
No, because this is my wake-up call.
I press snooze.

Should I get up?
Yes, because my alarm went off. It is time to get up.
No, because I already pressed snooze once.
I press snooze on my alarm again. It is already 6:12am, but I figure I can wait a little longer before getting up.

It’s 6:25. Should I get up now?
No, I mean, I am going to miss the 6:37 bus anyway. If I want to catch it, I would have to leave now. I think I should get up anyway.

Should I shower?
Yes, because I should. Or no because I can’t really be bothered. But I go and shower anyway.

What clothes should I wear?
I have not made a clear decision on this. A dress, or a skirt and top? If I choose a dress, there may be the possibility that I don’t have pockets. But some of my skirts do not have pockets, and some of my dresses happen to have pockets. Pants are out of the question since I don’t like to wear pants.
In the end I pick up a blue acid wash dress with a zippered front.

Sticky notes and an Apple pen from Cookie
Sticky notes and an Apple pen from Cookie

Should I take a cold shower?
Cold Shower Therapy is a thing coined by Joel Runyon. Cold showers are good for your immune system and do lots of good things for you, even in winter. Joel Runyon speaks of it in comparison to doing the impossible (“if you can’t be uncomfortable for five minutes, alone, in the shower, where the only consequence is being cold, then how can you face anything else?”).
Anyway, yes, I can take one because it means I am strong as balls.
Or I decide no, because I really cannot be bothered feeling cold this morning and dealing with discomfort right now.
I take a hot shower. My reasoning? It’s winter, I am cold already, I will try taking another cold shower later.

Should I change clothes? I don’t really like this dress because it doesn’t keep me warm.
No, just hurry up and get out the door.
Yes, I don’t want to be uncomfortable.
I don’t hurry up.

Should I wear a long shirt under the dress?
I try a long sleeved white shirt, it looks alright. But it looks a bit ugly too. I go without it.

Don’t I have a better long sleeved shirt?
I have a black one. I don’t like the neckline with this dress.
I have a plum one. It does not match this blue dress.
So…

Should I change into something else?
Yeah.
Nah, just put a jumper on over it.
I just go with my simple “Yeah”.

Should I wear a stripy dress or this funny orange, white, and black one? They both have hoods.
I wore the stripy one to work some time ago. I have not worn the orange one to work before. I last wore it when I went shopping with Kevin and Tristan.
Let’s go with that.

What coat should I wear? A blazer or my fluffy white coat?
Mum ironed my blazer last night. I could wear it. But because of the hood on my dress, it might look funny.
I can wear the white coat. It has a hood and it looks alright.

Should I bother packing lunch?
Yeah, there is food in the fridge. You also don’t want to spend too much money this week. You also don’t want to eat unhealthy snacks from the kitchen at work.
No, you are going to miss the bus.
Alright, packing lunch! I think I am a master and can do it super quickly, but I am wrong.

Should I add tofu to those noodles?
Yes, yum, healthy.
No, you need to cut it up, too much time… I can have tofu for dinner.
I choose the latter.

Some post-its on my screen
Some post-its on my screen

Hey, there is some salmon left. Finish it?
No, eat it later.
Actually, yeah, I might as well.

I missed my bus. Should I wait half an hour for the next one, or walk to another bus stop for another bus?
If I walk to the other one, it will take extra time. It will also be more expensive because the other day I realised my Opal card charged more than I expected. Even though I have to walk further, and buses at that stop are more frequent, I have to pay more.
I do not want to wait half an hour, as I have nothing to do at home.
I can catch a bus to a different station, as one arrives in eleven minutes and the stop is not that far.
I do that.

Oh look, it’s that guy you went to school with. Say hi?
Ahahahahhaha no.
Yeah, if he passes. But you may have to put up with a conversation.
I don’t say hi. I don’t feel like catching up with anyone.

Wow, this train is gross. Should I take a picture of where I am and post it on Snapchat?
No, you weirdo, you are already on the train and no one can tell what station you are at.
Yeah, why not…
I end up taking a photo, but I just take a photo of the floor.

The view from my window. Rain.
The view from my window. Rain.

***

That happened an hour into my morning. I clearly asked myself way too many questions about my outfit. There is nothing wrong with that, as a lot of them were split-second decisions. But it’s crazy how many decisions we make in an hour, let alone the rest of the day.

The strange thing is, we don’t even see a lot of these as decisions, because they take such a short amount of time, and probably don’t make that much of a difference in the long run. But I can tell you several things that differed about today, compared to most other days. Firstly, I woke up early, but I left an hour later than I usually do. But I was still at work before 9am — because usually, I am an early bird. I also caught a different bus, and went to a different train station.

It was a bit strange being at the station because it was rather crowded. I didn’t really expect that because it is one of the quieter suburban stations, but it was peak hour after all.

I will refrain from writing the rest of my day of decisions in this post because I think it would be incredibly boring.

I drew on the foggy train window
I drew on the foggy train window

At work I did the usual. Coding, some design, same stuff. Nothing completely new. I had to transfer my files to another iMac, since I am inheriting someone’s old one (they left the company). Cookie helped me! We used Migration Assistant, though I couldn’t use the computer while I was completing the transfer, so I was just reading some articles and planning the next day while I waited. Unfortunately, when I left work, it was still going. Hopefully tomorrow the transfer will have completed (I will be very surprised if it has not).

I bought a soy green tea latte from Starbucks on the way to the train station. It was raining very heavily. Lucky for me, my fluffy coat with a hood kept me from getting too wet. It’s quite absorbent, even though it’s not waterproof.

After catching the train, I drove James’s car home, ate some tofu for dinner (I wasn’t that hungry), and we sat on the couch watching some trash television. I watched Winners & Losers when James left – it’s a good show, but not one that I follow or put time aside for.

I spent most of the rest of the night sorting out some emails and browsing some online clothing stores. Hopefully tomorrow it won’t rain as much.

Comments on this post

When it comes to my outfits, I usually plan them the night before and lay them out after checking the weather. If I’ve made the decision, I usually don’t second-guess it, unless the weather has changed (which I check when I wake up). It really saves time in the morning, since there’s no rummaging through the closet and trying to pick a pair of jeans or a t-shirt. I even lay out socks and underclothes. :P It’s a nice perk to wake up, bathe, and see the clothes ready.

The same with lunches. I plan everything the day before and don’t let myself change my mind, unless it’s absolutely necessary (like someone else eats the food I had in the fridge, or I discover a rip in my clothes). If I can spend time waffling around the decisions the night before, I feel no need to waffle even more in the morning.

Those maple cookies are divine. When I saw the picture, before seeing the caption, I thought, “Canada cookie!!!”

I try to do the same, but I change my mind far too often. If I settle on something the night before, I will usually look at it the next morning and think, “Ugh nah, I wanna wear something else.” Sometimes I am just too busy during the evenings to think about what I will wear (but I might pack my lunch for the next day after I eat dinner). How I feel in the morning usually determines my outfit for the day. :)

I usually decide what I’m going to wear for about 5 seconds. Then, I just throw it on.

That maple cookie looks pretty good. Although, I should stay away.

It’s amazing how many decisions we make each day. My outfit usually tends to be jeans and a top, or a dress with leggings. And dresses with pockets are the best!

I’m happy to know that I am not the only one who goes through such a long thought process when it comes to deciding what to wear! I always know that I’m going to be late for uni and it doesn’t even matter what I wear because nobody cares, haha!

I tried doing one of these day in the life posts with photos, but by 5pm I forgot to take any more pictures. I really want to try it again.

Haha it’s true. Most people won’t care, and it’s not like I am trying to impress anybody, but I still want to look presentable!

Sometimes I don’t take that many photos because I am not allowed to share images of certain things at work. Even if you forget, I am sure just having a few photos will add some visuals to your writing. My last A Day in the Life post was a bit random (I used Snapchat!) and I didn’t take many photos in the evening. I have been trying to keep it interesting by not just having a typical text-and-photographs post. I was actually thinking my next one might be a poem, haha.

I love this post!! The decisions part is really cool. I’m about to make a bunch of decisions myself, all affected by the one I made to “just read one more blog” instead of getting into the shower. You also make me simultaneously want to do laundry and go shopping, because I don’t have many clean clothes to choose from and don’t have many clothes in general. xD

It rained here the last two days, as well! It looks like it is going to be sunny today. Summer is coming to an end here (5 more weeks, but it will probably start getting colder by the end of the month), so winter should be on its way out for you, right? :D

Yep! We are more than halfway through winter, which is relieving. I am not sure how it is on your side, but in spring, we have a lot of rain. I hope we don’t get too much this time around.

I am glad you liked this post, because I actually hated it! I thought it was a mess. :P

Hahaha. I have the same maple cookies at home. /hehe