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'My Corduroyed Life' - Mark A's Journal
If you've ever read The Sunday Times, their magazine has A Life In The Day Of as a regular feature in it...
Basically, the concept is that a famous person, in first person, takes the reader through a typical working day in their life. I always enjoy the article whoever it's talking about - I like the candidness, and am growing more fond of autobiography and non-fiction writing at the moment. So, you've guessed it, in a similar vein to my post about my Desert Island Discs choices, here is my Life In The Day Of.
Have fun,
M
A Life in the Day of...
Mark Adams
"I get up some time between 7am and 8am, depending on how tired I predict that I'll be that day on the night before. I struggle to get out of bed whether or not I've had enough sleep or not anyway (and more often than not, I haven't had enough). The snooze usually gets hit two, maybe three, times each morning, but four has been known. I have three clocks in my flat, my alarm clock (which, as I'm sure anyone who's crashed at mine will tell you is the most horrendous thing in the world with its metallic cockerel crow), my wall clock (Ikea special) and my wristwatch (extreme sentimental value [and probably monetary value considering that it is from the jewellery quarter in Birmingham] as it was my 21st Birthday present). The wristwatch is set once a week to perfectly match Greenwich Mean Time, the clock is five minutes fast, and the alarm clock is twenty minutes fast. Without the inaccuracies of the alarm and wall clock to scare me into doing things in the morning, I doubt I'd get myself up and out of the flat in time!
Once I've dragged my carcass out of bed, the first thing I do is put on a CD or music DVD. I have a real problem with silence, and it just seems like the most natural thing to do first. I suppose that this isn't dissimilar to a smoker having their first cigarette of the day. Incidentally, I don't smoke, and when I tried I ended up looking like a complete fool in front of the girl (yes, girl, it was a long time ago) I was trying to impress at the time.
I try and make sure that the majority of things that need to be done for the following day are done the night before (things like making sandwiches, packing my bag, ironing shirts, etc). As I only shave once a week (either Friday or Saturday), I never need to worry about that on work days. I know that not shaving sounds lazy, and if I'm being truly honest, it is. However, there is another reason, and that is that I have a nasty scar on my chin that, when I shave daily, gets reopened: even if I wanted to, I physically couldn't (wet) shave daily! Normally, all I have to do in the morning is jump in the shower, brush my teeth, take my tablets (cod liver oil, multivitamins, and antihistamines), wash my face (and I use those oxy pad anti-spot things too), dress myself, and make the bed. Sometimes, if I have the time, I might have a glass of OJ and/ or tidy the flat a bit. OJ is much more frequent than tidying!
Just before I leave the flat, I make sure that I have the CD that I want in my personal CD player. I have to have my personal CD player with me if I intend to walk alone and/ or go on public transport. It's a luxury I simply can't do without, and if the batteries run out on me and I have no spares, it's a real trauma. As such, my choice of CD for that day is more important than having breakfast. I sometimes make compilations from tracks I've downloaded ('Rah' volumes 1 - 4 and 'Now That's What I Call Queeny' are my masterpieces), but more often than not it's an actual proper commercial album from my 150 album strong collection. Considering I haven't actually bought an album for about 8 months, and have only received maybe five as presents in the last year, I'm sure you can imagine that my CD collection was ultra-cool three years ago, but is now rather dated. Not that I care, because I can always find something that I want to listen to. Today, it's Frogstomp by Silverchair. Once the CD is picked (on some rare occasions I keep the same one as the previous day), it's loaded, and the CD player is in my coat pocket and playing me music before I've even left my home.
So I leave the house. If it's raining, I will inevitably have to go back for my brolley, as it's extremely doubtful that in my half-asleep state (this lasts until around lunchtime!) that I will have spotted it. It takes me five minutes to walk to the bus stop, and once there, unless there is a bus immediately, I will pace around worrying I'll be late until once arrives. As long as I'm at the bus stop for 8.45, I won't be late. Every day I am there before 8.45, but I fret anyway because I'm like that.
I like bus journeys. Or at least, I like the majority of bus journeys. As such, I don't really miss my car, which is part of the reason why I don't bother to tax it (the other being my chronic laziness, obviously). With my personal CD player on and a good book, I find it very therapeutic and relaxing to take a bus journey. Incidentally, my current book is Stupid White Men by Michael Moore, and it's hilarious, cutting, and I'm enjoying it greatly! However, a bus journey is, obviously, ruined if I either can't get a seat or the bus driver is attempting to take corners like Damon Hill. It's nice to be able to allocate at least a half-hour of each day of my busy life to read a book, and if it weren't for bus journeys, I'd never do that.
Something that I do every day is a kind of a routine to get me psyched up for work. To deal with the horrible reality of having to do my mundane, office monkey, dead-end job every day, I have what I call 'my last blast'. This being choosing my favourite track on the album I'm currently listening to, skipping to it, and turning up the volume to an eardrum cleavingly loud level to 'blast' myself into work. The walk from the bus stop to my office takes approximately 3 1/2 minutes, so listening to one track fits this perfectly. I take a certain peculiar satisfaction at the discerning glances of other people at the pelican crossing as my music is perfectly audible to them ("What must that be doing to his ears?" - I can almost hear their thoughts).
So I arrive, and head to my desk for the early morning routine of logging in, getting a drink, switching on the photocopier, filing anything in my filing tray, filling in my timesheet, checking my email, checking the general Graduate Gateway email, checking my diary for appointments, checking my friends blogs (oops! Did I really say that?!), etc. Then it's the usual, mundane drudge (which I wont bore you with) until lunch.
Because I eat so badly in general, I try to eat at least one healthy thing at work: a banana, a bag of raisins, a raw carrot, whatever. I also do not drink anything other than mineral water at work because it's healthy and the water from the water cooler is free. I nicked an Erdinger glass from my local, and drink my water in pints! I drink maybe four pints over the working day (I know it's not the eight pints you're supposed to have, but it's better than drinking four pints of something fizzy and full of sugar).
There's not much to do around Salford other than pub and the art gallery (which is changed maybe four times a year), and I only have a few friends around campus, so I rarely do anything much for lunch. If I've been bothered to go to Morrisons, I'll eat something like a soup or a micro lasagne for lunch in the kitchen with my book. If I've been lazy and the cupboard is bare, I go to Muriel's Kitchen (Bless Muriel - she's a batty old dear who I adore!) next door and have some sort of baguette affair, and then surf the net as my lunch. Neither of which are very exciting, but enjoy doing both of them, and there's nothing better to do - I rarely take more than a quick half an hour for lunch (which is always good for the flexisheet!).
What I do after work has finished (and indeed, what time I finish work) depends on the day. Mondays I go straight from work to the cinema with my friend Margaret, who is one of the Careers Advisors, and anyone else who fancies coming along. Tuesdays and Thursdays I go to Ninja straight from work. Fridays, whatever happens, I'm out by 4, and usually go out on the razz. Wednesday is my one day where I don't really have anything set in stone. I either mong at home (which is always nice) or I might meet friends for drinks, or go round a mates or something. I like being busy, and having regular things in my life like film and ninja, but sometimes it does mean I get knackered. Although being a bit knackered once in a while is a small price to pay for having a fun life!
I go to bed any time between 11pm and 3am, depending on whether I've found something compelling to do or not and how tired I am. I'm a good sleeper, and once I'm asleep, I'm out for the night until that vicious mettallic cockerel screams at me telling me that it's the start to another day.
Current mood:
contemplative.Current music: Suicidal Dream by Silverchair.