Start the routine. Then keep it. For some things in life, if you want to see an improvement, you’re going to need a routine. Not everything. But some.
It’s the first day at work after the holiday break. Alarm went off at 0530 hours. I called out to switch it off. That, in turn, triggered the lights in the hab, and a cheerful song from the speaker by my head. Five minutes after that, my wrist-mounted health tracker started to buzz. Five minutes after that, the morning news was supposed to launch in the next room. It didn’t. Looks like I forgot to re-arm that part of the wake-up cycle. Either way, after scrubbing at my eyes, I was up.
Heating clicked on. Doesn’t take long to warm a small hab like mine, so that helped. Stood on the scales, the scan gave me bad news. Body fat at 19.1%, up from a couple of weeks ago. Up a couple of kilos in the last month, too. Looks like I’ve gained some weight over the holidays. No surprise there, really. The long term goal is 15.0%, which I’ve never hit yet, but I got to 16.9% once.
Made a cup of caf. Black. Strong. Pulled out a frozen breakfast and warmed it up. Sat for a while, eating and drinking in silence, browsing the digital feeds.
Checked the time when I was done. Nearly 0600. Put on the entertainment terminal for background noise and started the stretch routine, then my back exercises. With a weak core, poor posture and a desk job, back ache is all to easy to come by. These exercises seem to help fend it off. Hit the floor mat for light sets of resistance work. It’s not much, but its a start.
45 minutes. Then pull on the cold-weather gear, pull my bike off the wall, and hit the road. I arm the security system and head out.
My bike, well, its of the old type. Not a fancy speeder, not even motor-assisted like some of the wealthy commuters use. This is crank turning, chain drive, meat power. Cheap. Efficient. Did I mention cheap? But hard work. It’s an hour’s ride into the centre of the city. I figure this, plus the mat-work, makes for a good morning routine. Next time it is four degrees and raining, remind me I said that.
Think something is wrong with the bike. Hoping I can pull together the credits to get it serviced before whatever is making a noise starts doing something worse. Like falling off. I push that thought to the back of my head, when doing 35 downhill. That’s metric units, not old imperial. I’m not crazy.
That aside, I managed the routine I wanted to. One day in the bag.
Rest of the day rolled by without event, mainly glued to the terminal in the small shared office, working through the inbox. Left work a little late, with only enough time back at home to nuke some leftovers, pull dried clothes off the hab’s heating panels, and put down these thoughts. Noticed that the place needs a tidy. Add that to the to-do list. Too tired to do it tonight, need to turn in early to get this new work-day routine going.
Anyway, that’s day one.
Cyber Noir 2020 