another brainfart

so this here is another one of my ideas that will probably never live to see it's fullest potential but warrants an attempt (as feeble as it may be) by me in an effort to be more "normal". why do i want to be more "normal" you may ask? well, i believe in opposites. i believe without hate you cannot have love, without sadness you can't have happiness, etc, etc... well, i have been around "abnormal" my whole life so i thought i should give being normal a try. normal just looks so - wholesome. like the picture of the athletic (but not too athletic!) woman jogging along a lake with a carefree smile and matching soft pink spandex workout bra and shorts. she looks happy. she looks healthy. happy and healthy. happy healthy people that everyone likes and gets along with. happy healthy people get to do normal things with other normal people while unhappy unhealthy people sit at home and seethe at them.

so there's this thing i've heard about called a "routine". this is something that most people seem to have - whether its conscious or not. example of typical routine: you wake up, brush your teeth, comb your hair, have a cup of coffee, read the newspaper, get dressed, go to work, come home, check your mail, take out the trash, cook dinner, eat, go for a walk, watch your favorite tv show, take a shower, read a book, and go to sleep. it's not as monotonous as it may sound because in between all of that you are doing other small things but what's important is that you do those same things everyday. it's not like those are activities that you can skip for a few days and then pick up later. everyone has to brush their teeth, eat, go to work, check mail, etc at some point, right? well, i tend to do everything when i REMEMBER to do it, which fails more often than not. sometimes i don't even care - for example bathing. this is an activity i have hated since childhood. i still do. i try to get it over with as quickly as possible. being wet doesn't bother me - and i love soap. i hate being damp. i hate having to dry off every stupid little droplet of water off my skin, and having to get all dressed up again. it's too much work for me. i would rather just bathe and wrap a big cloth around me and call it a day. i guess i hate dressing more than bathing but i always have to get dressed after i bathe, right? i digress. i am completely nuts, huh? ok, so back to the whole routine concept. i hear that routine is good. i believe that it probably is - and i have tried and tried to stick to a routine but it always fails. because i am lazy. because i am apathetic and don't believe that anything will ever make a damn bit of difference in the long run. but it does!! so i decided to challenge myself to stick to a routine for one week. here is a draft of my proposed routine:

8 am - wake up & stretch.
8:15 - brush teeth, wash face & moisturize.
8:30 - make coffee, turn on news, feed dogs, & get dressed (ugh!)
9 am - eat breakfast, take vitamins, check email, make phone calls, pay bills, etc.
10 am - go for walk/bike ride.
10:45 - do something productive until lunch.
12:30 pm - make & eat lunch.
1:15 - shopping (grocery, etc), running errands, or cleaning.
2:30 - rest. meditate.
3 pm - work in office & have a snack.
5 pm - check mail, take out trash, last minute cleaning.
6 pm - hang out with johnny.
7 pm - cook dinner & eat - clean kitchen afterwards!
8 pm - go for walk with johnny & dogs. play.
9 pm - shower, brush teeth, & take vitamins while johnny checks email, etc.
10 pm - watch favorite tv shows.
11 pm - leave johnny alone so he can go to sleep. read a book.

doesn't this sound like a good day? i think it does. if i can stick to this for a week i will be very proud of myself. the weekend are going to completely mess up this routine but i must establish a good weekday routine.