3.5 Alarm

(I know we are all suppose to have deep thoughts today, but I don't have any, so this is what you get.)

My morning alarm system is fairly complicated. Between 5:30 and 6 the bedside light comes on*, at 6 the radio comes on, then at 6:15 the really-annoying-alarm-on-the-other-side-of-the-room goes off. This forces me to at least walk across the room and hit a button before falling back asleep.

The obnoxious alarm has a snooze button but I've had problems with "double-clicking" and getting a 30 minute snooze instead of 10 minute. I have been using the alarm on my cell for snoozing but I've screwed that up more than once with my eyes half closed. So several days this week I set the alarm on my cellphone before going to bed for my 15 minute snooze**. How pathetic am I?

There is something extra-specially sweet about those 10-15 min of snoozing. It's stolen sleep. I'm not sure I can give it up, even though it (+/- too long showers) has made me late more often than I care to mention.

Any suggestions on how to force myself out of bed in the morning? No buckets of cold water designed to pour on me if I don't get up in time, please.

*I can not wake up in the dark; my brain sees no light and says it's sleepy time. The timer (cheap mechanical kind) loses time and gets slightly later each day and can't be set exactly. I have to remember to reset the time every few weeks, unless the power's been off more recently. Can you really not use an electrical timer with CFLs?