Choreographed sunrise

I have a routine.

Every morning I do the exact same thing. I snooze a consistent number of times. I start the shower. In the shower I always shampoo first, then body wash, shave, rinse shampoo, apply conditioner, wash face, rinse face, rinse conditioner, stand for about one minute, and then get out. I dry off in the same way, too. Next, my teeth, contacts, dry hair, then straighten it. I'll stop there because the rest is just as boring. My point is...it seems like so much of my life day to day is repetitive.

Then there's my drive to work. It's the same as well. But in driving the same route I've noticed that others have routines.

Take the Starbucks guy. I began to see him about twice a week last fall. He wears a long, khaki trench coat, black boots, and some sort of faux cowboy hat. He is always running late. Always. He walks from some apartments up the street and when he's about halfway through the intersection he sees the bus. This is when he breaks into a run. Let me tell you something, DART don't wait. And he knows it. The guy never fails to put his hand up into the air as if hailing a cab, trying his heart out to get that bus to stop. I'm pretty sure that at one point in his childhood he rode the short bus to school. And get this- he is no athlete. The guy runs more like a girl than I do. It's kind of sad but it always makes me giggle. I wish I could describe it. Does the term "shuffle-run" give a decent visual? He never makes it.

I haven't seen the yardguy's truck recently. I tend to see him a few miles away from the Mr. Faux Cowboy Hat. He and his friends do yards. Picture a Chevy truck. Picture multiple dents, and a poor paintjob with a company name and a phone number plastered to the side. There are always four guys sitting shoulder-to-shoulder in the cab of this thing. Almost in each others' laps! They laugh a lot and twice I have seen why. They like to drink. The amazing thing about that is that they can slam a Bud at 7:30 in the morning. I guess it gives them the juice to mow for hours on end.

Then there's Tracksuit guy. He is on the same time schedule every morning. He lives in a house just a block away from my school and steps outside to grab the newspaper just as I drive by. Homeboy wears a tracksuit and he must REALLY like it. It gives me such pleasure to see him in the same one every morning. This man must be close to seventy and is not keeping up with the fashion trends. His tracksuit is a very bright shade of turquoise with a flourescent pink stripe running diagonally from his right shoulder to his left hip. There are a number of things wrong with this outfit but I won't list them off. I am hoping you can identify them yourself.

I park at work and the same teacher pulls up next to me within ten-or-so seconds. And then I walk into the office and clock in. My morning ritual is complete. From clock-in to clock-out it's anyone's guess as to what will happen.