At the very least this will be an exercise in writing.
Today's study: the snooze button
i set my alarm for approximately half an hour earlier than i intend on getting out of bed. The elongated snooze button on the front of my slim, black, iPod ready alarm clock will delay the further play of the previous night's song selection by nine minutes. i would have preferred a more metrically chosen 10 minute increment (as i would have chosen Apple to have selected better quality keyboards) but as i had nothing to do with the design of said alarm clock i must settle with the odd imperial-ish nine minute increment.
So thirty minutes before my intended time of exit from the horizontal plane into the vertical my alarm first sounds. Depending on the previous night's mood it could be anything ranging from Mingus to Minor Threat. i wish that there was a way to surprise myself but as few people have ever been successful at surprising me i find i cannot manage to surprise myself either.
The disproportionately stretched out oval bar design for snooze buttons across the globe must have come from extensive research. That first attempt at awakening seems to only slightly trigger the most basic of primordial brain functions as thoughtless motor patterns thrust my otherwise still limp hand onto the thankfully large target of said snooze button.
My brain now has nine minutes to fully reboot.
With the exception of the least amount of arm muscles possible, my body (including eye lids) remains completely in it's full-on sleep state. After the initial nine minute period the iPod begins to glow and several fractions of a second later the music starts to fill the quiet void once again.
This time my brain has regained function enough to take control of my eyelids long enough to sneak a peak at the time now displayed by the clock's cool-glowing, back lit, LCD screen. The subconsciously driven arm flails again and stops the music. This brief glance gives my brain enough information to determine the level of motivation needed.
If brain succeeded in rebooting within the first snooze increment all is well as we are only nine minutes into scheduled half hour of sleep-depressurization. Had something gone wrong and the reverse pendulum arm fell yet again before the mind went online an immediate warning would have gone out to all body sectors warning of hitting the eighteen minute mark without full system protocol achieved.
More often than not the brain hits it's appropriate mark and the body acknowledges with a groan and a roll spring loading the next checkpoint as it falls back into it's slumber. As we enter the eighteenth minute the song plays again. This time muscle memory alone will not be enough to get the hand over to the snooze button. This time the body must roll itself back over to allow the arm proper reach to alarm clock. The requires more of the body to wake and coordinate to achieve the ultimate goal of a return to sleep. This also allows the brain more time in passing to observe the time displayed and allows more body part to be awake enough to receive commands.
Snooze has reset, brain has regained some more control, much of body still enjoys nine more minutes of rest now collapsed onto it's stomach.
The twenty seventh minute mark is met. Music resumes. This is it. A mear three minutes remains until the covers must come off and the day must start. The body cries out in protest as the music continues on, it's mumblings muffled in the pillow. In one fluid motion the body rolls onto it's back while simultaneously casting off the covers. The loss of the blanket womb combined with the cooler bedroom air kick-starts the driving motion needed to get the souls of the feet to the floor.
As the legs push the torso up against the hug of gravity the now more dexterous fingers find the significantly smaller alarm off button, while the opposite arm reaches for the light switch. Within a scrunched up face the pupils adjust to the new light and the body concludes it's graceful, gradual gradient into the beginning of the day.
Somewhere between here and twelve o'clock i finally reach my fully awake state.
