Ways to wake yourself up to do homework, or other things you need to be awake for:

A. take a nap in your car in the meijer parking lot
B. consume a lot of caffine
C. workout
D. give yourself an adrenaline rush by making bad decisions
E. all of the above

I choose E. At least, I did this past weekend.

I had just finished helping out with a “fall harvest festival” [as a side note, i’m not sure why people feel compelled to include the word “harvest” in the title of events that take place in the fall. not like we were actually harvesting anything, or celebrating a harvest, really.] I was tired. I needed to go grocery shopping. Solution = rest my eyes in the comfort of my cavalier in the parking lot.

Half an hour later I am awakened by some lady walking past my open window whining into her cell phone about a $300 phone bill. Maybe she shouldn’t talk so much.

Anyway, I groggily decided to get out of my car and head straight for one of the starbucks which are located conveniently 15 yards from me at any given point in time. this one was inside meijers. i place my order: espresso over ice. that’s it, straight, black, and beautifully caffinated.

“you look like you need something with a lot of caffine” – lovely starbucks barista.

Fantastic. Thank you.

Fast forward…………… Now i’m at my apartment. No way am I getting homework done yet. Bike ride!

Bike rides are usually great ideas. This one, as a result of bad luck and bad judgement leading to bad decision, was not.

The bad luck part involved an accelarated sunset. Seriously, WHEN did it start getting dark so fast. One minute I’m biking along in the golden rays of autumn sunshine and the next i’m straining to see the fence that i’m about to crash into.

I suppose the bad luck of sudden darkness plays into the bad judgement and decision as well. I had decided to bike on a section of the kent trail system – one of my favorite biking places close to downtown GR. It’s a wide paved trail, curving through trees, past parks, and along, over, and around the grand river. In other words, somewhat treacherous in the dark.

Normally, being in the dark doesn’t bother me much, so i decided to keep going. then i almost flip over the handle bars because i just hit a hidden pot hole at full speed. but i keep going. i reach the segment of the trail that is apparently a one way street for cars. apparently cars only drive here at night, and apparently, my expereince is very reliable.

the first couple cars surprise me but, whatever, I keep going. then comes “scary car”. it’s coming towards me, lights off, completely dark windows, with some sort of huge dog hanging out of the passenger side.

that’s it. the mp3 player is turned off. i am now at full alert.

i keep going, because there is NO way that i’m turning around to follow “scary car”. i figure i’ll go a few minutes more to put some space between us before i turn around and high-tail it home.

then come the motorcycles. six of them fly by. seriously, what else is this trail used for at night? i decide i don’t really want to find that out at that moment.

i’m about to turn around when another car starts coming toward me. this one, thankfully, has its lights on, but, not thankfully, decides to pull a U-turn after passing me. i guess the one-way rule doesn’t apply to everyone. as the car comes back towards me, i decide it is now time to go home, immediately, well, as soon as i get out of the way of the U-turn car.

i “hide” in the shadows on the shoulder, the car, thankfully, goes past me, and i blaze toward home.

my mp3 player remained off. my knuckles remained white.

multiple hidden potholes and energy boosting adrenaline rushes later, i pull into my driveway, safe and sound.

i don’t remember if i actually got any homework done that night.