My JP Life

This morning was yet another installment of "KP's JP Life." Let me draw a picture for you, please.

I set the alarm for 5:00 am, as I would like to get up and do the elliptical before work. This accomplishes two things. First, obviously, I start off my day with a good work out. Second, though, is probably not a popular response people fill in when they sign up for a membership at the local gym next to why are you interested in a membership with our facility? No, for me, the second reason I want to wake up at 5:00 and work out is so that I become so sweaty I can't imagine doing anything but taking a cold shower to cool down. That, of course, is because I have no hot water. Correction: we have no warm water. The only thing we have is ice cold water.

As is usually the case, I cannot get my body going at 5:00 due to the lack of sleep. So, I hit the snooze over and over, until it's time for me to wake up and jump right in the shower. Now, this takes some preparation. If only someone were watching this. It's hilarious.

First I apply my face wash. Then I brush my teeth, and rinse off my face. Next, it's time to shave my legs. Clearly, this is unfathomable in frigid water temperatures. So, this requires me to lather them up and shave in the sink. Once this is done, I turn on the shower, all the way to hot, just in case there's a small amount left in the faucet. Hey - I'm an optimist, what can I say? But, to clarify, there never is. I turn the shower head away from me, towards the wall and step in. The bottom of the tub is already cold, and it makes me shudder. I take a deep breath, turn the shower head, and arch my back all the way so that just my hair is getting wet. On a normal basis, I'm pretty fussy about making sure my hair is fully soaked before applying shampoo. But, under these circumstances, I don't have that luxury. I turn the shower off, leaving the water running out of the faucet. I shampoo my nearly-numb scalp, and wet my loofah. Now, I have to stop and laugh at myself here. Most people wet their cleansing utensil of choice in order to get it warm before applying the soap. With cold water, however, this isn't possible. And yet I proceed to complete this step. Every morning. I wash up. I turn the shower back on, and arch my back. I quickly rinse the shampoo out of my hair, probably leaving remnants from the past 5 days. But I don't care. I can barely breathe by this point. I'm shaking and thinking of how nice the warm, humid air is going to feel on my frozen body. I turn the shower back off, and apply the conditioner. At this point, I need to give myself a little pep talk to make it through the rest of the exercise.

It's okay, Kristin. People all over the world don't even have the luxury of a shower, let alone a warm one. Be grateful for what you have. It's only 5 minutes your day. 5 very cold minutes....

I rinse the conditioner so quickly from my hair that I can't imagine I'm not walking around a Pantene Pro-V test lab. I remove the shower head and rinse the rest of the soap. Again, not enough, I'm sure. I go by the "if you can't see it" rule...

I turn the water off with shaky hands, and wrap myself in a very warm towel. I run to my room, and immediately turn off the air conditioning as I sit and tremble for about 2 minutes. But don't worry. That all wears off really fast once I start to blow dry my over-conditioned, under-rinsed hair.

Oh well. This just adds to the things I can tell my kids I had to endure "before they had it all..." It's right up there with walking to school in the snow - up hill both ways!

Funny thing happened when I got home today. The cable was turned off. So, it's like 100 degrees in the city, we have no gas, hot water, or cable. Roomie and I are sitting at the June Bug Cafe in JP, working on our computers, watching wacky asian game shows and drinking bubble tea. Just another night in my JP Life. And I'm loving every minute!