duck-shaped pain

The last couple of weeks, save for a few scattered weekend mornings, I have been getting up at 6 a.m.. At first, it was only an experiment, to see if I could do it, and now it's turned into a regular routine. I've been waking up before the alarm goes off, which is a new and unusual thing for me, and even more frightening, I have no urge to pound the snooze button. I am getting old.

I used to be able to sleep in until all sorts of late hours. Noon, 2 in the afternoon -- no time was too late for me (to be fair, the days when I would wake at 2 p.m. were preceded by work shifts lasting until 4 or 5 in the morning). Now I just feel like a slacker if I get up past 8, unless it's a special day devoted to laziness.

Today, I got up at 6 again, drank some coffee and got right to work proofreading a report for work. Now it's 9 a.m. and all my work-related work [1] is done for the day. I feel oddly pleased with myself.