Another Day

7AM, A few months ago.

Waking up sucks. You know that feeling when you first wake up, just lying there, looking
up at the ceiling? Your body feels like it weighs a ton, you can't move, so you sit there
in bed like an asshole? Yeah...this is one of those mornings.

The room is cold. I'm back at home, in my own bed. It's in the basement though, so every
morning, I'm woken up by the chill of the cool basement. There's no heater here, so I
gotta turn on an electric mattress pad in order to keep my bed warm. I usually try to
be nice in the mornings...but it's tough when you're waking up cold and tired. So I start
fresh, beginning every day by brushing my teeth and taking a shower. By then, my cat's
gotta be fed, and her litterbox cleaned. I love my cat. Her name is Cleo. I watch her, then
go upstairs. A warm blast of sunlight greets me when I open the door that closes off the
downstairs area. My mom is already awake. She's always been a morning person.

"Gotta go outside, Cleo?"

Have you ever had an outdoors cat? They're the weirdest animals ever. Cleo loves to be in
my backyard. She likes chasing mice. I turn back into the kitchen, looking for Cleo's food
bowl. She refuses to eat unless I'm there, so we usually eat together. It's important. I
gotta be sitting there, otherwise she simply won't tough her food. She's odd, but nice to
have around. So there we are. Her on the counter, eating her food, me at the table with my
cereal. I rub my eyes. They usually sting in the morning. I still haven't put my contacts in.
Seeing that I'm half-blind without them, this tends to be an issue. Luckily, I know where
everything is in the kitchen...so I manage fine.

The sound of footsteps startles me. My mom must be coming down the stairs. I guess it's
time for her to get ready to leave. She works as a secretary for some hospital. I guess this
is a more interesting job than it sounds like, as it's a psychiatric hospital, so there are nuts
going and coming in constantly. She enjoys it though. Says "the people help to pass the
ticking of the clock. Makes time go faster."

"On the counter again, are we?"

And there she is. I don't bother turning around. She hates that I let Cleo on the counter.

"On the counter, Cleo? Really? Off."

Everybody's got something to complain about it the mornings, it seems...especially mom,
rushing around constantly, getting ready for work, waking people up...stuff that mom's
gotta do. I stare into the empty bowl in front of me. There are a million things I need to
get done before I leave, but I'm too lazy. Finally, I get up. I head to the stairs, and walk
down. I need my backpack from my room. I sweep the books into my backpack, then go
to the front door, where my mom is waiting.

"The bus is going to be there soon. You better hurry up. It was bad enough to miss the
bus last week, you really can't afford to do it again."

"Stop, mom. I'll be fine."

Gotta take the bus to the train station. It's the shitty part of commuting. Every day, have to
catch the bus. Every day, sit next to the same dull people, in the same dull seat on
my trip to the train station. Then it's the same dull train ride to the city, and another dull
bus ride til I finally arrive on campus. From there, another dull day, as I sit through class,
I see the same people, go home, wake up the next morning and do the same fucking thing.

See where my problem is? I'm in a fucking rut. Same dreary life, day after day. It's like
my entire life is an endless, vicious cycle. School, home, eat, sleep. I really don't have
friends. Not a lot, anyway. Those that I do have are busy. Wrestling. Yeah. While they're
kicking ass in front of thousands of people, Chad is sitting in philosophy, wondering how
in the hell he got into this mess.

The worst part of it all? I don't know how to get out of it. I'm forever trapped in this storm
front of this dreary, meaningless existence. I have no path to take, looking forward. No
seat of power to take after the trials. I'm studying to be a lawyer. Yeah, those smart guys
sitting in the courtrooms, that get horrible reputations. I've taken a lot of dumb classes
in this field. When will I ever need to know stats or calculus to be a lawyer?

The ride to the campus is long and dull, as usual. I spend the trip listening to music in the
back of the bus. It's an hour before I get to class. Most of the time, I immediately take a
seat in the back of the room. Math is dull, so I end up falling asleep and doodling. I
gotta pay attention in that class though, so I probably shouldn't sleep...but I don't have to
make up any work. I'm not falling behind...so who cares? I'm here to pass classes and get
my degree. My eyes start to get heavy as the class continues to drag on. Every minute, my
mind wanders further and further from the topic at hand, to the point I can't keep my head
up.

"Which of you can tell me: If there are 21 seats in a grid, and 14 people, what is the best
seat arrangement to give them?"

"Can we use our calculators?"

"I don't see how it would help. Have you not been paying attention to the lesson?"

Take that, slut. It was some girl in the front. She asked that same question every day, so
it's almost to be expected now. Seriously. Word for word, the same question. She asked it
Friday. She asked it Wednesday. She asked it Monday. She asked it Monday last week.
Friday two months ago. So...fucking...annoying. Like, has the answer ever changed? You
gotta ask it every single time, just in case the answer might change? It never does. You
get to use your calculator, every single time. It's even on the syllabus! I swear she has
down syndrome or something. Dumb slut.

On Fridays, I have philosophy to end the day. It sucks, but fortunately, the class is only on
Friday nights. After that, I'm home free. Well...not really. Usually, my friends tell me
everybody's going to some big party, and invite me to go. Occasionally, I tag along,
looking for a good time. Tonight, I'll probably go, just because I have nothing else to look
forward to otherwise.

To me, weekends are my time to relax. I spend my days getting through class, so when
the week ends, I'm more than ready to kick back and relax. I often hang out with my
weekend group. That's what I call them, at least. They're not friends...I just spend my
weekend hanging out with them. We do the same shit every time. Get together after class
Friday, and kick stuff off. We usually head to this place downtown. They have cheap beer
Friday nights, and being a college bar, they don't usually ID people...that's our weekend.

Getting into clubs, drinking, and hitting on chicks...fun, but sometimes, it gets dull, going
down to the same old places in Manhattan. I just wish I wasn't trapped. Take a trip, go
on an adventure...anything to remind me of the wrestling life I left behind. Back when a
Friday night meant intense training for a match on Sunday. When the only thing on
everybody's mind was their match. That was what I lived for. What I spent the weekdays
looking forward to. I lost a lot. I mean, when I had started my professional career, it was
forward bound. Every move I made pushed me further, made me better. Everything was
to better myself. And then it all ended. Suddenly, my dream was over, and it was back to
the real world. Back to college, to try and make something of my life. Now, instead of a
weekend at the gym, I was out with the guys, drinking my life away...I needed a change.