Quenntis wakes up before 5:30 this morning, but he only gets out of bed at 5:30, and only when his smartwatch buzzes on his wrist, nudging him to move his eyelids and and his limbs.
His whole body yawns and groans in protest as his feet touch the ground and he goes from horizontal to vertical, ambling from dark bedroom to bright bathroom.
Teeth are cleaned with an electric toothbrush, and a face is washed with cold water.
Now Quenntis has to choose between the comfort of his bed or the invitation of the yoga mat in the study room.
He stretches and gently gets his body ready for the day, and then he feels like a complete human being after a refreshing shower at 5:50. His body enjoys the attention and care he’s giving it today.
Back in the bedroom he reads “When God Was A Rabbit” and writes in his Notes app on his phone while the Hobot Legee-688 cleans the floor.
It only takes 10 minutes.
He goes downstairs, empties the dishwasher, and wakes the kids up. On the ground floor Quenntis pets the dog and strokes the rabbit before changing their newspaper toilets. Then he takes out the trash and greets the yellow garbage truck aunty who is trying to handle an angry old man. He guesses she told him something about his trash that he didn’t like.
After scooting to the train station he pays 73 dollars for a Puyuma Express train ticket. He sits in an aisle seat in carriage 2, near the back of the train. His seat number is 40, which he thinks is apt as he is also in his 40s.
He remembers he didn’t eat breakfast. His stomach growls, so he gets a tuna, cheese, and egg sandwich, a croissant, and an iced latte to go from the 7-Eleven.
In Taichung he disturbs a tiny gecko when he unlocks his red bicycle outside the station. The ride to work is uneventful. He greets everyone at school and clocks in. After teaching his Water Bears class the letter Mm, the difference between coins (circles) and notes (rectangles), how to pick up marbles with two fingers, and how to use the marbles to count to 10, he has a quick lunch before going for a bike ride adventure. He takes a few pictures with his iphone 13 and feels 2024 is going to end well.
“Harry Stylish” is the name of his red bicycle.
He prints out a new bookmark to keep him on track for the Last 100 Days of 2024 challenge.
Feel free to print out the bookmark below. Quenntis found it really helpful last year, and doesn’t mind sharing.
He checks his email and finds an invitation from Teaching with Orff to register for a 90-minute webinar on Thursday morning: An Autumn Walk in the Park: An Orff Schulwerk Journey. He confirms with his School’s Foreign Director before registering and paying the US$20 fee. He’s teaching kindergarten music classes this semester so he feels this webinar will give him some great ideas to use in his weekly classes.
At school he has a data meeting and then teaches about a naughty monkey who loves to eat money. The students talk about what they did on the weekend with their families to celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival and then it’s time for a snack, a cashew nut, and a goodbye song.
Quenntis almost misses his train. His Easycard is out of money, so he has to top it up with some cash at the station. Luckily the train’s 8 minutes late, so he gets to ride the express back home. He takes a few pictures from the train window and looks around to see which stranger he could take a selfie with. Everyone seems to be stuck in the Monday Blues, so he decides to try another day. Instead he writes three haikus on his phone about a gecko, a truck, and an announcement.
In Yuanlin he goes past a tea shop that has an interesting display featuring fresh fruit and yogurt in a tub. He stops and buys all 3 different options for that evening’s dessert. Then he asks the two strangers if he could take a selfie with them for his “100 Selfies With 100 Strangers” project.
And they say yes!
Quenntis goes along with his wife to send their son’s scooter back up to Taipei for him. They share a scooter ride back. Their son’s moving into a new place that is quite far from his work, and he needs to scoot.
After a delicious dinner box dinner and an even more delicious dessert, Quenntis and his youngest son go jogging at the nearby school. They both step in puddles on the way, but they keep going despite the squelch-squelch from their wet shoes.
And now Quenntis is updating his Substack so that readers can get a sense of a day in his life. After this update, he’ll take a shower, stretch, read a little more, and go to bed to the sound of the rain.
He realises that yesterday (Sunday) was his Day 100 and that today (Monday) is his Day 99.
Oh well.
Such an interesting read written in 3rd person! Also, love the selfie ! Thank you for sharing the bookmark. That is a great reminder to keep yourself on track.