November 2, 2005
Time for Coffee
I had some extra time this morning, so I asked to have my wake-up call take place at 8 instead of 6 like the last few days. It didn't matter though, because by 6:30 I was awake. The fifteen story building next to my hotel is covered in mirrored glass, and the sun was being directed right into my room.
When the sun isn't shining into the glass, you can actually see all of the people moving around the building. Little ants going about their work. Marching back and forth. Copy room, coffee, desk, bathroom. Last night I looked out my window at nine o'clock only to see a small group of them clustered around a tiny conference room table still working. I laughed at them and their unending march and then sat back down to continue working on the report I had left to look out the window.
This week I am in Toronto, last week it was DC, and in another week it will be Vermont, Raleigh, Atlanta, New Jersey. It doesn't really matter though. It's all the same. Green carpets, brown furniture, off-white walls and burgundy splashed into everything else. It's all the same.
Tiny bottles of shampoo, conditioner, lotion and mouthwash line the sink in the hopes of offering me some reprieve, some semblance of my home away from home. I would imagine that most of us bring our own though. If you are going to be away from home and traveling for more than a day or so, you want to have your brands, your smells.
If the hotel really wanted to make me feel at home, they might interview me before I come here and ask what it is that I like. That would make me feel more at home. But they don't, so instead it is all the same. My room is the same as his room, and her room. It is the same as the last room I had, and it will be the same as the next one that I have.
In that sense, by coming to a hotel you are almost freezing time around you. Nothing changes, it all stays the same. If anything does change, the little worker bees come in while you are out and put it back in its place. It is almost like I am being held captive by a group that is trying desperately to keep me from realizing that I am a prisoner. "What, no no sir. Nothing is different. It's all the same. Yes sir, right away sir."
Wake.
Shower.
Iron.
Dress.
Coffee.
Breakfast.
Work.
Work.
Work.
Time for coffee.