A Pirate I was Meant to Be
Feb. 2, 2005
This morning, I woke up and suddenly had the urge to listen to <a href="http://www.worldofmi.com/features/lyrics/index.php?id=6">"A Pirate I was Meant to Be,"</a> the brilliant rhyming ditty on the merits of a swashbuckling life from <a href="http://www.lucasarts.com/products/monkey/default.htm">"The Curse of Monkey Island."</a> This urge was probably placed deep inside me several years ago and only just know bubbled its way to the surface.
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<br>When I was still an undergraduate, I found that I had a tendency to repeatedly hit the snooze button until I missed my first class or two of the day. Somehow, classes never seem as important when I have to stop dreaming to get to them. Thus, I devised a plan to get myself out of bed. Since I shared my bedroom with my computer, I downloaded a pc-based alarm clock which allowed one to schedule an mp3 to play at the appropriate time. I chose the whimsical "A Pirate I was Meant to Be" for its upbeat tune, lighthearted demeanor, and of course, piratey goodness. Surely, a song about buccaneering would get me out of bed!
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<br>As you might have suspected, it worked. Who can resist the siren song of sea dogs? Every morning at the appropriate time, I would awake to the accordians and pipes and salty voices. Since my computer was out of reach of the bed, I had to stand up to turn it off. By this time, I was awake enough to remember my priorities and get to class.
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<br>Now that I have a multi-room house, I can no longer use the computer to wake myself. Slowly, I have fallen back into repeated use of the snooze button. The problem manifests itself even more when I forget to set the coffee maker the night before. Thus, this morning, after once again sleeping later than I intended, I rushed to my computer and downloaded "A Pirate I was Meant to Be." The memories of North 1, programming with Ed Y., and my tiny room came back, and I smiled. Now, if I can just run some speaker wire into the other room...