Lockdown Day 39 - 3 random things I learned about myself during this lockdown

Over the last 39 days, I've had a heck of a lot of time to ponder and self reflect.  During that time, there have been lots of things I've learned, noticed, and discovered.  This also includes things about myself.  Here are a few of those things that kind of took me by surprise.


3 Random things I've learned about myself during lockdown..

• I like burnt toast
• I enjoy waking up before the crack of dawn
• I only have one vice... Donuts

Burnt Toast

This one kind of surprised me. I used to despise burnt toast in the way I hate coffee grounds swimming in my coffee.  I used to watch my Grandfather ask for his toast to be "burnt", and then subsequently take a butter knife to scrape off the darkest part of the burnt surface.  He'd say "Ah that's better" and would then begin spreading butter across the less charred surface.

Strange as it may be, I totally get this now. When I eat toast.. I want my bread to be toasted.  I HATE IT when a piece of bread is golden brown and the second you spread butter or margarine, it gets super soft, and actually sinks down, collapsing in on itself. Add some jelly or jam into the equation, and its even worse.  A workaround, is to almost burn the toast to get more moisture out of the bread, so it stays firm while spreading butter or jelly across it.  This also adds more taste and texture to the entire slice.  I babysit my toast so it doesn't get to the point of being black, but if you don't have a toaster that controls heat very well, or have the time to watch it, Granddad's 'Burn it to a crisp' method and scraping it afterward is a quick way to accomplish this as well.

Waking up before sunrise
I have complained about not being able to 'sleep in' for years.  Even as a kid on summer vacation, I could stay up until 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning, and then be wide awake as soon as it started getting light outside.  I'm simply wired that way.  For the last thirty-nine days, I have never slept past 7:00 a.m. but on most days wake up at around 5:30.  Recently I stopped resenting this.

I really do enjoy the peace and tranquility I experience when the rest of my house, and much of the world is still sleeping.  My senses aren't bombarded, and I can truly be at peace while I drink my morning coffee, write, and check the news online at my own leisure.  It really is tranquil and calming, and is a great way to get my mind right for the day ahead.


Donuts

One of my only true vices, even more so than Pizza.   While coffee can instantly get me to a good place very quickly, throwing in a donut gets me Zen!  Whenever I pass by a donut place day or night, I think about popping in to get a donut.  If there are donuts near me, I cannot pass them up.  The longer donuts are in my proximity, the more of them I will eat.

It's not like I eat donuts all of the time (anymore).  Until this lockdown, I had really gotten my eating habits under control.  Mind you, I'm not devouring donuts left and right, but have definitely ordered more of them with my groceries over the last several weeks.  To me they have always been comfort food.  I have such good memories of eating donuts with my parents as a kid, my friends, workmates, and with my own family.

And.. I'm an equal opportunity donut eater.  As a kid, I used to be an all out jelly and cream filled donut fanatic. I still crave them occasionally, but my taste for them has actually diminished a bit over the years.  At one time, I made it my mission to try outrageous donuts covered in cookies, cereal, candy, bacon etc., but anymore.. just give me a good old fashioned plain donut, or apple fritter to enjoy with my coffee.  Don't get me wrong, I will jump at the chance to eat any kind of donut, but lately my philosophy is that simplicity is better.

The right kind of donut that's not sickeningly sweet, and a nice cup of brewed coffee with cream, can perfectly balance each other out creating a whole yin and yang dynamic.  Wow.. until now, I didn't realize there's a whole lot of eastern philosophy involved with my coffee and donut routine.

So that's it for now.  I can only imagine how many other things I'll learn about myself in the coming weeks.  If I deem anymore of these self realizations as remotely interesting, I may have to update this list soon.