Clutch Hours

status check - Laughing
background ambiance - TV (Catching up on "Scrubs" - Viva la Tivo!)

You can feel it approach, the moment you start to wonder if you have a fever.

It's late at night, of course, so there's no one awake to assure you that the apartment's just warmer than usual. You're sitting on the couch, feeling your forehead with an equally flushed hand (because for whatever reason, you think you'll be able to tell) and you start to worry that you're getting sick.

There's nothing you can do about it, other than worry.

And the clutch hours have arrived. You retreat to your bedroom, where you toss and turn, unable to sleep but completely unwilling to open your window to let the cold in. It'll be too cold and you'll wind up feeling worse.

Not being able to do anything about this makes you start thinking about other things, none of which you can control. Before long, you're convinced that you're going to have a bad week. A band month. A bad series of years until, before you know it, you're middle-aged in a place by yourself with no one around to tell you if you have a fever or if the apartment's just too warm.

Somewhere in the midst of this self-doubt, as you clutch a pillow, you drift to fitful sleep.

And then you wake up in the morning, smile at the sunshine coming through your window and the drip-drop sound of the snow melting outside. You're feeling energized and bound out of bed, into the living room for a morning batch of pilates that leaves you feeling stretched out and relaxed.

With several hours before your atypical work week begins, you realize you can catch up on the episodes of "Scrubs" you haven't seen yet - and you burst into laughter upon seeing Zach Braff barechested, doing the Sprinkler in shiny green Hammer pants.

Then you remember the previous night's apprehension and stop for a moment to ponder.

Huh.

Ooh! Zach's wearing a Flava Flav clock around his neck! Hilarious!

Guess the apartment was just too warm last night.