After long hours of Hay Day, instagram, reddit, and toxic internet surfing, I finally came to the realization that it was 2:30am and I was not ready to sleep. Usually, when I’m awake this late in the night, I’d be all showered and fresh and lying sideways in my bed in the dark, ready to put down my phone and fall asleep whenever. Today, however, the hours zoomed by without warning, and it became too late to take a shower. Everyone was asleep, the city was dark, and even the noisy students living upstairs were silent. Most importantly, I was very, very tired.
So I decided to wash my face and go to bed.
I turned on the hot water tap all the way and the cold water tap just a quarter, and stared into the mirror blankly as I waited for the water to heat up. I put up my hair, pushed it back with a plastic headband, and made sure all stray hairs were slicked back. I touched the water. Perfect; lukewarm, edging on the hot side. Dipping my hands under the running stream, I leaned down and rinsed my face. This might be bad for my spine, I thought, but couldn’t really do anything about it. I reached for the soap and turned it back and forth in my palms, possibly overproducing white foam, and slathered every inch of face I could see in the mirror except for a thin margin around my eyes. I scrubbed and cleansed, and when I felt it was good, I leaned back down and rinsed it away. Sorry, spine. The water had heated a bit more in the meantime and was now hot.
I repeated the process two more times, each repetition getting increasingly longer. When I finally rinsed my face for the last time, the water was scalding hot and was burning my skin. I could see the redness of my hands as I worked to get rid of the last bit of soap. Once I was done, I sighed in relief as I turned the two taps off and patted my face dry. I then coated everything in lotion with circular motions and patted it down for the absorption affect.
I looked into the mirror once again. It looked clean. Or somewhat clean.
Satisfied, or, somewhat satisfied, I flossed, brushed my teeth, gargled, and put contacts in, each step taking much longer than a normal night. Hopefully my teeth enjoyed the extra care. Finally, feeling somewhat cleaner than half an hour ago, I removed the plastic headband, let down my hair, and walked back to my room through the dark hallway, feeling a strong urge to write a journal entry.