Don’t forget to bathe

This is my first official day out of the office, and my third actual day (they let me go two days early). I have written three articles for pay, 2000 words of my memoir, applied for 6 gigs… And only now remembered to shower.

It is 94° in my apartment, mercifully minus the bedroom, where the air conditioner is straining to capacity to keep my sheets cool. As I reached for a book about an hour ago, a funk tickled my nostrils and I realized I had fallen into the worst work-from-home trap: Forgetting to bathe daily.

Don’t snicker – anyone who works from home has fallen prey to this oversight at one time or another. It’s so nice to roll out of bed at your own pace (ironically, I woke up “on time” today, for the first time in months), throw on a pair of shorts, and hunker down at the computer. There’s no one to see/smell you, and the dogs don’t care. In fact, they prefer you at your most pungent.

Other things that fall by the wayside when you work from home: Clothes without holes, clean clothes (with or without holes), cooking/eating, answering the phone, going outside… the list goes on and on. It’s both a blessing and a curse. A blessing in that I will be saving a fortune in transportation (the Toronto TTC is one of the most expensive transit systems in the world) and dry cleaning, as well as buying lunches. A curse in that I will have the pallor of the walking dead and will often smell like them too.

Sigh. This is going to take some adjustment and a whole new routine.

That said, I have showered and already feel 10° cooler. The dogs aren’t as affectionate, though.