#136 Jill and Mark Discuss Daily Routines

Mark: Hi. Mark Kaufmann here again for the English LingQ podcast. I'm here with Jill. Jill: Hello.

Mark: Today we're going to talk about our daily routines because many of our LingQ members, I'm sure, wonder what our daily routines are and also would like to learn the new, or the words and phrases, the common words and phrases used to describe parts of your day, or parts of your daily routine. Maybe Jill, you can start by telling us a bit of your daily routine.

Jill: Alright. So, Monday to Friday I get up probably, get out of bed at about 6:30 in the morning and I'm awake before that because Chris is up at 5:30 but I stay in bed until about 6:30. And, then I drive about 20-25 minutes to work in the car and get here usually around 8:00 in the morning and leave between 4:30 and 5:00 most days.

And then, Mark: That's just rude. Jill: Yeah, it's a bit obnoxious but what can you do? So, he's up at 5:30; I'm up at 6:30. And, I usually spend I'd say 45 minutes to an hour puttering around and getting ready for work, you know, ironing clothes, having a shower, whatever, brushing your teeth, whatever you do to get ready for work. And then after work I very often try to do some sort of exercise whether it's going to the gym or going for a run or a hike or something like that. Well, at least a few days a week after work I do that. Usually a couple of days I, I go visit a friend or my mom or I don't do any exercise after work. Then go home in the evening and if I've gone and exercised, go home and eat and by the time I've done all that it's usually at least 8:00 o'clock at night, if not later and so there's not much time left. So, about probably, I don't' know, 8:00 or 9:00 o'clock I might watch a little bit of TV and get ready for bed usually around 10:00 or 10:30, read for a few minutes maybe and go to sleep. Then it starts again the next day.

Mark: That's does sound pretty exciting. I guess obviously on the weekend it's a little bit different. I'm not sure whether you're still up at 6:30 on the weekend or not, but I guess it might depend on how late you're up the night before. Jill: Yeah, generally on the weekend I think I still wake up between, by probably 6:00 or 6:30 in the morning, but because I know I don't have to get up I can keep dozing a little bit, resting a little bit so I probably on average don't get out of bed until about 7:30, but I don't sleep in. Even if I'm out late I don't stay in bed until 10:00 in the morning or Noon or anything like that, even if I'm out late the night before because I think, my body is just used to getting up early, so I get up early. Mark: Yeah, I'm the same way myself. It doesn't really matter when I go to bed. I seem to wake up at the same time and sometimes I suppose if I've had too much to drink, which doesn't happen much but you know, if it did, in a way I almost wake up earlier because I just don't feel quite right, you know, for whatever reason. And, I'm always a bit envious of people that seem to be able to sleep in ‘till Noon. I just have never been able to do that.

Jill: And, passed out.

Mark: Oh yeah, they're out cold. I know. That amazes me, but it doesn't work for me. I guess I can explain a bit about my day too, really. I'm not up at 6:30 although in the summer when it's bright out I am up earlier. Probably, actually I am up at 6:30 but I lie there until, I mean I get out of bed probably around 7:00. If I'm lucky and I'm still sleeping, maybe 7:30. Yeah, and then a lot of the time I try to, I work out in the morning to get some exercise. I like to exercise in the morning. It kind of wakes me up. And, I find at the end of the day I'm kind of tired and not really wanting to work out. Do you find that at the end of the day?

Jill: Yeah, I do find that I, you know, don't feel like it very often at the end of work. I just want to go do something else, relax or whatever. But, I don't have the energy to exercise in the morning, especially when I already get up so early. I mean, I can't, even if I got up at the same time to go exercise at 6:30 or 7:00 to go for a run or something I just don't get the same workout. I find a get a way better workout in the afternoon.

I think because I've had lots of food and water and my muscles are stretched out a little bit and so I just get, have a better workout. Plus, after sitting all day long, even if I don't feel like it, once I get out and do something I feel so much better. Mark: Yeah, I find that pretty much anytime, like a lot of mornings you wake up and I wake up, don't really want to, kind of putting it off. Maybe go do some emails and see what's going on, on the website and then no, I really should go. I'll feel better when I do, go and do it and it helps you wake up and you always feel better when you're done. In the summer now, sometimes I'll end up going for a swim in the ocean in the morning which can be a little cool but it's such a great feeling when you're actually in and swimming around. There's no one else at the beach. It's really, I did that the other day. It was just like, ah, I should really do this more.

I know you're a big fan of the ocean, so. Jill: I am. I am actually, I love the ocean, I love water, but ours is a little too cold for me. I used to swim in it all the time growing up as a kid, all the time. Even a few years ago when we had a long, hot summer I was in a few times, but if it's not sort of August and we haven't had a long, warm summer I'm not too interested in going in our water. But, give me warmer ocean water and yeah, I'm in there for sure. Mark: No, I know. I think we've talked about this before. But, yeah, getting back to my day, I guess, I usually work out and then I eat breakfast after and come to the office, so by the time I make it here it can be anywhere from 9:00 to really 10:00 because I kind of work all day long interspersed with doing other things so I don't really have as much of a set work day maybe. Then I work until lunch and fortunately I live very close to the office so I ride my bike to work. It takes me about three minutes and I ride my bike home for lunch. It takes me another three minutes, maybe three and a half because it's slightly up hill. And, come back after lunch, rest of my day. After work usually then I spend time playing with the kids. I don't spend a lot of time preparing dinner but I'm playing with the kids. Between sort of, after work and when the kids go to bed I'm kind of tied up. Then, that's probably 9:00 o'clock by the time the kids are asleep. Then at that point I need to have some time to spend on the computer or sometimes watching TV, but not that often at the moment. That's pretty much how my days go. Jill: Very exciting. About as exciting as my day. No, but I think that that's, I mean it's a common, every day routine right? I, probably most people don't have much different life than we do. I mean I think the weekends are different. Lots of times people go out on a Friday night and they maybe do different things on the weekend, sleep in or go on little weekend trips or do something out of the ordinary but Monday to Friday I think most people sort of have a fairly mundane, if you will, routine which I find sometimes I do get to the point where I get, I'm starting to get frustrated. I'm not depressed but just kind of irritable and antsy and I find it's when I haven't done something different for too long and I'm just getting bored. Nobody's done anything, there's nothing wrong but I'm bored. And, that's when I find that I really need to do some different things on the weekends or just switch things up a little bit. Mark: Yeah, I'd agree with that. And, I think that for myself a lot of the time if I go play hockey or play a game where I'm competing and you totally forget about everything else and you're focused on what you're doing and you're playing hard and you're trying to win and whatever, I find that really helps kind of I don't know, clear your brain or just kind of reset things more than anything I find. Yeah, sometimes going out to party and having fun at a part kind of has the same affect. I guess relief of the day to day sort of, hum drum.

I guess we probably covered it. So, thanks for tuning in and you'll hear from us again.