It's Alarming

I'm sure you've been startled by alarms. You know, like the sound of an auto horn as you pull into someones path, the ear piercing sound you hear when dinner is smoking in your kitchen, or the frantic cry of your child. Those types of alarms are effective because they are unexpected.

Here, at the coast, we have an alarm to warn of a tsunami. It's a siren, much like the air raid sirens we had in the 50's and 60's, and it is tested weekly. Much like police sirens (unless you're the one the cop is after), ambulance sirens in a big city, or my piece of crap truck's backfire, we tend to grow accustomed to those alarms. And those alarms tend to lose their effectiveness.

Such is the same for bedroom alarm clocks, like the one my wife uses most mornings because she works. But I don't, because I don't work any more. Problem is, her alarm goes off for an hour before she responds to it. But I do, even though I don't work anymore. And that is annoying.

So this morning, I explained to her that her alarm clock has lost it's effectiveness to her because she has become accustomed to it. So, I offered to wake her myself when I hear her clock go off. But I told her, to keep it from becoming ineffective, I would jump on top of her while she slept and beat her with the pillows should she not respond quicker to her alarm clock. I think that would solve her problem, and mine.

And then... I'd go to the Dock.