I never really intended to be a creature of routine, but it increasingly happened that way. A big factor was when I switched to 100% remote work, and suddenly it seemed like sticking to a regular schedule felt more important than it had before, just to keep time from clumping up in my head.

Today I got up about an hour earlier than usual for a number of reasons, and the spouse is out of town for several days, and those two small things were enough to completely stand the day on its head, to the extent that I didn't even remember it was trash day until after eight o'clock at night and had to put on a coat and my house slippers to go deal with all that in the dark, in thirty-degree weather.

Fortunately I was not so discombobulated to forget to be careful about the enormous ice-drip slick gradually forming from melt and refreeze at the bottom of the driveway. I think I need to go chip that tomorrow before there's an accident.