Marc writes:

I have had this practice surrounding breakfast cereal for the last year.

Let me start off by saying that in Manhattan, the grocery stores charge a fortune for breakfast cereal. So I am at the mercy of the drug lords: Duane Reade, Walgreens, CVS, Rite Aid, etc. Typically every week at least one of those locations has breakfast cereal on sale. Having absolutely no control over what it
will be, I go for the gold. I visit each of those drug stores at least once every week to check what is on special. Of course, on many occasions multiple stores have cereal sales, which has sometimes resulted in me keeping up to twelve boxes in my personal cereal inventory.  

My practice: every morning, I have a full delicious bowl of cold cereal and hot cereal. Each particular cold cereal will end up dictating the flavor of a hot cereal that I choose to mix with it.  Once I finish with a bowl of the cold cereal, I take one scoop of oatmeal and put it in the remaining milk & cold cereal particles. I always do a quick shot of water in the mix as well, and then put a handful of plump raisins on top. Into the microwave it goes and I enter the time for exactly 1 minute and 30 seconds. Once complete, I enjoy the warm oatmeal with the resonating flavor of what the cold cereal was.  

Special K with strawberries is amazing.  Kelloggs Corn Pops: also a hit.  Bran flakes? A total bust-the weeks with only bran flakes are the worst. But I hope this breakfast ritual never ceases. 

I strive for my eating behaviors to be natural and work as one. I think food can be more therapeutic for people than it usually is, and in this way, I see the hot & cold combo every morning as a filling, supercharged and healthy way to jumpstart my day. Being a dirty corporate monster, I see the ridiculous amount of waste I can produce on a daily basis and it disgusts me.  In my OWN life that I actually control, I seriously try to utilize everything I have to the fullest, and throwing out even something as simple as leftover cereal milk used to bother me. No longer!

I have forced my practice on others that enjoy oatmeal, and some have embraced the behavior and love me because of it.

Edmund says:

I rise at 6:30a.m. (I won’t give the details about why,) and have to rush off to the bathroom. I get in the bathroom. I turn on the shower. I leave the lights off for a few minutes to let my eyes get used to the sunlight which is just beginning to come in the bathroom. While the water is heating up, I remove my clothes and do ten pushups in the nude.

I like to do this because, partly, I like the idea of beginning the day with some kind of physical activity. And part of it is I just can’t make it to the gym every day. It makes me feel like I earned my breakfast. It’s really kind of freeing, because we have such a sort of um, conservative image of our bodies, things to cover up, you wouldn’t think of running laps naked. I just like to feel unrestrained. Natural. Healthy. Just the way God made me. I also think it really makes my chest look nice, and I want my chest to look nice for my boyfriend. Because he likes my chest.