Other years when I've done NaNoWriMo, I've outlined my plot ahead of time. I've done characters studies and considered the setting. While I don't know the exact twists and turns the story will take, I know how the story will turn out what what the major plot twists are going to be. This project is different. Generally, I know the setting very well, perhaps too well. It has become familiar and I've been too likely to over look things. The characters are also mostly people that I know very well. The really journey of discovery is learning more about the setting and the characters.

As to the plot, I have my hopes and expectations about what things will be like at the end of the month, but I don't know exactly. We never can know. I certainly didn't expect the big October Snow Storm that left so much of the state without power. On the other hand, life is getting back to normal and the daily routines, for me, are mostly reinstated.

While the great writers might be able to make a routine month fascinating, I'm probably not at that point yet. Fortunately, there are some plot turns set up for me this month and today is the day of the first plot turn. It is not an unexpected plot turn. It was unexpected when it presented itself, but when it was accepted, it became planned and expected.

This morning, I set my alarm clock for 3:30 in the morning. Normally, when the alarm goes off, I am pretty much awake and I hear the news headlines at the start of the hour. This morning, I was deep asleep. I was in the middle of a dream where I was returning from a trip. I went to find my car in the parking lot, but I couldn't find my car. There were only a few cars in the parking lot. One was identical to mine, but had different license plates. I pressed the clicker on my remote key ring, and the car opened up. Kim and I figured that someone must have taken our car by mistake. We got into this car and found the key would start it, so we headed home. We checked the glove compartment to find the owner of the car. I was surprised to find that it was an amalgam of my own name and the name of a niece that is getting married next spring. Kim was about to call the person when…

It all went black. There was opera playing. I opened my eyes and saw the familiar small clock radio next to my bed. It was 3:30 in the morning. I quickly reset the alarm for Kim and quietly stumbled out of bed. Perhaps I will return to that dream some other night and find out who took our car by mistake and what role they have in my dream, my life and in this story. Or, perhaps, it will remain a mystery.

I've already told you about my normal mornings of going downstairs, letting the dog out, making oatmeal and coffee, checking some websites, and heading on my way. At three thirty, the dog was still sleeping and not interested in heading outside. I didn't expect to find a lot of messages online that I should read and respond to. I hoped that after I got on the train, i would fall back asleep, so I decided to skip the coffee and oatmeal.

In fact, I had scheduled my morning to leave out these tasks so I could sleep a little later than I would have to if I tried fitting in all my morning tasks. I entered the bathroom and showered quickly. I realized that I could get lost in a warm wet dream like shower and spend too much time there, so I showered quickly.

I flossed and brushed my teeth, took my morning medications, put on deodorant and went to get dressed. There is a shirt that Kim got me a few years ago that says, "I get my news on Twitter". It would have been a good shirt today, and I searched for it, but could not find it. Instead, I settled on my normal work clothes. Today, I am wearing a blue and white stripped oxford button down shirt, beige slacks, and a tan cardigan sweater. I searched through the pile of socks to find a couple that almost matched and headed downstairs.

Since I knew I would be getting up early this morning, I went to bed early last night. Unfortunately, I forgot to plug in my cellphone when I went to bed and woke up to find the battery drained. I plugged it in and let it charge briefly and took a quickly look at a couple websites. Then, I headed off to the train station, but before I left, I took the car charger from Kim's car so my phone could charge a little more during my drive.

I have driven to the train station many times before, so much so, that I can do it without thinking. While I am hoping that this writing project will help me be more alert and attentive, it really didn't happen this morning. As I think back to the trip, I try to find details, but they escape me.

I remember that I drove quickly, because I knew I was on a tight schedule. I remember passing a closed drugstore where there were several police cars parked outside. I glanced around, but didn't see a donut shop near by and I wondered what the officers were doing. I remember feeling frustrated as I was stopped by one red light after another.

I glanced down at the clock at saw that it was approximately 4:20 as I passed the New Haven green, and I wondered how the people camping on the green as part of Occupy New Haven were doing. Yet a large amount of the trip remains inaccessible to my recollection.

What does stay in my memory is approaching the parking lot. Later in the morning the parking lot fills up, and I always worry about if there will be available parking. At four thirty in the morning, this is unlikely to be a problem, but I still worry. Will there be some sort of issue with the gates or something like that?

There weren't. In fact, the parking lot was almost empty, not unlike the dream I had earlier awoken from. As I pulled into the lot, there was a story on the radio about an illegal trade in babies in Spain. it was a fascinating story, especially to an amateur genealogist like myself. I was about to hear the results of the DNA testing to see if a stolen baby had found his family. Yet, I knew that I had to get my train ticket so I turned off the radio and car lights, climbed out of the car, locked it, and headed towards the station.

At least, I think I did that. It is another one of those things. Whenever I travel, I often find myself going over in my mind, did I lock the car? Did I turn out the headlights?

I had made my reservations for the train trip to Boston ahead of time and printed out the confirmation. There was a bar code on the confirmation, and I waved it underneath the scanner, and my itinerary appeared. Yes, it was correct, so I hit the print button and grabbed my tickets. I checked the board to see what track my train would be on. I misread the board and didn't think my train was in the station yet, so I wandered around looking for a power outlet where I could plug my phone in and charge it a little bit. I could find none, so I returned to the area in front of the board, where I glanced at it again. In fact, the train was in the station and ready for boarding.

As a red-eye, the lights were mostly off. New Haven is a good place to board the train because there are often plenty of seats, and I found a good one. I plugged in my cellphone, waited for my opportunity to give my ticket to the conductor, and then drifted off to sleep for a little bit longer.