Multitasking #3: More ways to watch Law and Order

To the chagrin of every hairdresser who has attended to my split ends, one of my favorite things in the morning is to do my hair.

I'm definitely not a "night owl," but I do need a little bit of time to wake up in the morning, and the time to myself is a relaxing way to start the day.  Once a year or so, I try going for a run to wake myself up, but it's so easy to hear my alarm an hour earlier than it was set the day before and roll my eyes at Taylor Swift singing to me to wake up and exercise, of all things.  Solution: A hot shower followed by a lone hair-styling session in the morning.

Of course, while I enjoy the relaxing wake-up regime and time to myself, I can't ignore my obsession with efficiency, which brings me to the challenges and rationale I've come across in developing my morning routine...

1.  I don't like to waste water or become bored by taking a long shower, but I need the extra time to wake up. This is where "doing my hair" comes in.  My hair might be happier if I just let it curl its crazy self on its own, but (a) I have problems concentrating when my hair is frizzy, and (b) I like to get a Law and Order episode in before work.

2. I don't like standing for long periods of time.  Solution: Chair in my bathroom.

3. Can't hear Law and Order when the hair dryer is going.

Today's post will address Challenge #3.  Back before Netflix, I used to blow dry my hair only during commercials to maximize efficiency, but this takes an obscene amount of time.  Had to wake up two hours early and it took two TV shows to blow dry and straighten my hair.  On the other hand, that was back when Grey's Anatomy and Gossip Girl and LOST were actually good, so I could use the extra time.  However, now that I am an avid gym-goer, I have absolutely no time to waste watching such trivial television entertainment.

Netflix got the commercials out of the way, though (which, don't get me wrong, I am extremely grateful for), so up until a couple of months ago, I had no choice but to pause Law and Order during the blow-drying stage, plus I'd run the hair dryer during the theme song on occasion.  This irritated me because hair-straightening does not take 43 minutes, so for the last (most important) 15 minutes of the show, I'd be sitting watching L&O and doing nothing else, feeling guilty about the fact that I should probably just go to work instead of sitting around watching television.  A few months ago, I found my solution.

subtitles.

When did Netflix get subtitles?  I hope they weren't there the whole time and I just didn't notice... anyway, Law and Order with subtitles has changed my life.  Now I can safely run the hair dryer through the first 15 minutes of the episode (which incidentally doesn't bother me because I've most likely seen the episode before and can imagine the subtleties of everyone's voices in my mind), and straighten my hair just in time to finish the episode and head to work guilt-free.  My life is changed.  The possibilities of noisy things I can get done during Law and Order episodes is endless.  Mom--vacuuming?  You need to fashion an iPad stand on the vacuum cleaner probably.

Also, I really appreciate that--just in case I forget--Netflix reminds me that "funky mystery music" accompanies that classic L&O opening.