The Daily Routine of Steve Wiest

The day begins in my beautiful mansion “WIESTWORLD” (two-floor condo in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.) 

4:00am Our golden retriever Phoebe, makes her first attempt to wake me up to take her on  a walk. Successfully denied 

4:10 am, I make a bonus trip to the water closet. At 68 years of age, this can take place multiple times during the night. TMI? Perhaps, but HEY, this is my daily routine.

6:10-6:20 am After working diligently for ten minutes, Phoebe is successful in getting me out of bed.

7-7:20 am First Phoebe walk of the day. Business accomplished.

7:30-7:50 am Make coffee, then twenty minutes of staring into the abyss whilst pondering life. Also deciding on what’s for breakfast.

8:00 am Decision made. Toasted onion bagel with cream cheese and chives. Bonus bowl of Cinnamon Life cereal, with a fervent promise to myself of fruit and fibre tomorrow. At this point, I would take a dip in the ocean, but I live in Lincoln Square, Chicago. We also don’t have a sauna, but I might consider a shower at some point today.

8:10-9:00 am Watching “Morning Joe” on MSNBC, and Stephen Colbert on YouTube with my wife, Deborah, and discussing if this is the day the world ends? Options and logistics considered.

9:30-9:40 am Time to warm up on trombone for twenty minutes (first part of my 68-year-old’s “C’mon Face…WAKE UP” routine)

After ten minutes, I take a quick break

9:40-10:30 am The “quick break” begins with checking the latest on my Chicago Cubs and somehow ends up 50 minutes later watching famous boxing matches on YouTube.

10:30 am Back to the warm-up

10:40 am Warm-up interrupted by Phoebe. Time for her second morning walk. During said excursion, I get a text that one of my important prescriptions has been denied by my “insurance.”

11:00- Noon Return from the walk, begin the insurance battle, which entails being on hold for 30 minutes with a short musak “soft funk” loop that can’t be turned off (this was NOT the music I wanted to transcribe today!) This process also involves getting a new password via slow email to enter the insurance website after trying three times to receive a verification number security text, followed by a series of CAPTCHA protocols that determined that I was indeed a robot.

Noon-1:00 pm Planned on a healthy snack, chose that leftover huge cake donut with thick chocolate frosting from the hip new bagel place I found instead.

1:00 pm Finish the warm-up (phase 2) after battling a sugar coma.

1:30 pm Administrative work. Email, texts, more website passwords, and CAPTCHA fights. This is the time of day when I also work on all promotional aspects of WIESTWORLD Productions. I like to call this my “Don Quixote cosplay” time.

2:30 pm Combination of practicing new music for an upcoming concert, learning a new tune, and 15 minutes of checking out how that “Rope-a-Dope” match between Ali and Foreman played out.

3:30 pm Switch over to the computer desk in WIESTWORLD to write some music or prose, or draw cartoons…depending on the day. If it is drawing that I choose, that takes place at the art table. I find that shifting spots in my office helps with my concentration. So I have two chairs and two different places to work. Not quite the same as Christian Lindberg walking over to a composition building and then diving into the ocean for a quick swim, but very similar.

4:10 pm After some initial success with the new big band chart I am forging, the prose I am writing, or the cartoon strip I am drawing, I take a break to start watching the Cubs game on my phone. 

4:15 pm Upon seeing that the Cubs are winning, I realize that my workday is now over and I should commit to watching the rest of the game.

4:30 pm Phoebe comes prancing into WIESTWORLD to let me know that “Yes, father. Your work today is done. It is now time for my long walk in the park.”

4:40-5:30 pm Walk Phoebe as far as the weather will allow. Usually two miles or so. Michief managed.

5:30 pm The final shed period where I practice all the stuff that I should have been practicing instead of watching Ali and Foreman. Cubs game on silent in the background. By 6:30 when I get the call from Deborah that dinner is ready, the Cubs have lost and I have won.

The evening is dedicated exclusively to Deborah and Stevie time. This is the part of the day that I have been looking forward to and demonstrates that even a twice-divorced sixty-eight-year-old man can still learn new things.