My New Alarm Clock

I usually wake up in the morning between 4-6am, depending upon when Anya decides she wants food. I don't mind so much that she wakes me up so early, but the manner in which she wakes me up is definitely problematic:

Next to my bed is a cabinet, and next to the cabinet is a bookshelf, and Anya likes to jump onto either one of them and knock stuff to the floor—stuff like a bag full of coins or a bottle of lotion. The resulting crash wakes me up, and Anya's purpose is fulfilled.

Recently, I've been placing a pillow atop the cabinet and bookshelf so that Anya can't jump onto them. So far, it's working. The only problem is that Anya started going to the other side of my bed, where there is my piano (electronic keyboard), and then a table upon which sit my metronome, piles of papers, an eraser, a pair of headphones, etc. In other words, it's another perfect place for Anya to knock things onto the floor.

Then I got an idea.

Before I went to bed one night, I turned on the piano. In the morning when Anya traipsed across it on her way to the table, her steps were amplified into some rather interesting chords, and I woke up right away. Success!

Now I turn on the piano every night before I go to bed. It makes me laugh to wake up to my cat walking across the keyboard, and it's much more pleasurable than having her knock my belongings to the floor or attack my face (another favorite wake-up method). I guess it's kind of an expensive alarm clock, as far as alarm clocks go, but so far it's working well for me. :o)