That onsen article was a nice read. Honestly, if I could do that every day I'd be in heaven. You have some good points - I'm not likely to get much better about long showers, but I'm thinking it might be time to set an alarm or limit myself somehow. There are other things I can do in the morning to get that same meditative experience (like zebra2's coffee routine) I'm wondering if it's easier to not feel guilty about long showers because I'm living over the Ogallala Aquifer , and virtually all of the water-use in my state is for agriculture. You're in LA, right? I can see why you might be more cognizant of water usage! The ogie aquifer isn't going to be around forever at its current rates of depletion. I should be doing my part to make it last. Thanks for the reminder, klein :)