Ashes to Ashes

SO, today being Ash Wednesday, I went to church bright and early this morning (well, really it was just an 8:30 mass) to get my ashes. It is now 2pm, and I haven't seen a single other person yet wearing ashes. Do people just not get ashes anymore, or are people just doing it at the end of the day so they don't have to walk around all day with a smudge on their head?

Ash Wednesday and Lent have really crept up on me this year. I am unprepared with respect to my plan for giving something up, and adding a mindful, spiritual practice to my week. Everything I have come up with I feel like I have done before. I have given up soda and chocolate and red meat for Lent in various years, and have committed to daily Bible reading, or weekly rosary praying as my additions. I don't know why, but these things no longer feel like sufficient practices for this Lenten season. I am tempted to give up something emotional, like anger or impatience, but worry that I will falter very early on and wind up without a Lenten practice at all.