Thursday, November 02, 2006

I can never remember whether daylight savings time begins or ends in the Fall (well, Google just solved that mini-mystery for me. It just ended. Anyway...), but the "fall back" thing we do with our clocks in the Fall is my favorite part of the mysterious Daylight Savings Time process.

I mentioned this to one of my coworkers this week and he was surprised to hear that I like moving the clocks back. I was even more surprised to hear about his surprise. (I think the surprise chain ended there, which is good because those kind of feedback loops never end well)

What's not to like about moving your clock back an hour? Time is our (my) most precious resource and I just got an extra hour of it!

When I woke up on Sunday morning, it was earlier than it felt, giving my whole day a nice leisurely feeling. Then, it felt like I got to stay up late on Sunday night. As long as I'm not working or taking care of a screaming infant, I like staying up late. It still has the same naughty appeal it did when I was a kid. Lookit me staying up until a time that feels like 11:00pm! Spank me, momma!

Then, on Monday morning it felt like I got to sleep in again. Then I got to play that naughty game all over again during the next 24 hours! Oooh, my bottom will be sore tomorrow!

Folks, I've got a family, a mortgage, and a regular job. This is what passes for excitement in my life. And as an added moving-the-clocks-back bonus, now when I wake up on a weekday morning, it's already light outside. There was something unnatural about waking up while it was still dark.

And what's the price I pay for all this joy? It gets dark an hour earlier in the evening.

That's it! One less hour of light in the evening! Big freakin' whoop! Who cares whether it's light or dark when I'm eating dinner? I'm EATING my dinner, not performing photosynthesis.

If I could move my birthday, I'd move it to the day when Daylight Savings Time ends. Best day of the year.

6 comments:

Linda@VS said...

I couldn't agree more, Mike. From the beginning to to the end of Daylight Saving Time, I feel as if someone stole a piece of my time, and I worry about it until I get it back. Then I scratch that extra hour and sniff it and roll around in it. Life is good again.

Anonymous said...

The only thing I don't like about the fall back is coming home from work in the dark.

Mike said...

VS, it's like catnip for you. I can relate.

Kat, nah, there's no problem with that. The darkness delineates your work day from your personal time.

zelda1 said...

It doesn't make a difference to me. But, I wish they would leave the clocks one place or another. I just learn how to reset the clock in my car and time changes again. I really should just leave it and remember it is off an hour. Thank god the computer clocks do their own changing, that's how we know what the real time is.

patsy said...

when i worked i hated the time change in the spring and loved the one in the fall. makes no difference to me now.

Mike said...

Zelda1, relearning how to change the clocks in our car is how we keep our brains sharp. It's a mystery for me twice a year too.

Patsy, hmmmm, would I give up the joy of falling back in exchange for avoiding the pain of springing forward?..... I would!