Back In Time

Ah, one of my favorite movies! I think this is so because even though it is heavy on action, a blind person can still quite easily follow what’s going on. At least in the first one. I never got as much into 2 or 3.

If one thinks about it, one realizes that time has a great power over our culture, at least that in the U.S, and I would guess in much of the so-called western world. It can fly, and drag. It can be up, and “I need downtime!” You can be just in time or our of it. Time is money and of the essence. Anymore of those time (metaphors? simile? English majors help me here!) you can think of?

In any case, it governs nearly everything we do, and our failure to take it seriously can have big consequences. At my job, for instance, you can be given a quarter point for punching in even ten seconds after the expected start, if you have not called in your excuse prior. In theory at least, buses are supposed to arrive at an exact minute (How often does that happen in your city? Here, not very). And it’s just plain better not to leave people hanging once a meet-up time has been agreed upon.

An interesting Wikipedia article details the history of time-keeping devices, with the most notable bit being that really accurate clocks were invented in the 1960’s, in the form of atomic clocks. I was given an atomic clock five years ago, furnished with two double A batteries, and that thing is still ticking! I think I’ll throw the entire thing away once it dies, since those batteries must be liquified by now.

All that to note, with its accompanying sadness, that we “fall back” to standard time this weekend. At least those of us who use the, admittedly archaic, daylight-saving method here in the U.S. I think Europe and other places have already changed their clocks. Actually, I really wish that we would just adopt daylight-saving time permanently. I know most note with glee that more sleep can be had on the day that we gain that hour. I hadn’t really noticed this until reaching my advanced age (yes, I’m old now) but even so it’s mostly just a one or two-day improvement.

More troubling to me is the subsequent loss of sunshine after work. There will be less as we venture deeper into Winter anyway yes, but with the change, by the time I arrive home at 4:10 what remains is wan at best. Because the orbs in my head don’t work, that orb located a billion miles away and full of smoking dust is of immense import to my mental stability. It’s warmth carries the motivation I need to slog through my graduate school courses. It also lets me know that light still exists, period. Somehow I must readjust until this enforced indoor time concludes in April. Books, music and sports to the rescue! Already starting the countdown till April!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *