Time, See What's Become of Me
I have an odd relationship with time. Not how I spend it or waste it; both of those are pretty normal. Rather, I have feelings about different times. Some make me really happy, others bother me and one or two are quite useless.
For example, as a general rule I am not fond of any time signature that includes :30. There are two exceptions. I think 6:30am is a very civilized time to get up and I never start a dinner party before 6:30pm. (6 is too early...that's always the time when I'm capturing the last of the dust bunnies, figuring out how to fold the napkins so no one can tell I didn't iron them (the secret? napkins rings and fluffing) and putting on something that isn't covered with flour and tomato schmutz).
5:00 am is obscene (I feel nauseous if I get up before 6am) and 11am is just about as boring a time slot as ever there was. What can you do at 11am? You're losing steam from whatever morning whirlwind you may have been riding and it's entirely too early for lunch. Coffee also tastes weird at 11am. (I'm actually done drinking coffee by 10am, although there have been days when a fresh cup at 3pm is almost as good as the first one of the day).
I'm actually not a fan of afternoon times at all. It's a muscle memory, I'm sure. The afternoon was always the hardest part of the school day. That was the time when the light slanted funny and the ticking of the clock was loudest. Afternoon is absolutely the worst time of the day to have a math class. I'm convinced it's why I never succeeded in math past long division; math class was always in the afternoon. The only time I enjoy "afternoon" is on the weekends and I am especially tolerant of summer afternoons. (A comfy chair, a good book and a chilled something....that can be superfantastic. So can a late lunch at a sidewalk cafe; the sort of lunch that doesn't have to end anytime soon and when it does you are either ready for a nap or cocktails). One of the best things about my job is that the pace is so fast I don't really notice the afternoon. The irony? I got married in the afternoon. But that was different. First, it was 3 o'clock, which is when "afternoon" is starting to wind down and also because it gave us plenty of time to have a rollicking good party afterwards and still have the evening ahead of us. Morning weddings are too hard to pull off and evening weddings don't make much sense if one has any plans for a wedding night. Just saying).
I've always considered myself an evening/night person. I catch a second wind and can actually stay up late most nights and still get up early without too many consequences. But there are funky times in the evening, too.
5:30pm doesn't make any sense. It's a very silly time. Too transitional. The best way to deal with 5:30 is having aperitif, nibbling almonds and sipping something until the evening properly starts. I am quite fond of 6pm...it has a nice roundness to it. You're done working, there's still a little play in the hour if you don't quite want to start making dinner and, on summer days, the light is perfect.
7pm is a good time for dinner. The Spouse would, I know, prefer to eat just a bit earlier (6:30) but I like 7pm and really, no matter when I start dinner, it seems to be done by 7. That's a very civilized and leisurely hour to eat and it's still early enough to digest properly before going to bed. The actual sound of 7pm, however, is a little clunky. So I don't say it out loud very often.
9:30pm is weird. The day is clearly running down by this point. You certainly can't get anything started at 9:30, unless you're very young and hip, in which case you are just getting started. But even when I was young and hip I preferred to get started at 9. The thirties, as I mentioned, just generally bug me.
Another :30 of which I'm not fond? 7:30am. Right now. Because I have to stop what I'm doing and get on to the obligations of the day. I enjoy most of my obligations, as you know. But this moment, right now, where I have to catapult myself away from what I enjoy to that nether time of dressing/primping/traveling....not so much.
For example, as a general rule I am not fond of any time signature that includes :30. There are two exceptions. I think 6:30am is a very civilized time to get up and I never start a dinner party before 6:30pm. (6 is too early...that's always the time when I'm capturing the last of the dust bunnies, figuring out how to fold the napkins so no one can tell I didn't iron them (the secret? napkins rings and fluffing) and putting on something that isn't covered with flour and tomato schmutz).
5:00 am is obscene (I feel nauseous if I get up before 6am) and 11am is just about as boring a time slot as ever there was. What can you do at 11am? You're losing steam from whatever morning whirlwind you may have been riding and it's entirely too early for lunch. Coffee also tastes weird at 11am. (I'm actually done drinking coffee by 10am, although there have been days when a fresh cup at 3pm is almost as good as the first one of the day).
I'm actually not a fan of afternoon times at all. It's a muscle memory, I'm sure. The afternoon was always the hardest part of the school day. That was the time when the light slanted funny and the ticking of the clock was loudest. Afternoon is absolutely the worst time of the day to have a math class. I'm convinced it's why I never succeeded in math past long division; math class was always in the afternoon. The only time I enjoy "afternoon" is on the weekends and I am especially tolerant of summer afternoons. (A comfy chair, a good book and a chilled something....that can be superfantastic. So can a late lunch at a sidewalk cafe; the sort of lunch that doesn't have to end anytime soon and when it does you are either ready for a nap or cocktails). One of the best things about my job is that the pace is so fast I don't really notice the afternoon. The irony? I got married in the afternoon. But that was different. First, it was 3 o'clock, which is when "afternoon" is starting to wind down and also because it gave us plenty of time to have a rollicking good party afterwards and still have the evening ahead of us. Morning weddings are too hard to pull off and evening weddings don't make much sense if one has any plans for a wedding night. Just saying).
I've always considered myself an evening/night person. I catch a second wind and can actually stay up late most nights and still get up early without too many consequences. But there are funky times in the evening, too.
5:30pm doesn't make any sense. It's a very silly time. Too transitional. The best way to deal with 5:30 is having aperitif, nibbling almonds and sipping something until the evening properly starts. I am quite fond of 6pm...it has a nice roundness to it. You're done working, there's still a little play in the hour if you don't quite want to start making dinner and, on summer days, the light is perfect.
7pm is a good time for dinner. The Spouse would, I know, prefer to eat just a bit earlier (6:30) but I like 7pm and really, no matter when I start dinner, it seems to be done by 7. That's a very civilized and leisurely hour to eat and it's still early enough to digest properly before going to bed. The actual sound of 7pm, however, is a little clunky. So I don't say it out loud very often.
9:30pm is weird. The day is clearly running down by this point. You certainly can't get anything started at 9:30, unless you're very young and hip, in which case you are just getting started. But even when I was young and hip I preferred to get started at 9. The thirties, as I mentioned, just generally bug me.
Another :30 of which I'm not fond? 7:30am. Right now. Because I have to stop what I'm doing and get on to the obligations of the day. I enjoy most of my obligations, as you know. But this moment, right now, where I have to catapult myself away from what I enjoy to that nether time of dressing/primping/traveling....not so much.
Labels: time
cobbled together by Moi at 7:10 AM
10 Comments:
I always make dinner parties for 6:16...it is much more organzied for me..I wake up at 4:44Am ..my favorite number is 4. I really dont need an alarm..but I set it just in case my body clock is off. Lunch for me is around 11:22...I might have issues.
Ba Ha Ha Ha
Time. A great name for your new book. Just expand dramatically on the aforementioned and viola.
Seriously. Sooner started; sooner done.
Peace
:+}
Ba Ha Ha Ha
Just listened to your friday clip.
Excellent.
Thanks
Peace
:+}
Numbers make rhymes.
My favorite time to look at is 5:55,morning and afternoon.
It's perfectly even in it's oddness.
Interesting thoughts on time, never really looked at things that way.
I'm like Sageweb in that I never like to set my alarm clock at even numbers. I almost seems like a cliche to have an alarm go off at 6:30 or 7:00. I have mine set for 7:21 am.
interesting post. This would make a great monolog. wanna do some standup for the new camera?
on another related note. Today at eleven minutes past ten the exact time was
7/8/9 10:11
Wooooooo
How clever to think of time in this way! *smiles*
Like Sage, I like the number 4...my alarm time usually ends in a "4"--I find it a very energetic number.
I know, I'm weird. :)
Er, does military time make you anxious like it does me, Lorraine? Although the concept of every day starting at 0:00 is somehow comforting; as if all things terrible from the previous day really do belong to a time long ago. ;-)
What a great post to read as I begin to emerge from red-pen season. Thank you :-)
I remember, as a kid, my absolutely favourite time of the week was 10 am on a Saturday morning, because I didn't have school and my parents were at work and I had the whole house to myself. Most of the time, I ended up doing homework, but I didn't mind, because I was in my own perfect, silent universe.
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