Showing posts with label time change. Show all posts
Showing posts with label time change. Show all posts

Sunday, March 13, 2022

Time and Again



I don't really care how time is reckoned so long as there is some agreement about it, but I object to being told that I am saving daylight when my reason tells me that I am doing nothing of the kind. I even object to the implication that I am wasting something valuable if I stay in bed after the sun has risen. As an admirer of moonlight I resent the bossy insistence of those who want to reduce my time for enjoying it.
— Robertson Davies

You will never find anybody who can give you a clear and compelling reason why we observe daylight saving time.
— Dave Barry

Daylight saving time: Only the government would believe that you could cut a foot off the top of a blanket, sew it to the bottom, and have a longer blanket.
— Anonymous

So . . . I got up a little earlier than usual this morning, so I was a little surprised when the cat started howling outside the bathroom door to hurry me up. Usually he only pulls that when I’ve slept in.

I come downstairs, open the curtains, feed the cat, and puttered around the kitchen for a bit. On my way back through the living room before going upstairs for my shower, I glanced at the clock on the bookcase and to my surprise it was closing in on 8 o’clock.

Say what? I thought it should only be closing in on 7 o’clock – how long did I spend puttering around in the kitchen? So I went back into the kitchen and the clocks on the stove and coffee maker both assured me it was almost 7. The clock above the sink insisted it was almost 8 o’clock.

My first thought was that we’d had a power outage for an hour sometime during the night. Yes, I’m that slow in the mornings. Then it occurred to me that if we’d had a power outage the digital clocks would be behind, not an hour ahead.

I checked my phone – it also insisted it was an hour later than I thought. Finally, I checked the calendar on the wall and sure enough, Daylight Savings Time had started. The hubby doesn’t do well with digital time pieces, which is why the battery operated clocks were changed, not the digital ones.

*sigh*

I don’t like the time change at the best of times. I like it even less when it catches me by surprise.

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

WORDAGE REPORT

Despite the fact that my total for new words is higher than it’s been in a while, this really wasn’t a great week for writing. I was in a funk and I just couldn’t seem to pull myself out of it.

I skipped the Monday post on my other blog again because I didn’t have anything to say again. And I just didn’t wanna.

NEW WORDS:
Blog Posts – 1162+991=2,153
Christmas Story – 1,943 words
Total words: 4,096 words

Three minute words – 127+121+141+145+122+133+131=920

Goals For Next Week:
Finish Christmas story, work on journal entries for Elemental Spirit, maybe write a poem.

EDITING:
My editing partner returned Magickal Mayhem to me on Friday, with her invaluable insights. I’ve looked over her notes, but that’s as far as I’ve got so far.

Goal For Next Week:
Start the final edits on Magickal Mayhem.

MARKETING MONDAY:
Okay, so here’s the thing. After two long years my stitchery group was finally going to have an in-person meeting, and it was going to be a “stitch and show” where we show off some of the work we’ve done. And I didn’t have a whole lot to show so I spent the weekend and Monday stitching like crazy to get a couple of things finished.

However, that being said, the wondrous Jamie DeBree passed on a link for a ten word story competition, and who doesn’t have time for ten words? I’m sad you can only send one in, because it was hard to decide between the half dozen I managed.

Goal For Next Week:
Submit two stories and one poem.

TECHNO TUESDAY:
Yeah, this was kind of a bust too. That stitchery meeting I mentioned? It was Tuesday morning, all morning. And I didn’t even have enough time for a bite to eat before the hubby and I were off to a meeting with our lawyer to go over our wills (which took a lot longer than I expected), and on the way home we had to pick the cat up from the vet (where he’d had an ultrasound). So that was pretty much that.

Goal For Next Week:
Set up Paperwhite

CRAFTING:
I found some other lace for my challenge piece and it looked really good around it. Like a lace frame. So then I figured I’d better get my cross-stitched name tag made and as simple as it looked, it was rather time consuming. I stitched my name in red thread on black aida cloth, then I decided it looked a little plain so I sewed red beads around the edges.

Goal For Next Week:
Finish current afghan I’m working on so I can start stitching with a clear conscience.

WHAT I’M READING:
Two Noras last week, one of which I pretty much spent yesterday reading (one of the reasons this post is so late). I read The Witness and Blue Smoke. And now for something completely different – I picked up a copy of Where the Crawdads Sing, by Delia Owens. I’m about a third of the way through it and despite the fact it’s a really popular book, I’m not sure I like it. Especially if it’s headed where I think it’s headed.

On the Kindle. I finished Becoming Dragon by Eve Langlais. Next up will be The Merman’s Kiss by Tamsin Ley.

Goal For Next Week:
Stay away from Nora Roberts' books. I cannot be trusted with them. Once I start, it’s highly unlikely I’ll stop until it’s finished, which means I get nothing else done.

GOAL REVIEW:
While I did work on my Christmas story, I didn’t get it finished. Did not work on the journal entries, did not write a poem. I did submit a single story, but it was only ten words. I did not get my Paperwhite set up, nor did I work on my granddaughter’s dress.

Wow, I did really bad on my goals, didn’t I? Well . . . I can only improve, right?

Have a happy writing week.

Sunday, March 8, 2020

Time and Again



Once again I got suckered into believing that the powers that be were seriously considering doing away with the time change. And once again I was seriously disappointed. What is wrong with this people? Do they get some sort of sadistic charge out the turmoil the twice-yearly time change causes?

I swear by all that’s holy in the next Federal election I will vote, nay, I will even go so far as to campaign for, the candidate that swears to abolish the time change.

I hate it so much that this year I even wrote a poem about it. A parody, as it were:

Time Change

How do I hate thee? Let me count the ways.
I hate thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when slumber is out of sight,
For the days are long and nights a disgrace.
I hate thee to the level of every day’s
Exhausted need, of resting eyesight.
I hate thee freely, without hindsight.
I hate thee purely, as Morpheus withholds his praise.
I hate thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.
I hate thee with a hate I never seem to lose
From year to year. I hate thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,
I shall but hate thee even after death.

* ~ * ~ * ~ *

Wordage Report

Wandering Wizards – 1500+ words
I can’t really say for sure because I didn’t keep track but I know it was at least that much. It occurred to me that the wizards in the south shouldn’t just sit there twiddling their thumbs, so I figured I needed to get them working for their part. Apparently, Thackery has a plan, but Paranithel has . . . Tarot cards. LOL

Weekly Prompt – 0 words
To be honest I might have glanced a couple of times at last week’s prompt, but I didn’t really give it much thought. I think I’ll scrap it and give us a new one.

New Prompt
Use this as your first line:
Once upon a time, a construction worker forgot the meaning of evil.

Happy Writing!

Tuesday, March 12, 2019

Times They Are A Changin’



I’m going to be upfront with you here. I hate the time change. It serves no purpose, other than to mess with our circadian rhythms and I promise to vote for the first Politian who swears to abolish it.

The New England Journal of Medicine published an article linking the shift to Daylight Savings Time (DST)to a rise in incidents of myocardial infarction (heart attacks). Different studies have shown there is an increased risk of stroke in the days following a time switch. There is an increased number of traffic accidents and more on the job accidents in the days following the time change.

Danish researchers uncovered a link between time change and an increase of hospital admissions for depression. Another study shows a link between time change and an increase in suicides. This begs the question, why do we still do it?

Supposedly, the switch to DST saves us money on energy. Moving that extra hour of daylight from the morning to the evening means we can work longer, play longer, and have a longer exposure to vitamin D. But studies have shown this isn’t really the case. Just because it’s still light outside doesn’t mean we’re out there enjoying it. And the decrease in energy used in the evening is offset by the needed increase of use in the mornings.

Forbes Magazine published an interesting article showing that the top 5 reasons for keeping DST have no science to back them up. You can read it HERE.

So back to my question, why do we still do it? The only answer I can come up with is that we do it because we’re told to by the government. And that doesn’t seem like a good enough reason to me.



Prompt of the Week

You may have noticed I forgot to post my take on last week’s prompt. Yeah, well, you didn’t send me anything either, so there! LOL

On the weekend I spent some time with the prompt jar actually going through the prompts which I had mostly copied from the Writer’s Digest site, not realizing that a lot of them you had to click on to get the whole prompt. And prompts from other sources that I again mostly just cut and pasted from proved to be . . . lame.

But the jar is refilled now and my friend and I both chose a prompt for the week, so you get to have your choice:

Prompt 1:
To get the story straight. Dave, we think, has become a chicken. Just the worst of luck with that guy. Tom is claiming he married the futon that’s now covered in yogurt, Carl is on the chandelier with the dog and you just walked in after getting groceries. What the heck is going on?

Prompt 2:
You take a sip from your drink and feel different. That may be because your torso has an extra arm protruding from it. Another sip, another arm. Then a wing. What happens if you finish the drink?

Bonus

My friend has extended a challenge: Everyone has had a villain in their life. Challenge. Write a paragraph or two about a villain’s point of view. What makes them tick.

Remember, these prompts are just to flex your writing muscle, so have fun with them!