Well, we turned the clocks ahead, and once again survived. As I grimly got out of bed at what felt like 4 am on Monday, I reflected that being busy on Sunday really helped. My daughter had several things going on, including a matinee of the musical, so we couldn’t just lounge around lazily. As a result we were pretty tired on Sunday night and went to bed at a decent time.
But I have a question! We have now left Standard Time for Daylight Saving Time. Isn’t “standard” time “normal” time? And DST is something special? WHY are we only on Standard Time four months of the year? If we have to change the clocks, can’t we do six months and six months??? I’m going to call my representative in congress and suggest it (hahahahahahahaha…)
Anyway, seriously. The weekend was nice. On Saturday night I went to the high school musical, Once Upon a Mattress, where my daughter was playing flute in the pit orchestra. To be honest, I didn’t like the show itself. I didn’t care for the music. But, the kids- actors and musicians- did a GREAT job and I was able to appreciate that. They have been working very hard to put this show together, and it really paid off.
Sunday afternoon I dropped my daughter off for the show and then went to Starbucks, where I sat peacefully and READ MY BOOK.
I’m reading Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell and really enjoying it, but it’s frustrating because every time I try to read I’m interrupted. It’s like an alarm goes off when I open my book, alerting everyone in the house that now is the perfect time for a crisis. Things spill, there’s a knock on the door, the cat throws up, my daughter has an “emergency”… so it was absolute heaven to sit in Starbucks and read 100 pages, UNINTERRUPTED.
Then, I actually made a dinner! I forgot to take a photo (probably because I’m so out of the habit of photographing dinners) but I made baked ziti and a salad. You know what that means- leftovers for Monday night and even possibly Tuesday. Woohoo.
How was your weekend? Was the time change painful for you?
16 Responses
We have daylight saving time for six months—April to October. It’s getting pretty dark in the morning at the moment, which I don’t mind. The sunrise was at 7:14 am today, but it’s not great for everyone who needs to exercise before work or have a long commute. We have two more weekends before the clocks change.
That makes more sense!!! We definitely turn ours ahead too early and back too late. I guess it’s never going to be perfect, but it could definitely be better.
I’m pretty sure ours used to be 6 months, April to October, but then the candy lobby got involved somehow and people decided that it really did save energy, and it has inched up a few times already. I think the House voted to get rid of it a couple of years ago, but the Senate hasn’t taken up a bill, so focus your energies on your Senators. I believe it was unanimous in the House.
I’m glad you got to read 100 pages uninterrupted! So relaxing! And that your daughter’s musical went so well, even if you didn’t like the play itself.
DST transition has been fine for me so far, despite my bitching about it on my blog. I was going to complain about going out for my walk in the dark this morning, but I slept in a bit and by the time I went out, the sun was coming up. So I suspect that, once again, we’ll survive.
The problem is, I think the House voted to stay on DST, and I don’t want that. If we’re going to stop changing the stupid clocks, I want to stay on Standard Time. The whole thing is probably hopeless- we’ll never come to a consensus.
In Europe, DST does not start until the 30th, so right now I am only 5 hours ahead of you instead of 6! It has been getting light here around 7:15 (just like Melissa!) and so it will be weird having that be 8:15. Not great for morning motivation, that is for certain. However, it has been raining a lot anyway, so my morning motivation is shot, whether it is light or dark. Speaking of, I need to go out and beat the rain now! Happy Tuesday!
Eek. Light at 8:15 will be pretty late! I wouldn’t like that. I guess there’s no way to do it so no on ever has to get up in the dark, and everyone will be happy.
Dark rainy mornings would kill my motivation too!
Fortunately, not a single country in Africa does the DST thing—thanks to their proximity to the equator, daylight hours stay pretty consistent year-round. And honestly, just imagining the chaos if they did… nope, definitely better this way!
As Kyria mentioned, Europe flips the switch on the last weekend of March and back again on the last weekend of October, giving them seven months of summer time—pretty close to your 50/50 split idea. 😊
Also, I love that quote on the Starbucks cup!
Yes, I would imagine there’s not much need for switching the clocks around in Africa. And, Europe does it better but I still think it should be a 50/50 split!
I agree, we should be on standard time year round. That is the time that works “naturally” in my opinion. Then again, I’m a morning person and am feeling aggrieved that I’ll be walking in the dark once again. Ah well, give it a month and it will be light. BUT STILL.
Uninterrupted reading time is SUCH a luxury!
Yes, we just have to bide our time and we’ll have morning daylight again (but if we just turned the clocks ahead a month LATER it would be much better!!!)
Good times! I’m a fan of the current system of less of the year being “standard” and more of it being DST. I can’t really explain why, but I feel like DST is a better fit for the universe – at least my universe as I see it. My memories are foggy, but I remember that the switch happened sometime in the Bush II administration. One of my Facebook friends who was a Bush fan posted “sigh I can’t believe my beloved president did that”. I’m sure that there is much more to the story and that it wasn’t Bush’s personal decision, but if so then it’s the one thing that he did that I’m a fan of.
Echoing what Kyria and Catrina said, when I was working for the international company I loved the time change because it meant that my work day overlapped with my coworkers by an hour more each day for a week or so in both the spring and fall.
TL;DR yes I’d support getting rid of DST – er, actually I guess that’s really getting rid of standard time but there are a few things that I like about it.
No, no! Keep Standard Time and get rid of DST! Oh, this is getting too complicated (and yes- it was Bush that did it.)
I love not having to worry about the time change at all here in Arizona and just gradually having the mornings get lighter earlier and the sun sticking around later into the evening! We are pretty close to a 50/50 split of sunlight and darkness right now, with the sunrise at 6:40 am and sunset at 6:30 pm.
The one thing I don’t like is that everyone else gets confused about what time zone Arizona is on right now! Fortunately I don’t have many interactions with people in other time zones but in my last job I had Zoom meetings with people on the East Coast and Midwest and I hated when DST happened because a 9 am meeting was now an hour earlier.
Yes, I guess that would be the drawback- if you have a lot of interaction with people in different states. Other than that, it must be nice not to have to worry about it (and hear about everyone else emoting about switching the clocks, ha.)
My cat is sleeping later. Yay!!
But it’s darker so harder to get out of bed.
I made 2 big meals on Sunday… hoping it lasts for the week.
The only good thing is, the cats are happy to see us up an hour earlier.