The first thing that came to mind as something to write about after reading the Writing 101 assignment of a Stream of Consciousness post (and publishing it, aaack!) was my odd knack for always looking at the time at an opportune time.
Now, many ideas were summarily rejected before landing on this one, I actually had to think about those, and felt sure that sometime between last night and this afternoon I’d come up with something to write about for 20 minutes. I feel energized by the fact that I’m participating in two challenges this month: the A to Z challenge and the Writing 101: April challenge. I hope I have TIME (teehee!)!
Okay, so the following happens so often that I’m surprised that it even occurred to me as something to write about. For some reason, when I get the urge to look at the time, it is usually an on-the-hour bullseye. Within a 5 minute window (from XX:57 to XX:02), if I’m looking at the time, that is what the clock says.
Often, I am looking at the clock on the cable box. When I glance at it, it usually is displaying the channel I am watching (usually 42-our local HGTV affiliate) and then bouncing back to the current time. It does this when a new show is starting. So, at a new hour or half hour. Usually the hour. It’s spooky. Why is this my talent?
I suppose it is a good thing, I usually wake up “on-the-hour” if I do not have an alarm set. I usually set about 6 alarms for weird times on my cell phone, because I know my fondness for the snooze button and I also know that I will get so annoyed as to wake up if I set these 6 alarms to go off in a certain way. But, naturally, on days that I don’t have an alarm set, I will wake up, glance at the phone, and see that it is 8:59 am, or 10:02 am, or 9:00 am on the dot. It is a nice way to start the day on the right foot.
With absolutely no influence, I do this regularly. When factoring in things such as work constraints, or a school day, or some out-in-the-world scheduled activity, I do it with uncanny accuracy.
I am, by nature, one who likes to arrive early. Usually extremely early. I’m talking camp out in your car or go to a nearby mall-early. My friends make fun of me. It’s okay. So, my little knack comes in handy when I’m trying to keep myself busy for some such time, while making sure I’m not late for what I’m to be doing at the next hour. I’m fairly confident that my inner clock won’t make me late, as I shop at a nearby mini-mall while I wait for an appropriate time to walk into an interview, or whatever. Fifteen minutes early is the advice, but I usually arrive a half hour before that, because I’m just so anxious.
I am also a creature of habit, one who tries to structure a day according to time, especially when living the lifestyle of the non-working community. I have set aside 11 am to 2 pm for pinning and blogging. As soon as I get up, bleary-eyed and froggy-throated, I check my job alerts and any messages or job-related emails. Then I putter for a while. Then I plop back in front of the computer and play SongPop and check Facebook (which I post on so infrequently that today, when I finally got around to posting pics of our vacation, I discovered my last post was from September of last year, and before that it had been almost another year), but I do like to lurk around my home feed and see what my friends are up to. Then it is usually TIME to read some blogs, check my comments, and post my own daily musings. After that, the day can formally start. Then it is time for a shower, if I haven’t snuck in yet, some lunch, some out-of-house errands and some in-house projects. My honey gets home at 6:02 most of the time, which makes me so happy that he’s on board with my weird-time thing. I like to pretend he does it on purpose to make me happy, but it is actually the train schedule, and the time it takes him to walk home from it. Shhhhhh!
Now it is TIME to post for my A to Z challenge.
This post has been brought to you, unedited, and sponsored by the number 6 and the letter E.
Living La Vida Mitten 