OK, the title of this post is a really bad pun. You'll realize that shortly.
I'm a stickler for being on-time. I hate being late, ever- even if it's only a few minutes. I also dislike being too early- it's embarrassing and inconsiderate to the hosts. I see being on-time as an integrity issue- if I say I'll be somewhere at a certain time, I need to keep my word. If I don't, I am not being loving toward the person who I have made wait for me.
That said, I have worn a watch since I was probably 10 or 11, without fail. Typically, it has been a $20 digital watch, because I've never been good at reading the analog types at a glance. As I got older, I surrounded myself with even more time-keeping devices on me- my cell phone, the computer, clocks in every room of the house, my desk phone at work. I was sure to be on-the-dot prompt for any event.
And then there was that bad week earlier this summer, full of unlucky things. After I wrote that post, during the camping trip at the end of the week, I managed to drop a cake upside-down in a parking lot and (more related to this post) my "indiglow" light on my watch got stuck on, running the battery down. I've been without a watch since then.
Have I gone crazy yet? Not quite, but close. The first few weeks, I would ask Josh over and over "What time is it?" "What time is it?" "What time is it?" The loss of my watch brought to light my tendency to be hyper-conscious of the time, fueling a task-oriented attitude and lifestyle. I have been trying now to practice discipline by NOT wearing a watch. It would be easy to replace the one I have (which was needed, anyway- the band was broken) with one of the cheap digital watches or a Skagen watches or something, but I know I need to slow down, so I'm holding off. Is it making a difference? I don't know. I ask for the time less and less. I haven't been too late for anything, I don't think.
On the upside, my ever-present watch tan line went away.
2 comments:
A watch is a superfluous object for us city folk these days. Just about any electronic device with a display also displays the time. I am very rarely anywhere where a wristwatch would be my only way to know what time it is.
Usually I only even think to put it on because I really like my watch. Coincidentally, it is a Skagen watch. My parents got it for me for Christmas after my first semester away from home at college, because they were proud/relieved that I had not died and/or flunked out. I've been wearing it exclusively for the last 10 years.
I had been looking for a watch with no markings on the face, and it only has one (the Skagen brand written at the 3 o'clock position). That's really all you need to know what time it is within 2 or 3 minutes, and most watches are off by at least that much anyway. Feeling like you need to know precisely what time it is is kind of silly, since your watch is probably wrong, and even if you have the true time, the person you're meeting probably doesn't. I aim for getting most places 5 minutes early.
I can't live without my watch. I like knowing exactly what time it is. I know how far my watch differs from places where I need to go - it's two minutes faster than my clock at work, for example. My boss is pretty specific about the exact minutes and let's face it - I'm never going to be 5 minutes early. :-) Besides, I like my watch tan.
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