This Morning

Today was my second full day at work. Yesterday, I arrived early to allow myself some extra time. I had way too much time, and at 4:00 a.m., a little extra time in bed is valuable beyond measure. So last night, I adjusted my alarm to wake me a half hour later. 4:15 instead of 3:45. I fell asleep with a satisfied smile.

I rose this morning when the alarm sounded. I got up, had a quick shower, and got dressed. As I wound my wrist watch, I noticed the time. 3:25. I was puzzled.

"3:25?" I thought. "How can that be?"

I thought maybe my watch had stopped so I looked at the bright red numbers on the alarm clock by my bed. 4:25. I adjusted my watch to match the bedroom clock and descended the stairs to the kitchen. That's when I noticed the clock on the microwave. 3:26. What the hell was going on? I checked the VCR clock and the one on the DVD player. 3:26 and 3:27, respectively. I looked at my watch. 4:27. According to my watch, I had to be at work in fifteen minutes. But the other clocks all gave me an hour and fifteen minutes.

I sat on the couch and removed my glasses. My eyes felt as though they were full of sand and I rubbed them with both fists. I put my glasses back on and looked again at my watch. I had adjusted it this morning. It had been exactly an hour slow. I had adjusted the bedroom alarm clock too. Last night.

And then it suddenly became clear to me. I closed my eyes again and slowly shook my head, grinning at my own carelessness. Last night, as I adjusted the alarm, I must have inadvertantly adjusted the time as well. I must have pressed the button to advance the time. One hour. In my attempt to allow myself an extra thirty minutes of slumber, I had actually robbed myself of thirty minutes!

I went back upstairs and checked the clock on the computer. It read 3:29, exactly one hour less than the watch I'd adjusted. I reset my watch to the correct time and chuckled quietly to myself.

"Well," I said aloud, "If I'm up anyway, I might as well stay up."

I sat for an hour and read some blogs. And then I wrote a little in my personal journal. Can you guess what it was that I wrote about?

It's 11:15 in the morning now. I've done my morning shift and I'm feeling a little sleepy. Maybe I'll lay down for a wee kip.

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