Zero Dark Thirty
Posted By Kristabella on November 4, 2011
As I type this up, I have to keep taking breaks to alternately yawn and then wipe the drool off my keyboard. In other words, I’m tired.
See, this morning, I had to get into work earlier to work an event. I had to be downtown, butt in seat, coffee and breakfast in hand, at Union Station, no later than 7:30 AM. And in case you didn’t know, 7:30 AM is really fucking EARLY.
We don’t change the clocks until this coming weekend. Which means that when I got up at 5:30 and then left the house to walk the streets of my hood to the bus stop at 6:30, it was pitch black. Oh! And when I got off the train downtown and walked into Starbucks it was also still dark.
Is it just me, or does it feel like we should have changed clocks like three weeks ago? I don’t know why it feels like this. On most days I’m surprised it is already November and I wonder where the time went. On top of that, we’ve had an actual fall this year and have had pretty decent weather overall. Shit, it’s going to be in the mid-60s this weekend. In November. IN CHICAGO! We didn’t even get a lick of snow that the East Coast got last weekend!
(Oh how Mother Nature is going to smite me for those sentences.)
I’m sure part of this feeling about the time change is because I get up earlier now than I used to at my old job. And since I started new job at the end of March when the weather is making another turn, but this time for the warmer and sunnier, I’ve never done this commute to work at this time of day at this time of year.
At my last job, I got up at 8, left at 8:30 and was in at 9. I slept until 8! On weekdays! How awesome is that? Well, not awesome when you hated the job you had as much as I did.
But now! I like my job! I still get in at 9, but since it takes longer to get in, I’m up before 7. Well, most days. The days I don’t have to wash my hair I push the snooze a few more times. But even for the last month the sun hasn’t been rising until after 7 AM. And that is just unacceptable.
Yes, yes, I’m aware that in a month it will be dark when I get up and dark when I get home. And that SUCKS. I do hate leaving the office when it is dark. But I’m still looking forward to the time change because it really does feel like my internal clock is all messed up.
In sunshiney news, I found out that I’ll be moving to a different floor at work in two weeks. And with that move, I’m getting a cube along the wall. The wall of WINDOWS. So while it will be dark in the morning and night, and we’ll have a lot of dreary days coming up in winter, I get to come in every day and look outside at the Chicago skyline.
And that’s definitely worth getting up in the dark for.
And this ends the stream of consciousness portion of this week’s NaBloPoMo posts.
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Actually – you’re right. I think Bush changed the date of changing our clocks several years ago – it used to be in October but now in November (why? who knows… probably not him!).
Yea, it changed back in like 2007, to test energy consumption, it used to be the last Sunday in October.
It could get changed back if Congress wants to…I hope they do, this is way too late!
Congrats on the new cube with a view!
I curse the time change. CURSE IT. My kids don’t care what the clock says, their internal clocks still say the same thing. So now they’ll get up at 5 for a few days instead of 6 and I will cry. The sun can rise at 10 a.m. for all I care, as long as it doesn’t affect the precious, precious sleep schedule!
Snarky Mommy´s last blog post ..Fever- and fancy-free
I’m so jealous of you getting a window. Overlooking the city. I’m trapped in a remodeled back hallway, with zero windows. My last job got rough toward the end, so I’m actually ok trading that big picture window overlooking the quad, for a windowless hallway.
Andrea´s last blog post ..The Blathering
I, too, have a cube along a window wall and I love it. I actually gave up a large, private interior office just to have a window. I basically moved in like a squatter in an empty cube, before the building manager could say anything, into a large open area where our office professionals sit. Or rather where they used to sit. My company let our entire office professional staff go 18 months ago. Which means that I am sitting by myself in this large area and I tell people that I have the biggest office in the building 🙂 I’m amazed at how much better I feel being able to look outside, even if the weather is bad. I don’t think I have seasonal affective disorder but I noticed a difference in my mental state as soon as I made the change. I didn’t realize how sitting in a cave, although well lit, was starting to weigh me down.
I hate when it’s dark both when I get to work and when I get home. BOO.