Sunday, March 8, 2015

Let There Be Light!!!

It finally happened, we're back to Daylight Saving Time!


There was great rejoicing!!


Logically, I realize that, especially for a person like myself, who isn't exactly ruled by the clock, it's sorta silly to get worked up over an artificial construct like this, but for some reason logic doesn't seem to figure into this equation for me. I mean, as CatMan points out, I could always just get up an hour earlier if I want to have more light, but somehow it's just not the same.

I just can't help myself... it doesn't matter what the weather does, or what the calendar says, or anything else. When Daylight Saving Time finally comes, I feel like the long dark winter is finally over, spring is here, and life can begin again!


I'm doin' my happy dance!


So what about you? Are you happy about the time change or is it all just silliness as far as you're concerned?





38 comments :

  1. The clocks don't change here until the end of the month...not really looking forward to 'losing' an hour of sleep (even though I will probably just go to bed a bit earlier and not miss the hour!).
    It has been warm and sunny here over the last few days- daffodils etc are out, and it really feels like spring! Annoyingly I have a chest infection, which means I've not really been able to enjoy it :(

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    1. Oops again! My comment below was meant as a reply to this one. I seem to be in a bit of a brain fog! Perhaps the loss of an hour of sleep is catching up after all!

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  2. Our clock change used to be later too, but congress voted a few years back to move it up in the belief that it saves energy. I sorta doubt that's true, but I'm not complaining!

    I'm so sorry you're sick - I missed a good chunk of our last spell with the yuck.

    I can't believe you already have daffodils! There's still a good bit of snow on the ground here, and another storm headed our way this weekend. But at least it's light!

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    1. I meant I missed a chunk of our last WARM spell with the yuck... or maybe that was some sort of subliminal channeling of Harry Potter or something! ;) Anyhow, I hope you feel better soon!

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    2. Thanks :) I am SO bored of being ill already, I am a terrible patient!

      The daffodils are in a sheltered corner- I didn't notice them until they were in full bloom!

      We had pretty much zero snow this winter- and it was about 15C this weekend...yey for a temperate climate!

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    3. Our weather is finally warming up - we had an extended cold spell for the past few weeks which is not normal for us this time of year - usually we get at least a few warm days, except right around the solstice. But it was nice today and CatMan and I got to go for a ride.

      Feel Better Soon!!! :-)

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  3. As a weird Arizonan, I'm immune to the change. Kind of. My colleagues all spring forward, so I have to get up an hour earlier to stay on their schedule.

    So, booh to DST.

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    1. OK... that would suck - sort of the worst of both worlds. You have my sympathies.

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  4. While I love more light in the evening, I don't like change. I wish they would just leave the whole thing alone. I think the more we use technology for both work and pleasure, the more people as a whole don't use daylight for a signal to work or sleep. Meaning, there are more people up at night playing on their device or getting one more thing done at work. So whether the reason is to help the farmers or save energy, I'm not sure the changes are helping anymore.

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    1. I totally think we should just keep DST all year round - but then again, as a decidedly UN morning person, I'm not exactly unbiased.

      I also don't think it can possibly help farmers, since they're the only people left in this society who get up with the sun rather than an alarm clock!

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  5. I hate the clock changing. It really interferes with my sleep habits.
    It will take me about 2 weeks to get back into my pattern of getting up around 0700, and then we will do it all again in autumn.
    I know that since I don't go to work I can sleep as long as I want, but to live in the world I have to go with the clock change if I want to participate in my outside activities.
    I just wish they would pick a time and stick to it.
    Marieann

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    1. It's funny... I don't seem to have trouble adjusting to this change. Perhaps it's because, try as I might, I can't seem to stick to a regular sleep routine anyhow. So for me it just means that my evening obligations all get over with an hour earlier and I get to go to bed... But I do agree it would be better to stick to one time year-round - I would happily vote for a measure to keep DST all year!

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  6. I don't mind the spring-forward time change (although now it's dark out again when my son catches the bus and when I drive to work--boo!) but I hate the fall-back change. For some reason, my whole family has a hard time adjusting to that one. Like Marieann, above, it takes us about 2 weeks to adjust ... which brings us to our annual drive-to-Illinois-for-Thanksgiving event, which is in a different time zone, and we have to "fall-back" AGAIN. It becomes a month-long adjustment.

    But, on the bright side, we have temperatures above freezing during the daytime this week--hopefully we can get rid of some of the snow--and my crocuses on the south side of my house are blooming!!!!!!!!!!

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    1. Yay for warmer temperatures! We've got weather in the 50's and 60's again and I am SOOO happy about it!

      I know people who hate DST because it means they have to get up in the dark, and I think that kids walking to school in the dark was one argument for not moving it up by however many weeks they did. My solution would be to make school start later - besides the fact that I think morning hours are the equivalent of cruel and unusual punishment, there's a mountain of evidence that kids do better with later start times.

      speaking of which.. since Princess has been sick, she's been waking up crying at dawn - and seems to do much better if I get up and feed her (long story - she won't eat on her own, I have to babysit her... who me? spoil my cats? Not me?) Anyhow, with the time change it's like I get an extra hour of sleep because dawn is an hour "later" compared to bedtime. Of course, I still go back to sleep for an hour or two after feeding her, but it's really nice to get a longer chunk of sleep all at once.

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    2. Have you gotten out your bike(s) yet? Looking forward to that ...

      My mom is also happy about the time change because her cat was getting her up earlier than she wanted to. Ours is pretty quiet till he hears footsteps. He whines to go to bed at night--probably because we give him a few extra kibbles before putting him in the basement for the night.

      One of my kid's teachers told me that school schedules are backwards for kids--the younger ones, who wake up earlier naturally, go to school later, and the teens, who don't, go to school earlier, but the schedules are the way they are because of sports. (as a band/choir nerd, I also remember lots of evening rehearsals at that age ...). I think she's probably right ...

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    3. I just got back from a bike ride with CatMan - first one in 3 weeks, and the longest in months... and my little leggies are feelin' it!

      And I guess that makes sense about the schedules, though I remember having to be at school for classes starting at 7:30 in high school and I considered it to be nothing short of torture! Perhaps they should put sports practice in the morning before classes so that only those who enjoy masochistic pursuits would be subjected to it! Can you tell, I REALLY hate mornings? :-)

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    4. I LIKE the early morning sports schedule idea! Brilliant! Pretty sure no one else will like it, though ...

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  7. Daylight savings has brought me renewed energy, well that and the warmer temperatures. Like you I don't live by a clock so the time doesn't seem all that important but yes, it does make me believe winter is finally over.

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    1. Spring, spring, spring!!!! I'm soooo happy about it!

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  8. I'm in the "don't like DST" camp. The spring forward part messes up my internal schedule for a few weeks and for a while it robs me of a hard-won hour of daylight in the morning before I go to work (I'm a morning person) since all of a sudden it's dark again until 8 AM. The fall back part doesn't bother me because there again I'm getting extra morning daylight, and it's getting dark so early anyway that the loss of evening daylight doesn't bother me much except that I have to get home earlier to walk the dogs (we live in a rural area - no street lights). I think it might bother me more if I lived farther north where it gets dark really early in the winter but our earliest sunset is around 5:30 in winter.

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    1. Ha! I think you've hit the nail on the head - whether you like DST or not is a matter of latitude and attitude! Meaning that morning people probably don't like it and night owls like myself live for it!

      Here in Denver the sun sets around 4:30 in mid-winter, and since "getting up early" for me means around 10:30am, it makes for a pretty short day. So from my perspective it really is an extra hour of sunlight! :-)

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    2. Actually... now that I think about it, longitude matters too, because what time the sun sets and rises varies significantly within a given time zone. If you sit at the eastern edge of the time zone, everything happens much "earlier." And Denver is in the eastern part of the Mountain time zone... Hmmm....

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    3. Ha! Latitude and attitude - I like it. Now what rhymes with longitude? And I have noticed the longitudinal effect you mention.

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    4. I believe "schmongitude" is the word you're looking for. :-)

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    5. Hey - that would be a great song title: Changes in Longitude, Changes in Schmongitude! Kinda catchy.

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  9. I would love to get rid of DST! :) The older I get, the more the hour of change wrecks my sleep patterns. I've toyed with the idea of ignoring it altogether and going to bed at 8pm and waking at 4:30am in the winter and when we spring forward, going to bed at 9pm and waking at 5:30am (my normal). That way my body would be on the same schedule all year round. But then I think about holding myself to an 8pm bedtime through November and December when we have a lot of special events and I start having second thoughts. And what would I do with a daily hour alone at 4:30am in the dead of winter?! (Probably go back to sleep!)

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    1. Well, you're certainly confirming my theory that morning people hate DST and night owls love it.

      I sorta can't imagine going to bed at 8pm, or even 9pm for that matter! I can't remember ever getting to go to bed before 10:30 or 11 even as a kid! My mom didn't get home from work until 7 or so, and we often didn't eat dinner until around 8, except on nights when I had orchestra rehearsals which didn't get over with until 8:30 or 9... And when I ran the music school I didn't even get off work until 10pm! I guess I always just assumed that morning people had some special ability to function without sleep.

      I'm actually wondering how one can arrange a schedule that lets you go to bed so early... I mean, unless you've completely dropped out of society like I have. Seriously, do you just not participate in any evening activities?

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    2. I find it annoying that social stuff always seems to happen past my bedtime- I am petitioning for stuff to occur at 8am when I am fully awake! ;)
      If I am doing an evening activity (like horse riding or yoga) I make sure I have eaten beforehand so I can go to bed straight afterwards. If there is a fun social thing going on I will stay up a bit later than normal (but I can never manage past midnight!) and just get a few early nights in the rest of the week...

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    3. See...now this totally boggles my mind. How on earth can you come home and go straight to bed?!? I would LOVE to be able to do that, but it doesn't matter how late I get home or how exhausted I am, I'm physically incapable of falling asleep without at least 2-3 hours of wind-down time. Perhaps this is another difference between morning larks & night owls - we need more decompression time than you do.

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    4. I also need down time before I can go to bed, so I usually don't go out in the evening. Bummer eh! but I value my sleep more that I value socializing.
      I broke down last night and took a sleeping pill to try and get myself back on schedule. I just hope it doesn't make things worse
      Marieann

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    5. I've never actually taken a sleeping pill, but I am a fan of malatonin. Hope you get back on track soon! :-)

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    6. Yes! I probably have dropped out of society by "normal" standards. My typical bedtime is 9pm and I don't feel deprived or anything. People who know me know I will be leaving their party/function by 8 ish and so I get a lot of invites for afternoon stuff on weekends. I like to get all my activities done earlier in the day, like sunrise yoga or matinee movies. I'll go to evening concerts maybe once a year. What other fun stuff happens after 9? :)

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    7. Well, my perspective may be a tad bit biased since I've lived most of my life on "musician time." In my world there were plenty of concerts etc that didn't even start until 9pm! And if you're working one of those, you're lucky to get home by 2am.

      Back in my 20's I lived near downtown and there was a fabulous Chinese restaurant right across the street from one of the theaters we used to book - they served until 2am, and we all loved them for it. Gotta say, the 2am "dinner crowd" is a bit of an odd collection of people - cops, musicians, prostitutes... not for the feint of heart, but such a treat to have real food at that hour!

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