Curious Clockworks
We have ourselves our atomic clocks. They are the most accurate time and frequency standards known. The clocks maintain a continuous and stable time scale.
Big woop.
We have ourselves our Rolexes, our Hauers, our dashclocks and digital Paul Reveres, too. Time lurks always within eyeshot to remind us it is fleeting, inexorable, uncompromising, fastidious and prissily precise.
But I have my battery-operated wall clock, see? She never knows the “time”. No matter how I twist her dials, she’s never right. She clings to kitchen wallpaper in a cloud of confusion. It’s after midnight in atomic time, but she pleads it’s almost dawn. I love that clock!
She’s never right (and never wrong).
I don’t wear a wristwatch. I have no need. Time and I...well...we engage in a curious pas de deux. She leads. I follow. Sorta.
We have our clocks, we have our watches too. But our bodies count the minutes and the hours in their own weird way. We each have “body clocks”. We really do. Some of us run fast. Some of us run slow. It’s 2:00am and I’m wide awake. I haven’t slept for days.
My body clock has gone astray.
My closest friends have always laughed at/with me. I was always “wait ‘til next year”. Always was that way. Still am. I vow to accomplish something, and I do...years past the promised or the “past due” date. Time and I, well, what can I say? We maintain a curious and “fluid” relationship. Time is fleeting while I plod along.
I guess one can say we were “made for each other”. Opposites attract.
Time has always worked for me. Never troubled me. I set my sights on something and I conquered...years long past and gone.
Time spreads her arms wide open and I succumb.
That fluid waltz I’ve danced with Time no longer satisfies nor works for me. I have little time to spare and much to do. I can’t swear:
“by this time next year”. The seconds scramble, the minutes scamper. The hours, weeks, months and years recede...the Future’s now a midget...and shrinking fast.
Big woop.
We have ourselves our Rolexes, our Hauers, our dashclocks and digital Paul Reveres, too. Time lurks always within eyeshot to remind us it is fleeting, inexorable, uncompromising, fastidious and prissily precise.
But I have my battery-operated wall clock, see? She never knows the “time”. No matter how I twist her dials, she’s never right. She clings to kitchen wallpaper in a cloud of confusion. It’s after midnight in atomic time, but she pleads it’s almost dawn. I love that clock!
She’s never right (and never wrong).
I don’t wear a wristwatch. I have no need. Time and I...well...we engage in a curious pas de deux. She leads. I follow. Sorta.
We have our clocks, we have our watches too. But our bodies count the minutes and the hours in their own weird way. We each have “body clocks”. We really do. Some of us run fast. Some of us run slow. It’s 2:00am and I’m wide awake. I haven’t slept for days.
My body clock has gone astray.
My closest friends have always laughed at/with me. I was always “wait ‘til next year”. Always was that way. Still am. I vow to accomplish something, and I do...years past the promised or the “past due” date. Time and I, well, what can I say? We maintain a curious and “fluid” relationship. Time is fleeting while I plod along.
I guess one can say we were “made for each other”. Opposites attract.
Time has always worked for me. Never troubled me. I set my sights on something and I conquered...years long past and gone.
Time spreads her arms wide open and I succumb.
That fluid waltz I’ve danced with Time no longer satisfies nor works for me. I have little time to spare and much to do. I can’t swear:
“by this time next year”. The seconds scramble, the minutes scamper. The hours, weeks, months and years recede...the Future’s now a midget...and shrinking fast.
* * *
posted by Jonas | 6/05/2009 01:46:00 AM
16 Comments:
That's beautifully written Jonas but the ending, the future as a midget, that really got me, whew. But the future can't be dwindling fast, dwindling maybe, but not fast. dwindling fluidly maybe? (dwindle dwindle llttle star how i wonder what you are) ps. i'm with ya on the inner clock point
Great Post. I don't have a watch either. It reminds me of a quote from a TV series.
"The past tempts us, the present confuses us, and the future frightens us. And our lives slip away, moment by moment, lost in that vast, terrible in-between." --Centauri Emperor, (Babylon 5)
I used to work with a nurse who had a saying I just loved, he would say, "It's time to make like a baby and head out."
We only have today, might as well spend it. Take care Jonas.
Ahhh time...I have always had a very strange relationship with time.
My friend has always pointed it out. My issue is that I always attempt to "cheat" time. If I have an hour, I think I can do 50 things when there's only time ... for maybe two. Thusly, I'm always late. I long to find shortcuts in travel to cut down on time. I hate the alarm clock for if it were up to my body, I would awake at different times of late morn each day. But life dictates otherwise...Jonas, use whatever impetus you must to do the things you wish to do....but you do have time. You do.
i haven't worn a watch in years... in fact, it occurs the only clock in my home (other than the computer) has had a dead battery in it for five or more years... oddly, i'm rarely to never late for anything that needs attending to... no clock by the bed or buzzing alarm to wake me up... have never needed it... i think time is like many things... it is a rhythm we always have, but can become so out of tune with because of other distractions ...
the future as a midget... i'm not there yet... (but these last couple of years sometimes had me convinced i wouldn't mind if i were)
I can only wish for a fluid future, tipota, my hip would be most grateful, I assure you.
Yes, Jay, I know your blog header well. I've always been partial to the sentiment. Thank you.
Thanks, Deb. I've spent all I could, burned my candles ever which way. No point in stoppin', now, is there?
Ahhh, my Tempest, I've used/abused Time...now Time abuses me. Square deal, I guess.
You "time-sensitive" critters amaze me, joanne. I kinda lost a few years recently. Seriously. I have NO idea where they went or how...but it kinda freaks me out.
Jonas, this might just be my favorite piece of all time anywhere. Now how do I arrive at where you are?
Lest anyone be confused, tipota set me straight. As much as I find the word "dwindling" endearing, it didn't truly fit.
I altered the text, but not the "truth". You can all thank tipota.
Awwww...WIAW...you're FAR too kind. Wanna be like me, eh? Get old enough, beat up enough and...voila! There you are.
(Psst: yer already "there". You possess more truth and wisdom than I ever had...at twice yer age)
The sun and moon are my time pieces of choice.
'Future’s now a midget...and shrinking fast.'
I can so relate....
Time, for me, is like a centipede... many-legged, twisty, turny, and zipping along in directions not anticipated, unstoppable. It seems to squiggle and squirm around all my attempts to slow it down, to savour the moment. Determined to keep moving at unprecedented speed.
Which makes the future something unfathomable...
I'm amazed each morning when birds begin their chirping outside my open window precisely an hour before daybreak when all is pitch black and the night feels endless. But the birds? They somehow know that a new day is about to dawn. They possess more knowledge and wisdom than I can ever comprehend.
Yes, Ponita, the future is unfathomable. I, myself, prefer it that way...dreams continue to tempt and possibilities remain possible.
C'est la vie... n'est-ce pas?
Oui, madame!
I am now at the point of your last paragraph, timewise. Beautifully written.
:)
Welcome, my fine-feathered friend! Ironic, isn't it? Given enough time, we run out of time.
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