The schedule that I keep is one I have known for years. It suits me. Through all the jobs I have worked, not one has been 9-to-5. I sometimes think of what it would be like to work a 9-to-5 job, but more often I am grateful that I don't.
Because I am not operating 9-to-5/Monday-through-Friday, commonly held truths/sayings/ideas lose their meaning on me. A couple of them are downright annoying.
One of them just recently passed. Here it is:
"While you are barbecuing/picnicking/at the beach/etc., take a few moments to remember why you have the day off."
I understand the sentiments of this Memorial Day "lecture," and I think it's important to reflect on those who have lost their lives for our country, but here's the thing, and again, thanks for reminding me about what the day is for although I already know why it's here and have been aware of it for some 40-plus years now, but ... I DON'T HAVE THE DAY OFF!!!!!
Thank you for reminding me again that I have to work while apparently everyone else is barbecuing/picknicking/at the beach, etc. I had just put it out of my mind and was attempting to enjoy my few shreds of free time when THERE IT IS.
Fortunately, that's the only one that gets me ugly.
The others just simply don't apply:
"It's getting late."
Often, when someone says this, I'll look at my phone or watch and think, "no it's not." To me, midnight means "we're just getting started," both in my job and outside of it. For me to say, "it's getting late," it would have to be around, oh, 5 a.m.
You: The sun is rising.
Me: It's getting late.
Which brings me to another common phrase that does not apply:
"That kept me up all night."
Nothing "keeps me up" at night because that's when I function. I'm already up. The sun goes down, I start moving. No, the more applicable way to say this is: "that kept me up all morning."
This just happened today as a matter of fact. I've been dealing with allergies, which besides making me feel crappy, is playing havoc with my sleep. I went to bed early yesterday (early for me is 1:30 a.m.), and slept fitfully until 9 or so. I was going to go back to bed to try to see if I could sleep everything off for good, but I just had to go and glance at the card desk.
I looked at a couple of 1960 Topps manager cards that Commish Bob from The Five-Tool Collector/'59 Topps blog sent me. He speculated whether they could be night cards.
I quickly ruled out the Fred Hutchinson one as a night card, but the other one caused me to ponder:
Well, now, I don't know. That looks nightish.
The lighting on Sawyer's face is what got me. That's a typical night-card tip-off. But I have no idea what they were doing for night photography at the time. I look at the night photographs from the '70s and they don't look half as good as this does, so I'm guessing this isn't anything that took place at night.
But I can't say for sure.
And this is everything that went through my head when I was supposed to be going back to bed.
"I've got to go back to bed," I said to myself.
It was keeping me up. At 9 in the morning.
By then, it was hopeless. I was awake. Finally, after a couple of hours, I was able to return to snoozeland, and now, except for an ever-present headache, I'm feeling much better. All six hours that I've been up so far today.
This is the life of night owls.
Especially night owls that spend way too much time examining baseball cards.
But Commish Bob knows that about me.
He sent this, too:
Great. Am I supposed to collect these now?
This is going to keep me up all morning.
Comments
try Unisom