Tuesday, May 31, 2005

Does anybody really know what time it is?

I tell time by the 5 minute, that is, if it's 7:18 and someone asks me what time it is, I tell them it's 7:20. I know people who tell time by the 10 minute, and I even know people who tell time by the half hour.

And then I know the people who insist on knowing what time it is, really. As in, if it's 7:29, they need to be told it's 7:29. My best friend was like that. We were quite the opposite when it came to time telling, to the point that he'd go and verify the time whenever he'd ask me what time it was and I told him a number that ended in a 5 or 0.

8 comments:

heatherfeather said...

tell him that time is artificial and something created by man so we can feel like we have control over something.

(i vary between rounding to the 5 and reading the time on my watch/cell phone/newsticker. i roll crazy like that)

Steve said...

I actually got really good at telling the "actual" time while working for the place that was the topic of a 1998 movie starring Will Smith and Gene Hackman. At one point, I could tell you the time in 20 different time zones (sometimes we get bored).

Bookworm said...

I'm one of those to the minute people -- you ask, I'll tell you it's 5:34 and, if I think you'll tolerate the further information, 47 seconds. My father was German, and I've often wondered if these things are connected.

Anyway, Steve, as you get into your legal career, you'll discover that the real way to count time is in 6 minute intervals.

Steve said...

6 minute intervals?

red.hot.mamma! said...

to me, it's always beer-thirty.

congrats on your prodigy child, btw. keep at him, though. someone I know was the smartest boy in the class in elementary/jr high and then went on to flunk out of college. of course, that was before adult ADD was really diagnosed & programs existed to help with it & his father forced him to go into engineering. so, don't force your son into engineering, unless he wants to. i can imagine that must be pretty painful.

now it's time for me to stop prattling on & go home.

heatherfeather said...

seriously, you stopped at 20 time zones when there are only 4 left?

Steve said...

I liken it to only being able to 20 18 pull ups when the record is 20. the rest just couldn't stick.

Nick, you're in good company here, as many of the players are law students You'll be fine in school; just keep up on the reading.

Steve said...

And, sadly, I know people who can't do that.

I had a friend in the AF who I once asked how old he was, he said "I don't know, what year is it?"