The time needs to stop a changin

Well, if March came in like a pride of lions, winter is certainly going out with a streak of tigers. Here on the Northeast, we are getting inundated with, literally, the last snowstorm of the ’14-’15 Winter season. Why couldn’t this have come around the Christmas holiday, to give us even more of a joyous season? Ah well, just like the storms that came in with the month, this will be but a passing memory to speak about over a cup of coffee in a few days.

While I was pondering over the irony of having a major winter event fall upon us at this particular time of year, I got to thinking about that other event that occurs around this time of year as well – that grand ole event of changing our clocks one hour ahead of “normal time” with Daylight Saving Time. I don’t think there’s much more that annoys me than this semi-annual ritual of the changing of the clocks. Now I did a bit of research on that great repository of human knowledge known as Wikipedia just to find out what in the name of whatever Deity you happen to believe in (or none at all) who thought this was a good idea and why.

Turns out, a New Zealander by the name of George Vernon Hudson (may his name be forever cursed) came up with the modern idea in 1895. He did it so he could have more time after work to collect bugs… That’s right, we know have to endure this apparently unending nonsense of changing our clocks twice a year because of freaking bugs. Now of course, in the intervening years, there have been a myriad of other reasons that DST has been implement, and discontinued, in many countries. At one point, most of the world observed it, but nowadays, the US, Canada, and Europe comprise the bulk of the countries that still continue the ritual. At least most of the rest of the world wised up and realized just how useless this practice really is. It’s about time the rest of us did to. Heck, not even all of the US observes DST as my wife and I had the joy of experiencing in a cross country trek for vacation many years ago as we changed times no less than three times when we went through Arizona.

Oh well, I guess I can always dream of the day when we finally no longer have to waste time and energy springing forward and falling back every year. Speaking of which, to those who think it helps save energy … what’s the difference if I don’t need to turn on the lights an hour earlier at night when I have to turn them on an hour earlier during the day? Seems like a wash to me. In fact, I think I might just start waking up earlier so I can turn on them lights and waste a few extra joules out of spite.

Illusion of the Imagination

Another week passes by. At least this one was a bit calmer than the previous. March not only came in like a lion, but steamrolled on through with a whole pride of them – for those of us in PA, NJ, and DE, at any rate. But such is the way of the weather here; it seems to be gone as quickly as it comes. The last vestiges of our 6+ inches of snow from the last of the storms last week is but a memory, only hints remain in patches protected from the sun for most of the day – and those blackened mountains piled up in shopping center parking lots. We’ll still have another week or so of those around I’ll wager.

Anyway, that was what I was ruminating over at work when I had one of those strange moments as I was walking past the front entrance. Everyone is familiar with Déjà vu, I am sure, but this wasn’t one of those feelings. Actually, I’m not sure if this kind of feeling has an actual name for it, though right after that moment, I had the perfect word to describe it, but naturally couldn’t write it down at that time, and by the time I had the time, I had forgotten what it was. Therefore, I will just use the term illusiantive. It was just a brief moment, as I looked out the front doors – a split second feeling of being in different place. It felt like I wasn’t in New Jersey, but in a store somewhere out West. Then the feeling was gone as quick as it came. Something similar will usually happen to me every now and again, as I am out and about, checking out an interesting area of my surroundings while driving, or walking around. A feeling of whatever I happen to be gazing at would be right at home somewhere out in one of those places of our great country that I have been in the past.

Perhaps it is the Wanderlust in my soul that has been put away for so many years, or just the fact that many of those places that strike me at those moments are ones where I felt free and completely relaxed from the daily grind and worries that go with it. At the very least, those feelings offer me a brief moment of peace and help me stay relaxed throughout the day as I reminisce about those adventures I had in the past – even if it was just a less than thrilling 45 second ride on one of the damn roller coasters at HersheyPark.

Even though I find disappointment at Winter’s passing, at least in regards to the snowfalls which make the cold and dark worth tolerating, it paves the way for the anticipation of those days in the Spring and Summer where the family trips to Hershey, or elsewhere, bring back those moments of complete freedom and relaxation.