In The Dark.

darkbusAlthough the change to Daylight Savings Time is a couple of weeks behind us it still means I have a few more weeks of getting up in the dark, which makes me think that maybe instead of changing the clocks twice a year we should make it something like Groundhog Day, except tied to birds or squirrels or aardvarks. If they sing before dawn or lose their nuts or dig up an anthill before dawn on a certain day we’ll have six weeks of getting up an hour earlier and if they don’t—and let’s make it something really unlikely to happen—then we can all sleep late for six weeks. I’m kind of worried about this, though, because the whole joke hinges on a holiday from more than a month ago so I should have come up with all this then. Maybe I can pull it back out next year when everybody’s forgotten this, including me, which means I won’t remember to pull it out until the middle of next March.

Anyway getting up in the dark also means sometimes getting going so early I have to catch the bus in the dark, which I’ve done a few times. And it always amazes me that even when I’m at an unlit bus stop far from the nearest streetlight and also dressed like a ninja bus drivers still see me and stop. How they spot me is a mystery, although those headlights probably help. I’ve never had a bus driver fail to stop in the dark. I have had some zip right by me in broad daylight, though. I must be hard to spot when I’m not dressed like a ninja.

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6 Comments

  1. Gina

    OK, I read through this twice so excuse me if I’m missing something, but WHY ARE YOU DRESSED LIKE A NINJA? Are you an actual Ninja and I’ve just never realized it before now? Librarian by day, crime fighting ninja at night? Or maybe you’re not really a librarian at all. WE DON’T REALLY KNOW, DO WE? From now on I expect to come here and read cool posts about your ninja escapades, which I’m sure is much more interesting than the Ice Capades (which was a skating show I saw when I was little). Also, post photos of your throwing stars because those things seem as cool AF.

    Reply
    1. Christopher Waldrop (Post author)

      I’m not a real ninja but I play one on TV. Or somewhere. Also I’m not really a librarian. I work in a library but technically a real librarian is someone who has at least a Masters degree in Information Science. Trust me on this. It makes some real librarians annoyed if you say that anyone who works in a library is a librarian. They worked hard for that degree, dammit!
      Some can even be pretty snobbish about it. I was at a library conference and a guy asked me where I got my degree. I told him I didn’t have one and he said, “Oh. I think you should talk to someone else,” and walked away.

      Reply
  2. Spoken Like A True Nut

    So if we take out all the birds and the squirrels and the aardvarks permanently, does that mean we can sleep late forever? Because if so, I’m in.

    Sorry birds/squirrels/aardvarks, nothing personal, but Nutty needs her beauty sleep.

    Reply
    1. Christopher Waldrop (Post author)

      Yes. Granted taking out all the animals might have some serious unintended consequences so I’m working on a groundhog alternative that will guarantee we can all sleep late forever. Maybe something like “if a bear shits in the woods sometime between January and December we can all sleep late”. Yeah, that’ll work.

      Reply
  3. Ann Koplow

    I will remember this, Chris, because my birthday is Groundhog Day. As usual, I feel less in the dark after I read one of your posts.

    Reply
    1. Christopher Waldrop (Post author)

      I’m glad I can spread some illumination even when I feel like I’m in the dark.

      Reply

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