How (not) to adapt to the end of daylight saving time

Topics/tags: Autobiographical, short

Yesterday, the period known as daylight saving time (which I tend to mispronounce as daylight savings time) came to an end. At 2 a.m., clocks rolled back to 1 a.m. [1]. Whenever clocks switch from standard time to savings time, or vice versa, it takes some time for people’s bodies to adapt. I recall reading something last year that the switch costs the economy about a half a billion dollars a year in lost productivity [2]. That’s a lot.

This year, Michelle and I tried a new strategy for adapting to the change. We volunteered to host the cast party for the recent high-school play. Here’s the thing; they don’t throw the cast party immediately after the final performance. Rather, they disassemble the set after the final performance and then they have the cast party. The show ended up at 9:45 p.m. CDT. It was a large set that was on a form of lazy susan, so they anticipated a long process. We had hoped they would arrive by 1:15 a.m. CDT or so. They did arrive at 1:15 a.m., but it was 1:15 a.m. CST [4]. They hung around until 3:30 a.m. or so. I think they had a good time.

The kids were good guests, so we did not have a lot of cleanup to do. I think we made it to bed by 4:00 a.m. CST. I guess that’s 5:00 a.m. CDT. That’s generally not a good time to go to bed.

I don’t recall much of Sunday [5]. There’s probably a good reason for that. I got to bed early. I got up at a reasonable hour this morning. How will I feel tomorrow? We shall see. But I don’t think I’ll again try this approach again.

[1] I like to pretend that the clock stays at 1 a.m. for an hour. I know that’s not the case, but it seems like an appropriate silly approach.

[2] I don’t remember where I read that [3]. And I know that you can’t believe everything you read.

[3] A quick Web search suggests that there was an article in The New York Times a few years ago that quotes an estimate of $434 million annually.

[4] That is, an hour later.

[5] That’s not quite true. I recall breakfast with the family, cleaning out a box of papers, some of which dated back to 2011, and watching an episode or two of Orphan Black. But I was not all that awake through any of those activities.

Version 1.0 of 2018-11-05.