A Camping Perspective On Time
It doesn't matter.
That's it.
...
...
Allow me to explain.
Nothing about my perspective on a week or a month or even a year is what it was in 2012. When I first logged on to Facebook today, it was to multiple reminders that yes, today is Halloween. I had managed to completely forget: you see, I live/work with the same 3 (4) people and Halloween is kind of a nonissue here. We're too far off the beaten track for trick-or-treaters, and while I could come to work in costume, it would be weird. Since we don't have guests at the moment, it's really just the last day of the month. [I did make a run to Walmart, where I came across a guy dressed head to toe in white spandex. Halloween ... or just another Walmart patron? Judge for yourself.]
Weekends mean very little. In the summer, they blend in with the rest of the week (although summer weekends generally-but-not-always mean a different variety of guest); in the not-summer, weekends are usually our occupied time, as close to "normal" days as we have.
Living where we do, the season doesn't even totally determine the weather. We had huge snowstorms in both April and October, eighty degree weather in both March and June, sixties in both February and July. Soon, I'll be heading to work before sunup and home after dark ... and I'll still be putting in normal-length days. Mondays aren't very Monday-y, and Fridays don't come with a countdown to 5:00. The days themselves don't really matter -- just whether people are coming or going, need a space, need a meal.
And as we're occupied most weekends, my days off are random weekdays -- handy for running errands (I never have to wait in lines anymore) but less convenient for visiting other people.
Coming from a nine-to-five world where Fridays were spent watching the clock and weekends were a temporary release from reality ... this still feels quite strange. The last ten months have just plain flown by, partly because I could rarely remember what day it was. My next trip to Sioux Falls will probably be on a Tuesday.
This is camp normal.
That's it.
...
...
Allow me to explain.
Nothing about my perspective on a week or a month or even a year is what it was in 2012. When I first logged on to Facebook today, it was to multiple reminders that yes, today is Halloween. I had managed to completely forget: you see, I live/work with the same 3 (4) people and Halloween is kind of a nonissue here. We're too far off the beaten track for trick-or-treaters, and while I could come to work in costume, it would be weird. Since we don't have guests at the moment, it's really just the last day of the month. [I did make a run to Walmart, where I came across a guy dressed head to toe in white spandex. Halloween ... or just another Walmart patron? Judge for yourself.]
Weekends mean very little. In the summer, they blend in with the rest of the week (although summer weekends generally-but-not-always mean a different variety of guest); in the not-summer, weekends are usually our occupied time, as close to "normal" days as we have.
Living where we do, the season doesn't even totally determine the weather. We had huge snowstorms in both April and October, eighty degree weather in both March and June, sixties in both February and July. Soon, I'll be heading to work before sunup and home after dark ... and I'll still be putting in normal-length days. Mondays aren't very Monday-y, and Fridays don't come with a countdown to 5:00. The days themselves don't really matter -- just whether people are coming or going, need a space, need a meal.
And as we're occupied most weekends, my days off are random weekdays -- handy for running errands (I never have to wait in lines anymore) but less convenient for visiting other people.
Coming from a nine-to-five world where Fridays were spent watching the clock and weekends were a temporary release from reality ... this still feels quite strange. The last ten months have just plain flown by, partly because I could rarely remember what day it was. My next trip to Sioux Falls will probably be on a Tuesday.
This is camp normal.
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