first written: 09:19 07-07-25
A few weeks ago I was visiting my best friend in southern Maryland. On my second morning staying there, when my friend's fiance was getting ready for my tacky camo Casio W-217H chirped. He reflexively checked his wrist expecting the first bleep of an alarm or changing the mode of which, humorous because while the chime sound is shared among casios he was wearing the exact same ugly totally tacky camo version of the W-217H.
I explained that my hourly chime was on, and we shared a muted laugh. Later when he left, my friend asked me why I had enabled the hourly chime. This was not the first time I was asked this, and I've enjoyed sharing this little preference and discussing its merits.
The bleep at the turn of every hour helps keep me grounded. Time has an ephemeral quality in day to day life. Sometimes left alone at my desk I can lose hours to any task, even in the peripheral of vision is the clock of my computer's taskbar. But with this recognizable bleep, I am given a gentle reminder that the hour has turned. Which alone isn't particularly useful, but in relation to last bleep I heard helps me measure how I've used my time without needing a time stamped to-do list or detailed calendar.
That venture of a highly detailed to-do list or calendar has always captured me, and I've tried many times and failed each to adopt such a regimented schedule. I lack the discipline, and frankly the direction required to make those kind of micro management decisions.
But this gentle nudge of "an hour has passed you dingus" has empowered me. I still have spent hours at my desk playing Fushigi no Dungeon 2: Furai no Shiren. I mean who wouldn't? That games is absolutely amazing in ways in all ways sensible. But I do know when I stop how much time I've spent on the endeavor. Which has empowered me. I don't always make the best decisions regarding how I use my time, but I am definitely making more informed decisions and that makes me feel great.
An hourly chime has been a great thing for me, but before you reach for your watch to see if it shares the functionality, I want to talk about why my friend's fiance and him were shocked when I told them I use the hourly chime. See I live with my parents, without a job at the moment ( not shocking to most of you :P ) and when the hour turns and the C217 bleeps either on my wrist or on my desk, the only other person in ear shot is my dog. I like to think the chime makes me feel just a little less aimless, and maybe that makes it easier to forget that I don't have a job and contribute nothing.
But this is a privileged afforded to me because I don't share a space with others. I once did when I would go to a campus every week day.
When in school I actually did try a few times to enable the chime when I was home and toggle when I woke up in the morning to go to campus, but I found this wasn't worth the effort of another action item to do in the morning, and of course when it would escape my mind during the morning rush I would feel quite embarrassed for annoying my peers and professors when it would inevitably bleep in the middle of lecture.
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| what a pretty game. |
For most self respecting individuals sharing spaces with people is necessary through out the day. So perhaps employing the use of an hourly chime is not for you. But maybe your peers would love the presence of an hourly chime, in which case you should get a big watch and put it in your classroom or office.
These little empowering things alone don't mean anything, but together hold together the fragile bundle of ego that is myself. I hope even if you don't find my chime anecdote related to your life, that I opened the door to you leveraging some little thing in your life to empower yourself.
Or don't, I still love you.
"you know i get so forgetful..."
