Being somewhat obsessive-compulsive about most everything in the world, I am having a bit of a dilemna at lunch today. It’s no big thing really, but it has me completely thrown off my game.
I started my lunch hour at 1:53 p.m.
This means I have to be back at my desk by 2:53 p.m.
This has me utterly befuddled. I must leave our home precisely 15 minutes before the end of my lunch hour so that I can be at my desk at the proper time utilizing a comfortable pace to get there. I can’t leave 16 minutes before because then I get there a minute too early, I can’t leave 14 minutes before because then I have to rush due to the fact that I absolutely hate being late.
“So? Leave at 1:38 p.m.”, you say to yourself.
You see, that doesn’t fit right with me because I like to do things on an “even” time. If it’s not divisible by five, it’s not happening. I don’t know why I’m like this when it comes to time, but I am.
I set my alarm for x:30. I lie in bed until x:35. (The ‘x’ is variable due to my rotating shift at work). I take a shower at x:00. I leave for work at the following x:40. It’s all on the mark when looking at a clock. I once dated a guy that told me he sets his alarm for 6:33. I didn’t see him again after I found that out.
I used to shriek at my sister when we were kids that she had “five minutes” to get out to my car if she didn’t want to ride the bus to school. I declared this threat at precisely 7:30 a.m. every school morning and I had all the clocks in the house synchronized. (By the way, this threat was worth something as she apparently felt much ‘cooler’ in a ’74 Vega.) Thinking back, it’s a wonder I made it through school following a bell schedule constructed so that 5th period went from 11:37 to 12:18. In fact, all eight periods were off-time like that and I won’t bore you with the entire schedule though I could recite it from memory if prompted to.
I’d like to say that all this is probably due to the fact that I have a very organized, regimented mind and that I need structure.
Nah, I’m just odd. (And proud of it!)
