“Watch” Me!

A friend and I were recently chatting about time, and being on time (or not), and we segued into the subject of wrist watches. Said friend is like my husband – which I tend to refer to as “time-fluid”. I am far more “time-strict” naturally, though I’ve chosen to become more fluid to avoid the stress that comes with trying to convince a time-fluid person that being late is actually a thing that should matter more than it does to them.

In the grand scheme of things, I decided it wasn’t worth fighting over, so while I’ll never be “comfortable” with it, I have gotten used to not worrying so much about when I get where. Though I can assure you if left to my own devices, I am generally a fairly prompt person overall.

I attribute this to my dad, who bought me my first watch around the time I went to first grade or so. It was plastic with a cloth red, white and blue band, and large numbers so I could learn to tell time, and it needed to be wound once per day. This was in the days before cell phones, of course, and I was expected to be in certain places (like home or school) at particular times, so learning to tell time and knowing what time it is was an important part of that.

There was a big hulabaloo, of course, when I wanted to wear my watch on my right wrist. My dad explained to me that right-handed people wear their watch on their left wrist, and vice versa, so they can look at the time more easily while writing and doing other tasks. Which didn’t make sense to me, because my eyes were already on my right hand – why not have my watch right there on my right wrist?

Needless to say, I still wear my watch on my right wrist to this day, and occasionally someone will ask if I’m left-handed. Funny how ingrained some things are in our society, isn’t it?

In any case, I developed an affinity for watches, and have worn one pretty much non-stop ever since. Before smartwatches, I used to get a new watch every year or two, and often several so I’d have both fun and more professional looking timepieces. Some of my favorites were a Pepe le peux watch, and the Timex Indiglo line (seriously – a light up watch in a movie theater or concert? It was revolutionary at the time.). I have one that’s solar powered too, which works great when I’m on vacation in Florida. Not so much here in the north, especially in deep winter when our days are very short.

I’ve carried pocket watches, and pendent watches as well. I have a decent collection of favorites that I’ve saved over the years, and I have a giant Smurf watch hanging on the wall of my dining room (yes, it still works).

My daily watch now is a Galaxy Watch 6, which is for time keeping, of course, but also for message notifications, task reminders, workout tracking, timing tea and aquarium water tests, and a calculator which is surprisingly handy and easier than expected to use on such a small screen. This watch is probably capable of more than my first computer was, which is kind of mind-blowing when you think about it.

Do you wear a watch, smart or otherwise? Is it for punctuality, or just notifications?

Writing News

I’ve been involved with a couple of work projects lately that pretty much leave me completely drained by the time I get home. Between that and still dealing with some pain, I haven’t felt comfortable dictating while driving (though I’m feeling quite a bit better this week, so we’ll see). I did do some plotting and planning, and I think I finally nailed down the story line for Alex’s next DBV story, so all was not lost last week, but I’m sincerely hoping I can make some actual “getting words down on paper” type progress instead this week.

Recommendation(s)

The last season of Disenchantment is on Netflix now, and we finished it this past weekend. If you’re looking for a light, funny, upended fairy tale in cartoon form, check it out. I thought it was great, though honestly, the first few seasons were the best (as usual).