13 on Friday
1. I’ve always been fascinated by the group mind that humans share, which causes us to agree about certain things like what day of the week it is, or to stay in our own lane on the right side of the road while driving down a highway. What would happen if we completely dropped out and forgot these collective agreements?
2. Being out of sync with the rest of the world is a little like one of those dreams where your back in high school and don’t know what room your class is in or what your locker number is. In a really bad high school dream you have forgotten to wear a shirt.
3. I thought yesterday was Wednesday, which would make today Thursday, but of course it’s really Friday. Everybody says so. This reminds me of when Day Light Saving Time comes along and the clocks get set forward or behind. For weeks after, when I look at the clock I have to process 2 times, and if someone asks me what time it is I say something like: It’s 10:00 but it’s really 9:00. 
4. When someone says “What time is it?” I never fail to hear Van Morrison’s voice in my head singing the line from “The Back Room,” “Baby what time is it, what time is it. Tell me, what time is it? It’s 4:30.” Four thirty was the time of day when Van and his mates would watch the school girls go by the window of their hangout.
5. A clock is a man-made orbit that paces it’s own cage…Round like a planet…made in that image…A mechanical nightingale of gilded numbers…Alarm sounding…Money counting…Score keeping…Beeping blinking…Meter ticking…Rat racing…Fast pacing…Yo yo yanking…Bomb. In every single home…It’s ticking.
6. The above is part of a poem I wrote as a performance piece that The Women of the 7th Veil poetry troupe performed with music and improve movement during the build-up to the Y2K computer scare.
7. Why can’t we just look at the sky when we want to know what time it is? It’s either morning, noon, afternoon, evening, or night. And when someone asks how old we are, why can’t we say either early, mid, or late 20s, 30s, 40s, or 50s etc?
8. Besides getting my days mixed up, this was the most recent good laugh I had at myself: Joe told me one night that he was going to use my car to go to work the next morning and that our neighbor Rowan was going to borrow his truck to move a bed. The next morning, I woke up, made tea, and took it out to the garden, which was when I noticed that Joe’s truck was still the driveway. I didn’t see him around, but sometimes he meditates before going to work, so I thought that’s what he was doing. By 8:30 I was at the computer blogging and thinking to myself, “Joe’s going a little overboard on this morning mediation thing. Doesn’t he care that he’s going to be so late for work?” Soon after that, I heard the truck pull out. Glad he had finally got going, but irritated that he didn’t say goodbye or even hello, I was miffed. A few minutes later I remembered…”Hmmm, isn’t this the morning that Rowan is coming over. I better get out of my bathrobe and dressed.” That’s when it dawned on me what had really happened, that Joe had left the house early with my car and it was Rowan who just pulled out in the truck.
9. Do you know about the human clock? It’s continuous, very cool, and here.
10. Here is the story of the DREAMSPELL as it relates to time and the Mayan prophecies by Dr. Jose Arguelles.
11. Jose Arguelles came to Floyd once. One Floyd artist, was so inspired by his galactic message that her art now completely revolves around it. Her name is Star root and this is her take on the Cow who jumped over the moon.
12. Doug has a funny photo loosely related to 13.
13. The Washington Post wrote an interesting article about Floyd’s Jacksonville Center, which I first learned of via Ripples.
Note: Photos are from the linkukoto banner generator, except for the stop sign which is from Image Chef. The 13 Thursday headquarters is here. My other 13’s are here.
June 2nd, 2006 9:39 am
Happy Thursday 13…(time seems much slower in Floyd!) Always a pleasure to visit you whatever day!
June 2nd, 2006 9:41 am
I’ve recently started getting my days mixed up. It’s not like I have Tuesday reports or Thursday’s numbers due anymore. Being home seems to make my clock a little bigger and a little slower. I like that!
I enjoyed your 13 as always!
June 2nd, 2006 9:48 am
I sometimes wake up on saturdays thinking it’s a week day and that I overslept… My husband is a hobby sailor so he sort of can tell the time by looking at the position of the sun. Have a lovely thursday friday!!
June 2nd, 2006 10:04 am
Oh Colleen…this post reminds me so much of YOU!
Does anyone really no what time it is…..does anyone really care?
June 2nd, 2006 10:10 am
It’s a great 13 whatever the day today! Thanks for visiting mine.
June 2nd, 2006 11:58 am
like red lights…what really makes us stop at them? and why do we trust that people will stop?
June 2nd, 2006 12:12 pm
That was a GREAT 13… worth waiting for.
#1: Don’t you sometimes feel silly sitting at a red light in the middle of nowhere when there’s no traffic? But you still won’t go through it. I always feel like a real rebel if I decided to just go through it.
#7: Jagman is very good at looking at the sky and telling what time it is.
June 2nd, 2006 12:44 pm
Hey Colleen, Michele says hi!! Don’t you hate it when you lose a day — takes forever to get it back. Great 13 🙂
June 2nd, 2006 6:15 pm
and it’s just like any other day
that’s ever been.
sun coming up and then
the sun’s going down
except in “reality” there is no up or down in the universe and it’s this rock we stand on,the earth revolving towards and away from the sun that changes our days into night
June 2nd, 2006 6:34 pm
I usually know what time it is, but I can be confused about the day when I first wake up. An interesting collection of thoughts.
My TT is up.
June 2nd, 2006 8:02 pm
Our lives are so wound up in time and place.
Not knowing the time puts me in a panic.
I wake up sometimes and wonder if it’s Saturday or
am I late for work! I hate that!
Great TT you’ve made – very cool!
MyThursday Thirteen is up!
June 2nd, 2006 10:11 pm
Here from Micheles and what an interesting thing to contemplate! I never give mindless things like day or time a second thought.
June 2nd, 2006 10:38 pm
I so recognize that… Both of us… We’ve been to doc’s appointments on the wrong day too… We have to double check every time we have something booked, so we don’t go there on the wrong day or time.
It’s not because of bad memory, it’s because our minds are so full that they’re overloaded 🙂
June 2nd, 2006 10:57 pm
That human clock is fabulous! Thanks for sharing!
June 3rd, 2006 12:32 am
I wondered what was going on yesterday. I liked Thursday’s post, but I definitely missed the 13. I’m happy to find that I got the 13 anyway, it’ll just teach us to not take them for granted every week, we never know when you might just forget about them.
I once walked into our payroll office and stood there waiting for my check. The people working in the office made some small talk, but continued to work, although it seemed that they were starting to get a little uncomfortable having me standing over them, watching them. And I just kept standing there. They didn’t know what in the world I was doing just standing there without saying anything and I didn’t know why in the world they weren’t giving me my check, since they didn’t seem to be doing anything. It took waaaay to long for me to figure out that I had my days of the week mixed up and it wasn’t payday. I was pretty embarrassed.
June 3rd, 2006 11:15 am
Michele sent me up to the mountains to see you, Colleen. It’s way past time for me to see that side of the state.
I must admit to being a little concerned, Colleen. Why was your first impulse, upon thinking of Rowan, to take off your bathrobe? The more I think about it, Colleen–the funnier it seems. 🙂
I love your first point, about how we have certain social agreements, and how bad it would be if those broke down. However the fear of not having a shirt on in a social setting is more a girl thing. :-p
June 3rd, 2006 5:19 pm
Three day weekends and vacations always get me out of sync. That doesn’t address the more metaphysical issue.
michele sent me.
June 4th, 2006 5:54 pm
Love this. I wrote a story years ago, so much into my alternate reality that when I looked at the clock and saw “5:00” or thereabouts I felt puzzled. It was “still” light. I remembered sitting down at my computer around 1PM — surely the draft had taken me more than 4 hours to write. I’d felt no bodily needs, but my eyes were a little tired. Then I heard morning birds.
I’ve lost track of time and days working 24/7 on proposals, but that wasn’t quite as much fun.