Tuesday, July 12, 2005
Memories Are Moments Not Bound By Time
Current location: San Antonio, TX, N 29 24.915', W 098 30.369' elev 775 ft.
About 8 years ago, shortly after my graduation from high school, I stopped wearing watches. Remembering back, I have no idea what possessed me to do this, but I do remember it being a momentous decision. Did I do it for cosmetic purposes, so I would get an even summer tan? Did I do it for practical purposes, so that it wouldn't get in the way, and get dirty at the deli I worked at? Did I do it because of an abundance of time displays around me (on computers, cell phones, in the handheld device I used at my other summer job, reading electric meters)?
I have long considered the decision to go without a readily viewable timepiece an important one for me, and it has affected my life tremendously in the past 8 years. When you aren't bound by time, you lead a more free existence. When you aren't bound by time, you have fewer deadlines, and more procrastination and leisure time. I'm not saying I'm not bound by time to some degree still, but without a watch, I am certainly not a slave to it either. I don't feel the pressure of a schedule, the pressure to meet the demands of time. By and large, this has been a wonderful experience.
However there are some negative aspects to living a timeless existence. The most important, the one that affects the people around me the most, is tardiness. I am routinely late for appointments by five or ten minutes. I was chronically 10 or 15 minutes late to class and work. I am almost always on time for important events, events I am nervous for, once in a lifetime events, events where punctuality is imperative, but for the most part, I am late. Secondly, my ability to guesstimate timetables has gone way down hill. For instance, if I tell someone I will be at their house within 10 minutes, they should add 10 to 20 minutes onto the time; for some reason I am guesstimating at best case scenario, rather than thinking about worst case scenario. I am occasionally ridiculously late. I can't prove the third negative aspect, but it feels as though time passes by faster when you are not tethered to it. This is hard for me to be objective about because our perception of the passage of time is that it gets faster and faster as we age; I just happen to think that timelessness makes time pass by all that much faster.
This is all relevant, because without a watch, I started going to bed later and later, and as a result, waking up later and later. I would roll out of bed at the last possible minute, take a shower, often skip breakfast and arrive to class or work 10 or 15 minutes later than I should have gotten there. I quickly shifted from being a morning, rah rah get up and go get 'em person morning person to being a creature of the night. I would love to get back to that, but as you get older, it is harder and harder to change your habits. I've never been good at changing my habits in the first place. Now, without a job, I routinely find myself going to bed at 2 am and waking up at 10 am, as if I am back in college. And because of this, I have started to lose sight of the purpose of the trip a bit, which results in me trying to put myself on a schedule for the trip as a corrective measure. For instance: go to Johnson Space Center by such and such a time, leave by such and such a time, be in Dallas by such and such a time. This takes some of the fun out of it. But I think I am back on track. It took a suggestion from my future brother in law Adam to wake me up to the fact; to remind me I am on a once in a lifetime trip. I don't have to get everything in, I have to enjoy myself. The best way to do that is to step back and bask in the moment; enjoy the moment. If you do that, moments become truly timeless, because you will remember them forever.
On a somewhat related note, I found this interesting article on Fark.com that seems to suggest time passage perception originates in our eyes. Whether it does or not, at least there are scientists out there studying it. For me, my perception of the passage of time has always been an interesting, if scary subject. It is very scary to me that an hour today feels like ten minutes of college time, and maybe a minute of time from when I was very young. Time seemed so slow back then. I remember sitting in high school classes and wondering how I'd ever get through a 42 minute class period. Today, I could probably do about 10 of those with no breaks and not bat an eyelash.
Its amazing what you think about when driving for 6 or 8 hours straight. Sometimes I find myself not thinking at all, or 'waking' from that hypnotized state, where you sort of come back to reality and don't have any recollection of the last 15 minutes of driving. A lot of times I wish I could write and drive at the same time. It would save me from having to stay up all hours of the night writing, or delaying the start of my day's activity to write. Don't misinterpret me, I enjoy writing, and it is a vital component of the trip, I just wish I could multi-task with it. Driving and writing are the two things I really wish I could overlap.
Texas is still really hot, oppressively hot. I haven't wanted to spend much time outside at all here. I am in San Antonio now, and will be visiting the Alamo on tuesday. On monday I pretty much drove all day, south on I-35 from Fort Worth. Despite being a huge state, I have seen fewer out of state license plates in Texas than any other state. My next major destination will be Big Bend National Park in western Texas, and perhaps a quick border crossing in El Paso. I guess you can just walk across to Mexico on the bridge; less of a hassle than driving, especially when you consider how stuffed full of junk my car is (potential Mexican hiding spots). The border patrol would love to pull out all my stuff, and I'm pretty sure they won't put it back neatly.
A few quick programming notes. Exit 4 has come online on the left hand side of the website there. The section is called Jonathan Sheldon: Manifesto, and is intended to be quick, autobiographical, often comical blurbs that offer insights into me. I'm sure a lot of you will find that very boring so you don't have to read. For me, it is more a timeline of the witty one-liners I come up with, or a snapshot of how I felt about the world on a particular day so I can remember at some later date. Finally, I haven't contributed a song to the Jon Sheldon Across America Soundtrack in a while, so I am going to do two at once. Track number 4 is I Woke Up In A Car by Something Corporate.
I really like this song, it encapsulates the wonder and the fear and the delight and the crazy people you meet on a long road trip. You really start to question yourself, question what you are doing and why you are doing it. But then something comes along and reminds you and all is right again.
The fifth track on the soundtrack is Highway Star by Deep Purple.
The soundtrack is getting pretty eclectic!
About 8 years ago, shortly after my graduation from high school, I stopped wearing watches. Remembering back, I have no idea what possessed me to do this, but I do remember it being a momentous decision. Did I do it for cosmetic purposes, so I would get an even summer tan? Did I do it for practical purposes, so that it wouldn't get in the way, and get dirty at the deli I worked at? Did I do it because of an abundance of time displays around me (on computers, cell phones, in the handheld device I used at my other summer job, reading electric meters)?
I have long considered the decision to go without a readily viewable timepiece an important one for me, and it has affected my life tremendously in the past 8 years. When you aren't bound by time, you lead a more free existence. When you aren't bound by time, you have fewer deadlines, and more procrastination and leisure time. I'm not saying I'm not bound by time to some degree still, but without a watch, I am certainly not a slave to it either. I don't feel the pressure of a schedule, the pressure to meet the demands of time. By and large, this has been a wonderful experience.
However there are some negative aspects to living a timeless existence. The most important, the one that affects the people around me the most, is tardiness. I am routinely late for appointments by five or ten minutes. I was chronically 10 or 15 minutes late to class and work. I am almost always on time for important events, events I am nervous for, once in a lifetime events, events where punctuality is imperative, but for the most part, I am late. Secondly, my ability to guesstimate timetables has gone way down hill. For instance, if I tell someone I will be at their house within 10 minutes, they should add 10 to 20 minutes onto the time; for some reason I am guesstimating at best case scenario, rather than thinking about worst case scenario. I am occasionally ridiculously late. I can't prove the third negative aspect, but it feels as though time passes by faster when you are not tethered to it. This is hard for me to be objective about because our perception of the passage of time is that it gets faster and faster as we age; I just happen to think that timelessness makes time pass by all that much faster.
This is all relevant, because without a watch, I started going to bed later and later, and as a result, waking up later and later. I would roll out of bed at the last possible minute, take a shower, often skip breakfast and arrive to class or work 10 or 15 minutes later than I should have gotten there. I quickly shifted from being a morning, rah rah get up and go get 'em person morning person to being a creature of the night. I would love to get back to that, but as you get older, it is harder and harder to change your habits. I've never been good at changing my habits in the first place. Now, without a job, I routinely find myself going to bed at 2 am and waking up at 10 am, as if I am back in college. And because of this, I have started to lose sight of the purpose of the trip a bit, which results in me trying to put myself on a schedule for the trip as a corrective measure. For instance: go to Johnson Space Center by such and such a time, leave by such and such a time, be in Dallas by such and such a time. This takes some of the fun out of it. But I think I am back on track. It took a suggestion from my future brother in law Adam to wake me up to the fact; to remind me I am on a once in a lifetime trip. I don't have to get everything in, I have to enjoy myself. The best way to do that is to step back and bask in the moment; enjoy the moment. If you do that, moments become truly timeless, because you will remember them forever.
On a somewhat related note, I found this interesting article on Fark.com that seems to suggest time passage perception originates in our eyes. Whether it does or not, at least there are scientists out there studying it. For me, my perception of the passage of time has always been an interesting, if scary subject. It is very scary to me that an hour today feels like ten minutes of college time, and maybe a minute of time from when I was very young. Time seemed so slow back then. I remember sitting in high school classes and wondering how I'd ever get through a 42 minute class period. Today, I could probably do about 10 of those with no breaks and not bat an eyelash.
Its amazing what you think about when driving for 6 or 8 hours straight. Sometimes I find myself not thinking at all, or 'waking' from that hypnotized state, where you sort of come back to reality and don't have any recollection of the last 15 minutes of driving. A lot of times I wish I could write and drive at the same time. It would save me from having to stay up all hours of the night writing, or delaying the start of my day's activity to write. Don't misinterpret me, I enjoy writing, and it is a vital component of the trip, I just wish I could multi-task with it. Driving and writing are the two things I really wish I could overlap.
Texas is still really hot, oppressively hot. I haven't wanted to spend much time outside at all here. I am in San Antonio now, and will be visiting the Alamo on tuesday. On monday I pretty much drove all day, south on I-35 from Fort Worth. Despite being a huge state, I have seen fewer out of state license plates in Texas than any other state. My next major destination will be Big Bend National Park in western Texas, and perhaps a quick border crossing in El Paso. I guess you can just walk across to Mexico on the bridge; less of a hassle than driving, especially when you consider how stuffed full of junk my car is (potential Mexican hiding spots). The border patrol would love to pull out all my stuff, and I'm pretty sure they won't put it back neatly.
A few quick programming notes. Exit 4 has come online on the left hand side of the website there. The section is called Jonathan Sheldon: Manifesto, and is intended to be quick, autobiographical, often comical blurbs that offer insights into me. I'm sure a lot of you will find that very boring so you don't have to read. For me, it is more a timeline of the witty one-liners I come up with, or a snapshot of how I felt about the world on a particular day so I can remember at some later date. Finally, I haven't contributed a song to the Jon Sheldon Across America Soundtrack in a while, so I am going to do two at once. Track number 4 is I Woke Up In A Car by Something Corporate.
So here I am
Here I am
Well I woke up in a car
I traced away the fog
So I could see the Mississippi on her knees
I've never been so lost
I've never felt so much at home
Please write my folks and throw away my keys
I woke up in a car
I really like this song, it encapsulates the wonder and the fear and the delight and the crazy people you meet on a long road trip. You really start to question yourself, question what you are doing and why you are doing it. But then something comes along and reminds you and all is right again.
The fifth track on the soundtrack is Highway Star by Deep Purple.
Nobody gonna take my head
I got speed inside my brain
Nobody gonna steal my head
Now that I'm on the road again
Oooh I'm in heaven again I've got everything
Like a moving ground an open road
And everything
The soundtrack is getting pretty eclectic!
3 Comments:
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At July 12, 2005 8:41 PM, said…
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At July 13, 2005 12:44 AM, Jonathan said…
Luddite? I am touring the country with a laptop (with Bluetooth and a fingerprint scanner), a bluetooth cell phone (which I occasionally use for internet access), a digital camera, an iPod, a GPS, a 300 GB USB hard drive, an XM radio, nearly 100 DVDs and of course, a car. What the hell are you talking about?
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At July 25, 2006 7:06 PM, Anonymous said…
Very nice site!
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