43 Comments
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Lyns McCracken's avatar

This was so hilarious Amanda! I played it out loud for my roommate and we were both laughing out loud! 🤣 I agree, if it wasn’t nefarious, why do we do it at 2 am? So good! Great job!

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Amanda Jaffe's avatar

The thought of two people sitting in a room listening to my writing and laughing is pretty overwhelming. That doesn't even happen in my house! Thank you for this!

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Lyns McCracken's avatar

Everything I’ve read so far is SO GOOD!

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Julie Neches's avatar

Thanks for this "timely" post! It got me to think about how I spend my hours whether there is a bonus one or not. So this weekend I plan to make the most of each minute. And going forward each year I could make a "Clocks Go Back" resolution to seize the day!

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Amanda Jaffe's avatar

Yes! You got it, Julie!

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Julie Neches's avatar

I got it because your writing conveyed the theme of time in a clear and wonderful manner!

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Paige Okun's avatar

I actually really like fruitcake...well only the British ones drenched in bourbon and covered with marzipan then covered in super-sweet fondant...I've been stalking M&S waiting for them to come in! Another fun read. Well done.

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Amanda Jaffe's avatar

LOL, Paige. That's a fruit cake I can get behind! Thanks so much for taking the time to read (and comment)!

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Tim Burns's avatar

Excellent, as always! I would write more, but I'm outta time. :-)

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Amanda Jaffe's avatar

Ha! And thank you, Tim!

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Terry Gaffney's avatar

Great stuff, Amanda... had me chuckling several times

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Amanda Jaffe's avatar

Thank you, Terry. Knowing I had you chuckling several times made me smile several times. Thanks very much for reading!

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Susan Suhr's avatar

Good piece Amanda! I spent my extra hour playing tennis with 3 great ladies from my league to prepare for our game on Monday. We did switch the time from 3:00 pm PST to 2:30 pm PST "in light" of the time change. I too voted weeks ago at my kitchen table . It's a privilege to live in the greatest country of the world (no offense to other nations).

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Amanda Jaffe's avatar

Thank you, Susan! It sounds as though you've spent your Extra Hour(s) well!

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Gary Gruber's avatar

Twice a year people mess with clocks but not time. Sundials and all the machinations that followed were trying to measure or regulate lives by times and seasons. I found it hard to believe I have readers in 36 states and 27 countries in all those different time zones, maybe only one in a state or a country and I appreciate whenever someone takes "time" to read a post. Here was one of mine on time. On time. 🤣. https://garygruber.substack.com/p/its-about-time

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Amanda Jaffe's avatar

Very timely, Gary! I enjoyed reading it. Thank you for sharing it, and for taking the "time" to read mine!

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J Kay Lee's avatar

The restaurant industry should lobby to do it on Friday at 5 pm… extra TIME for happy hour 🥹

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Amanda Jaffe's avatar

Absolutely! So much better than 2 am on a Sunday, no?

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Joey Held's avatar

This was quite the enjoyable read, and I very much appreciated seeing the length of time your activities take (eight minutes feels perfectly reasonable for a rabbit hole).

My favorite Extra Hour was many years ago — I was living in LA and a handful of high school friends came out to visit. We did karaoke at a bar and then another friend suggested going to Chinatown for more karaoke. As we walked in, we bumped into C.S. Lee, most well-known for playing Vince Masuka on Dexter. He was very polite even though a friend yelled out "VINCE MASUKA!" upon seeing him.

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Amanda Jaffe's avatar

That's a great Extra Hour, Joey! I also agree, eight minutes is reasonable for a rabbit hole. The problem arises when there are lots of them. It adds up!

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Celine M. Suiter's avatar

For me twice a year I’m in a limbo with my family in the USA and family in Europe because of course we don’t change hour at the same time. So it’s the Have they or haven’t they question. Are we still 6 hours ahead for friends in New York, 7 hours with my mother in law, 8 hours with my father in law or 9 hours with my brother in law.

When we were in Singapore on converted to France time than dealt with USA time after the conversion 😂

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Amanda Jaffe's avatar

You know of what I speak, Celine! Do you use a binomial equation like I do? Or just a calculator? 😂

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Judy Lewis's avatar

Very, very glad that you spent that 11 mins chatting with your friend in Australia (currently in Australian Eastern Daylight Time)

And yayyyyyyy for FLAG 🌏🎥

xxx

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Amanda Jaffe's avatar

FLAG is the best! Even if none of us ever seems to know what time it is! And I will always make time for my friend in Australia. (You should meet Ofifoto, who commented above. She's in that "half-hour" time zone!)

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Ofifoto's avatar

Hello from way down in the half hour Australia zone. This was a very funny read. I especially love the fruit cake analogy!

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Amanda Jaffe's avatar

Well hello! And I'm so happy to see you! It's great to have another friend in Australia. Thanks so much for reading and commenting!

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Chris Stanton's avatar

This was hilarious, Amanda. This whole gain-an-hour, lose-an-hour system is insane. There’s one way, and one way only, that I’ll use my extra hour: writing letters to government officials to stop the Daylight Saving Time madness. (Who am I kidding? I’ll use it to sleep.)

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Amanda Jaffe's avatar

And here I was, assuming you'd advocate for doing nothing!

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Chris Stanton's avatar

Dammit! What a missed opportunity!

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Amanda Jaffe's avatar

It's never too late to do nothing, Chris!

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Chris Stanton's avatar

True!

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Good Humor by CK Steefel's avatar

Wait. I love that you use an analogue watch AND it’s set to a different time.

I’m surprised you didn’t mention Israel. Forget daylight savings time. Israel adds a whole month to their calendar every 2-3 years.

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Amanda Jaffe's avatar

Also, I'm extremely analogue!

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Amanda Jaffe's avatar

You mean the extra Adar? I wasn't even thinking in calendar terms - a whole other topic I wrote about years ago when I was in Singapore (lunisolar calendars!).

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Good Humor by CK Steefel's avatar

Yes! Imagine another month to get things done.

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Amanda Jaffe's avatar

Time spent imagining that - 2 minutes (and counting).

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Matthew G. Nagler's avatar

Happy Groundhog Hour, Amanda!

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Amanda Jaffe's avatar

Ha! Thanks, Matt!

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Caroline in the Garden's avatar

in lieu of moving our clocks back an hour, i support moving our days ahead until we are firmly in december and past all of this election anxiety!

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Amanda Jaffe's avatar

December of what year? Asking for a friend....

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Caroline in the Garden's avatar

perhaps dec 2027 to be safe

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